Giorgio Chiellini referred to Juve’s off-pitch issues as a ‘rollercoaster of emotions’ and reiterated that the player’s decision to defer wages was a ‘nice gesture’. The Bianconeri have been the subject of an ongoing investigation into the club’s finances and their decision to allegedly pay player’s salary under the table during the Covid pandemic. Speaking with Sky Sport Italia, the former Juve captain talked about the shock of seeing the club being docked points during the plusvalenza investigation and why making it to a Europa League final would be a huge achievement, given all the club has experienced this season:
“These have been difficult months, a rollercoaster of emotions. In January I would never have expected the penalty, I would not have expected it to be taken away and I would not have expected that at the end of the championship we were still waiting for judgments. I experienced it like millions of Juventus fans, with a sense of pride and belonging and innocence.”
“Then there are still proceedings going on, so many things are to be judged, and honestly I think anything can still happen. It is also hard to find a logical connection in so many things, unfortunately not only for Juventus but also for other teams it becomes a championship that has little regularity, except Napoli’s Scudetto and Samp in last place.”
“All other positions are inevitably conditioned, Mourinho was right a few months ago when he questioned Juventus’ position. I hope everything will be resolved in the best possible way, but it would have been important if it had been resolved either sooner rather than later because this way it is difficult for all teams to prepare matches and play for goals.”
“Allegri’s season? It’s very difficult… For me they have been very good, it’s easy to say to think only about the field but during the week, before and after the games, you can’t really think only about the field. In my opinion Allegri, in difficulties manages to motivate himself more than in a calm situation, he has been able to bring out the best from the men more than from the players.”
“Tomorrow’s match in this sense means so much, playing a Europa League final would be a great achievement especially in the midst of these difficulties. Then to almost reach the final of the Coppa Italia, at the moment in the Champions League places, hopefully in the final of the Europa League against Roma, was a lot.”
“I was lucky enough to share the locker room with so many guys, I am relatively surprised because on a character level they are valuable people.”
“The salary investigation? I was also surprised by how much we were brought up by someone and surprised that so many had talked about disqualifications or referrals for us players. There is an ongoing process, I have ideas but I don’t think this is the place to talk about it. In the future it will be a pleasure to do so, because on the part of us players in this maneuver there was just a nice gesture, positive, toward the club, an employer and others who thus were able to keep their salaries. We were all calm and that is why we were surprised to be brought up especially in talking about possible referrals or disqualifications for players.”
