Empoli
Which team was coached by Maurizio Sarri from May 2012 to May 2015?
Maurizio Sarri Maurizio Sarri ( ; born 10 January 1959 ) is an Italian professional football manager who most recently managed club Juventus . Sarri did not play football professionally , taking part as an amateur centre back and coach while working as a banker . In 2005 , he had his first Serie B job at Pescara . In 2014 , Sarri won promotion to Serie A with Empoli , and after preserving their place in the top flight he was hired by Napoli . He won several individual awards while managing the Naples-based club ; after finishing as league runners-up in 2017–18 , Sarri moved to English club Chelsea , where he won the UEFA Europa League in his only season with the club . He returned to Italy to coach Juventus in 2019 , with whom he went on to win the Serie A title in his first season , becoming the oldest manager to ever win the Serie A . Early life . Sarri was born in the Bagnoli district of Naples to workers at Italsider . He was raised in Castro ( province of Bergamo ) and then in Faella ( municipality of Castelfranco Piandiscò , in the province of Arezzo ) , where he divided his time as an amateur footballer and banker for Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena in Tuscany . His work as a banker saw him travel Europe , working in London , Zürich and Luxembourg . A centre back , He completed the Italian Liceo classico in Figline Valdarno , having David Ermini as his deskmate . Sarri played only at an amateur level , in Figlines local team , having failed trials with Torino and Fiorentina . At the age of 19 , Montevarchi was close to signing Sarri but Figline asked for a compensation of 50 million lire , and the deal eventually collapsed . He later refused a move to Pontedera , and subsequently retired with Figline after struggling with injuries . Sarri used to work in the bank in the morning , and trained and played in games in the afternoon and evening . In 1990 , aged 30 , he transitioned into coaching , following the same schedule he adhered to for his entire work life . After gaining employment with minor side Tegoleto , he decided to quit his job to devote himself exclusively to his coaching career . Managerial career . Early career . Sarris first club as manager was U.S.D . Stia 1925 , whom he started coaching in 1990 in Seconda Categoria . In the following year he was appointed manager of fellow league team U.S . Faellese , and took the club up to the Promozione . Sarri subsequently worked for U.S.D . Cavriglia and U.S . Antella , taking both sides to the Eccellenza . In 1998 he was named manager of fellow league team A.C . Valdema , but was fired the following January . He took over U.S.D . Tegoleto in the same division in September 1999 . In 2000 , Sarri signed for Sansovino in Eccellenza , and achieved promotion to Serie D with the side in his first season ; he would remain two further seasons in charge of the club , reaching the play-offs in his last season . His successes with Sansovino caused Serie C2 side Sangiovannese to sign him in 2003 , where he remained for two seasons and took the club to Serie C1 in his first campaign . On 18 June 2005 , Sarri resigned from Sangiovannese , and was appointed manager of Serie B side Pescara on 9 July . After avoiding relegation , he left the club on 30 June 2006 and was appointed at the helm of fellow second division side Arezzo on 1 November , in the place of the sacked Antonio Conte . On 13 March 2007 , he was relieved from his duties , and Conte returned to the post . On 18 July 2007 Sarri joined Avellino in the second tier , but resigned on 23 August after severe altercations with the clubs board . On 31 December he replaced fired Davide Pellegrini at the helm of Hellas Verona , but was himself sacked the following 28 February after winning only one point during his six matches in charge . On 23 September 2008 , Sarri was named Perugia manager in the place of Giovanni Pagliari . Sacked on 15 February of the following year , he only returned to coaching duties on 24 March 2010 with Grosseto . On 6 July of that year Sarri was appointed manager of Alessandria in Lega Pro Prima Divisione , and reached the promotion play-offs , being knocked out in the semifinals by Salernitana . Sarri resigned from Alessandria on 24 June 2011 , and on 6 July 2011 , he was appointed at the helm of Sorrento . He coached the club through the first months of the season until the mid-season break , playing an attractive , slick brand of attacking football . Despite the clubs being in sixth place , he was dismissed on 13 December . Empoli . On 25 June 2012 , Tuscan Serie B club Empoli hired Sarri as their new coach . In his first season , he led the club to fourth place and the playoff final , before losing to local rivals Livorno . The following season , Sarri guided Empoli to second place in the final table and direct promotion to Serie A after six years away . In the 2014–15 Serie A , Empoli avoided relegation by coming 15th . Napoli . On 11 June 2015 , Sarri left Empoli and signed for the club of his city of birth , Napoli , replacing Rafael Benítez , who left after missing out on a UEFA Champions League place . In his first