Former Juventus defender Andrea Barzagli has given his predictions for the end of the 2023-24 Serie A season, while also sharing his version of events from the 2017 Champions League final in Cardiff, where it had been argued that two of his Bianconeri teammates broke out into an argument at half-time.
The 42-year-old was a recent guest on Radio Serie A, where he suggested that the team with the best defensive record tends to go on to win the Serie A title.
However, at this stage, it is still too early to predict who out of Juventus and Inter will concede the fewest goals, but Barzagli believes that one team is slightly better covered in other areas of the pitch.
“Inter and Juve are two different teams. The numbers say a lot, the best defence almost always wins the championship. Juve makes this its strength and manages to win with the players they have available.
“Inter is a complete team, they have a great attack and midfield. They win by more goals, but they are so strong that they don’t concede much either.
“On paper, Inter are stronger than Juventus, but that doesn’t mean anything. If they win the championship, they will have deserved it and demonstrated that they are the stronger and better team. We’ll see how it ends.”
Then, Barzagli faced questions on Juve’s most recent appearance in the Champions League final against Real Madrid in 2017.
Reports at the time had suggested that Leonardo Bonucci had started an argument with Paulo Dybala in the dressing room at half-time, accusing the Argentine of playing too conservatively after an early booking in the first half.
Like all of his Juve teammates since, Barzagli shut down rumours of a half-time row, insisting that the Bianconeri group would have never acted in such a way.
“It’s false. Lots of people ask me about that. If I could go back, I would do one thing: Let it go.
“I remember the call from Bonucci, he told me that they were sticking it in the newspapers. I read it too and I was angry. I told him that we all knew it was a lie. And then I said that either the club would write something, or we would let it go. Instead, it went further.
“They mentioned his name, but wrote some incredible bulls***, because our group would not have done something like that. And, most importantly, you’re playing in a Champions League final. Other things they wrote were complete fantasy, we would never have done something like that.”