Can Max Allegri revive AC Milan this season?

After a season away from football, Max Allegri is back, and this time he is the coach of AC Milan, a team that has been crying out for success.

After he won the Serie A title as their manager in 2011, he struggled under the shadows of Antonio Conte’s Juventus and was sacked in 2014.

That summer, he moved to Juventus and led them to five consecutive league crowns until he was let go in 2019.

The less said about his second spell at Juve between 2021 and 2024, the better, and that is why there are sceptics of his appointment as the AC Milan coach.

After Allegri won the title for Milan in 2011, it took them a decade to become champions again in 2022. Can they win the Scudetto this season?

That is the question most people are waiting for his team to answer, and even among those who invest in AC Milan tickets, there is a difference of opinion.

Since the team won the Serie A title in 2022, they have struggled with a lack of consistency, which got worse after the club sacked its Scudetto-winning manager, Stefano Pioli.

He had stabilised them as a Champions League team, but as soon as he left, Milan failed to make the top four and is not in this season’s Champions League.

As many Italian teams changed managers in the summer, Milan also brought back Allegri, a year on from him being sacked by Juventus.

Allegri is one of several experienced managers on the benches of Italian teams at the moment, and he has a huge responsibility on his hands now.

Why did AC Milan bring Allegri back?

AC Milan thought they had the manager who would meet their expectations when Sergio Conceicao was named their coach last season.

He replaced the underwhelming Paulo Fonseca and won the Italian Super Cup, but the former Porto manager failed to make them a good enough team in Serie A.

In the league, the performance just did not improve, no matter how hard the manager tried, and he was sacked after leading them to the Coppa Italia final and failing to win it.

Milan had gone through two managers in one season and had become worse than they were under Pioli.

As bringing him back was not an option, they searched for an experienced coach who would bring stability to the team instantly.

There is hardly a better man for that job than Allegri, who has done well in turbulent times at Juventus.

While he struggled during his second spell at Juve, that was one of the most difficult times for the club, and he still did a good job.

Juve struggled with a lack of funds in the aftermath of COVID-19 and the resignation of an entire board after they had been implicated in a financial scandal.

Milan’s situation was not that bad, but they knew if they wanted to keep selling Serie A tickets, they needed a coach who would bring stability to the group.

In the first few weeks of the season, Allegri has proven he can get the job done so far.

His players have a great deal of respect for him, and the addition of some fine players to the group has given him a strong start.

What he would have learned from his last Juventus spell

There are so many lessons that Allegri would have learned from his second and most disastrous spell as the manager of Juventus.

So much was expected from him and his team, but they failed to meet the expectations at the end of his spell.

The club has its problems, but the manager was not free of blame, and he would have had a look at his time at the club and taken some lessons from that spell.

One change Allegri has to make now that he is at Milan is being tactically flexible, especially in the face of a shortage of talent.

At Juve, he stuck to his vision of how the team should play, even though it was clear that the club did not have the players to execute it that way.

Juve needed him to adapt his system to fit the strength of his squad, but Allegri instead wanted his players to change and adapt to the demand he had placed on them.

Another change Allegri has to make is being afraid to ask for the players that he needs to find success.

As he prepared his team for the tough season ahead, Allegri got some new stars as Milan also sold some players.

At Juve, he focused on using the players he was given and did not push for players who fit what he wants to achieve on the pitch.

If he repeats that mistake in Milan, he will end his spell with so many misfits as was the case at Juve, and he would hardly achieve success.

Why Allegri is the perfect manager for AC Milan

As a manager who did not perform well during his last job at Juventus, there will be question marks over the success Allegri can achieve as the manager of AC Milan.

The Milan team is desperate to bring success back to the city as their rivals, Inter Milan, has overshadowed them for a long time.

Since 2021, Inter has won two league crowns, with Napoli also winning two in that time.

Milan has gone for a manager who understands the environment in Italian football, and there is truly no better manager than Allegri for this Milan team.

Milan has the best blend of experienced players and young talents, which is the perfect makeup of every Allegri team that has been successful.

Unlike Fonseca and Conceicao, who managed the team before him, he has a proven track record in the Champions League and Serie A.

He reached the final of the European tournament twice in three seasons, while winning six league crowns with two clubs.

The biggest reason that qualifies Allegri for this role is his experience and track record in the game, which largely speaks for itself.

Why Allegri can lead AC Milan to this Serie A title

The 2025/2026 season is the perfect Campaign for Allegri to return to management after he spent a year away from the game.

The gaffer joins a team that has strengthened its core despite not qualifying for the top European competitions.

Milan failed to make the Champions League last season, so Allegri’s team will play in only a few games this term.

This is the single most important reason that they could be champions in Allegri’s first season as their manager.

Their other title challengers have European games during midweek, and most will play three games per week, which does not give them as much chance to rest as Milan will get.

Allegri did not take advantage of a similar situation at Juventus in his final season at the club, but we expect him to do that at Milan.