season , Sarri brought in Elseid Hysaj , Pepe Reina , and Allan . The trio would go on to be first-team stalwarts for the following campaign , as Napoli finished runners-up to Juventus . Sarri extended his stay at the club until 2020 on 27 May 2016 . Two months later , Juventus would manage to sign Gonzalo Higuaín from Napoli for €90 million in the summer , who had managed to equal the record for most goals scored in a singular Serie A season , with 36 . However , Sarri vetoed the possibility of spending the money on a like-for-like replacement , instead , spending sparingly on weaker positions in the side to improve on depth , while tinkering with his squad to compensate for the loss of Higuaín . This was achieved through the positional change of Dries Mertens , originally a wide-forward , who was played more centrally the following season . This worked to great effect , as the Belgian netted 28 goals as the club finished third in 2017 , while Sarri was voted the leagues coach of the year , and received the Enzo Bearzot Award . Sarri , whose Napoli side had concluded the first half of the 2015–16 season Serie A in first place , gained the title Campioni dInverno ( Winter Champions ) for the first time in 26 years . Although Napoli ultimately ended the season in third place , the teams results in the first half of the season led him to believe he had constructed a side capable of winning the league the following season . Napoli would begin the 2017–18 season in hot form , setting a team record for most consecutive league victories , with 8 . It also took the club until December to register a league defeat , while waiting three months for another , registering ten straight victories in the process . The club also regained the title of Campioni dInverno from the previous campaign . Napoli finished the 2017–18 Serie A season in second place , four points behind Juventus . On 23 May 2018 , Sarri was replaced as head coach by Carlo Ancelotti . Chelsea . On 14 July 2018 , Sarri was appointed head coach of Chelsea , replacing Antonio Conte who was sacked the day before . In his first competitive game on 5 August , the team lost the Community Shield 2–0 to Manchester City at Wembley Stadium . The following week , he recorded his first win as Chelsea manager in a 3–0 league win away to Huddersfield Town . Sarri became the first head coach or manager to remain undefeated throughout his first 12 Premier League fixtures , until 24 November , where they lost 3–1 to Tottenham Hotspur . During the 2019 EFL Cup Final against cup holders Manchester City , with the match at 0–0 and a penalty shootout imminent , Sarri called for goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga to be substituted off for Willy Caballero ; formerly of City , and whose penalty saves won City the same competition in 2016 . However , Arrizabalaga refused to be substituted . An irate Sarri nearly stormed into the stadium tunnel , and was later held back by Chelsea defender Antonio Rüdiger from confronting the keeper . Chelsea went on to lose the shoot-out 3–4 . After the game , both Arrizabalaga and Sarri said that the situation was a misunderstanding , with Sarri believing that Arrizabalaga was too injured with a cramp to continue , but Arrizabalaga felt okay to continue . On 29 May , Sarri won his first major trophy as a manager after Chelsea beat Arsenal 4–1 in the 2019 UEFA Europa League Final in Baku . Chelsea managed to win the title undefeated throughout the entirety of the Europa League campaign . At the end of the 2018–19 season , Chelsea announced that Sarri was departing to become manager of Juventus , with the club statement also mentioning his desire to be closer to his elderly parents in Italy . Juventus . On 16 June 2019 , Juventus announced the signing of Sarri on a three-year contract . In August 2019 , he was treated for pneumonia ; he would miss the first two matches of the 2019–20 season over Parma and Napoli . Under Sarris management , Juventus participated in the 2019 Supercoppa Italiana on 22 December following their league title victory in the previous season , where they lost 1–3 against Lazio at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh . On 17 June 2020 , Juventus suffered a 4–2 penalty shoot defeat to Sarris former club Napoli in the Coppa Italia Final , following a 0–0 draw after regulation time . On 26 July , Juventus secured a ninth straight Serie A title with a 2–0 home win over Sampdoria . The result saw Sarri win his first major trophy in Italian football , also saw him become the oldest manager to win the Serie A at the age of , breaking the previous record set by Nils Liedholm with Roma in 1982–83 ( 60 years and 219 days ) . On 8 August 2020 , one day after Juventus were eliminated from the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League in the round of 16 by Lyon , Sarri was sacked by the club . Style of management . From a tactical standpoint , Sarri is known for his intelligence , attention to detail , and his meticulous approach as a manager when it comes to preparing matches during weekly training sessions . He often has his team prepare many different plays on set-pieces . One of the main trademarks of his highly organised