22 August 2019
Saturday night in Parma, **Maurizio Sarri** will not be able to sit on the Juventus bench due to the pneumonia that hit him in recent days. Giovanni Martusciello, will therefore, be stand in his place. Martusciello was already Sarri's deputy whilst at Empoli between 2009 and 2016, and after having personally led the Tuscan team in the season 2016/17, he was second to Spalletti at Inter between 2017 and 2019.
It will not be the first time that Juventus will start Serie A without their head coach on the bench: in the 2012/13 season, it was Massimo Carrera who "inaugurated" the Bianconeri league, replacing coach Antonio Conte and deputy Angelo Alessio, who were both disqualified . Curiously, even on that occasion, the opponent on the first day was Parma. A 2-0 victory at the Stadium was secured courtesy of goals from Lichtsteiner and Pirlo.
Going further back in time, until the 1951/52 season, there is another example: after Carver was exonerated on 4 August 1951, Juventus hired Sarosi. The Hungarian technician, in those days in New York, announced that he had accepted the assignment through a letter, sent on 8 September and arrived at the destination three days later. His arrival in Italy, which took place only several weeks later due to the complications encountered in obtaining a visa for his wife. Consequently, on 9 September, for the first league match against SPAL, Luigi Bertolini sat on the bench. For the record, the match against the Emilians, played at the Comunale, ended 1-1 with Muccinelli's goal for Juventus and Bennike's equalizer for the visitors.
