Tensions between Massimilano Allegri and Paul Pogba briefly spilled over during Juventus’ 2-0 win over Atalanta on Sunday afternoon, with the Frenchman telling his coach to ‘calm down’ having been on the receiving end of a telling-off for losing possession.
Pogba had emerged from the substitutes’ bench after 65 minutes, around 10 minutes after Samuel Iling-Junior had put the Bianconeri 1-0 up at the Gewiss Stadium.
However, Allegri had soon grown frustrated with Pogba’s lackadaisical passing, which had led to Juve turning over possession.
“With Paul’s quality and characteristics, he cannot lose the ball in those situations,” Allegri had said during his post-match interview with Sky Italia. “He told me to relax, but there’s no relaxing, we needed to keep the ball at that moment,” he continued.
However, Pogba hadn’t taken too kindly to the manner of Allegri’s constructive criticism, yelling at his coach numerous times to “calm down” on the touchline.
Allegri was furious that Pogba was unable to keep hold of the ball in a crucial stage of the game and that he put the team at threat of being punished by an Atalanta counter-attack.
However, Juve were soon able to regain control of the game, and eventually doubled their lead after eight minutes of injury time through Dusan Vlahovic.
The Bianconeri will be back in action on Thursday night, when they host Sevilla at the Allianz Stadium in the semi-final of the Europa League.
Lord Hexagon knows best – extend him beyond 2025