Antonio Conte thinks back to Juventus and the idea that changed his career

A crucial milestone in a career that later became full of success.

Antonio Conte è leading Serie A with his Napoli, which the Salento coach has set since his first year on the slopes of Vesuvius with his trademark four-man defense. Yet in his past there was a no small junction, and one that had great weight on the early successes of his coaching career. And that was consumed; on the bench of the Azzurri’s rival par excellence: Juventus.

Remembering him è was Conte himself, who spoke Saturday in connection with the Festival dello Sport to greet the pivots of his defense at Juventus: Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini. "I embrace you all, becauseé we always talk about the attackers and much more rarely about the defenders. You però have been a great example, and you have made me change an important idea", said the Napoli coach.

Then Conte recalled what happened in bianconero in that distant 2011-2012: "I was coming back from championships won in Bari and Siena with the 4-2-4 and I wanted to set up Juventus that way as well. In short, I had started from a completely different idea than the three-man defense. Then però I adapted to the players I had and their characteristics. Especially those of Bonucci, which otherwise would have been sacrificed".

"The concepts of the game have remained, but from the tactical point of view I have evolved,” Conte added. I’m glad I decided to focus on the skill of individuals, instead of fossilizing on my ideas. And that trio, then, made history". And the Napoli coach himself, from that experience, changed his approach to his craft. And now it is precisely the Azzurri who are benefiting from it.