system is a four-man back-line ; his teams usually play a high defensive line and adopt the offside trap and a zonal marking system , as he requires his defensive players to be synchronised in their movements , anticipate plays , and look at the ball as a point of reference , not their opponents . Other key elements of Sarris line-up are the presence of a deep-lying playmaker who dictates play in front of the back-line , such as Jorginho , and overlapping attacking full backs , in order to provide width to his team , as his players often attack from the flank , looking to play quick exchanges and make runs in behind into the box rather than deliver crosses into the area , however . As such , he favours dynamic wingers in his team , as well as defenders and goalkeepers who are comfortable on the ball , in order to help his team retain possession , and hard-working players who can implement his high pressing game . On the ball , Sarris teams are known for playing an attractive , exciting , and attacking-minded brand of football , based on retaining possession , movement off the ball , and many quick , short passes on the ground ; this style has come to be known as Sarri-ball or liquid football in the media , while LÉquipe has described it as vertical tiki-taka . The Italian encyclopaedia Treccani instead coined the term Sarrismo to describe the offensive and spectacular style of football that Sarris teams play . Sarris teams modern , innovative , and creative playing style , as well as their mentality , ability to move up the pitch quickly on counter-attacks and score many goals , has won praise from several pundits , players , and managers , including Pep Guardiola and Cesc Fàbregas ; in 2018 , former manager Arrigo Sacchi praised the style employed by Sarris Napoli side as the most important thing seen in Italy in the last 20 years . However , despite receiving plaudits for his tactical approach to the game , he also initially came under criticism from some in the sport for his failure to win a title as a manager , until leading Chelsea to victory in the Europa League in 2019 ; he has also been accused in the media of being stubborn and tactically inflexible at times . When defending off the ball , Sarris teams often employ an aggressive use of energetic pressing , tight lines , and pressure high up the pitch in order to win back the ball quickly . Throughout his coaching career , Sarri has adopted several formations , such as the 4–3–1–2 or the 4–2–3–1 , but he later came to be known for using a free-flowing , possession based 4–3–3 system during his time with Napoli . During the 2016–17 season , following the departure of Gonzalo Higuaín to rivals Juventus and an injury to the clubs main striker Arkadiusz Milik , Sarri frequently deployed Dries Mertens in a false nine role , seemingly positioned as a lone centre-forward , rather than as a left winger , where he had previously faced competition from Lorenzo Insigne for a starting role ; as a result of Sarris tactical change , Mertenss goalscoring output increased dramatically . Sarri received his coaching diploma in 2006 through the Technical Centre of Coverciano ; the title of his thesis was La preparazione settimanale della partita ( The weekly preparation of a match ) . One of his major influences as a coach is Arrigo Sacchi . Aside from his tactical prowess , Sarri is known for his outspokenness as a manager . He has also stood out for his attire ; unlike many other managers who wore suits in Italian football , he usually wore a tracksuit during matches . At Chelsea , he also adopted a more relaxed approach than his predecessor Antonio Conte when it came to his players diets and curfew before matches , which along with the changes in tactics to a more offensive-minded , possession game based on passing , helped create a more positive team environment ; Chelsea defender Antonio Rüdiger has praised Sarri for the changes he implemented at the team . Regarding his management style , Sarri commented in his first press conference with Chelsea : My goal is to have fun as long as I am here and be competitive in all competitions until the end . Ours is not a sport but a game , and anybody who plays a game starts doing that when theyre young . It is fun . The child in each of us must be nurtured because this often makes us the best . I think if a team has fun often , the fans do too . This is very important , and then there are the high-level objectives , but we must start by having fun . This is important for us and our fans . Personal life . Sarri is a smoker and in 2018 , Napolis UEFA Europa League opponents , RB Leipzig , built a special smoking section in the locker-room area of their stadium , Red Bull Arena , specifically for him . He often chews on cigarette butts while on the touch-line . In addition to his native Italian , Sarri also speaks English albeit with the help of an interpreter in some English interviews . Controversy . During the 2015–16 season , Sarri found himself embroiled in a heated exchange with Roberto Mancini , then head coach of Inter Milan , in the final minutes of a Coppa Italia match on 20 January 2016 , where Mancini accused Sarri of directing a homophobic slur at him . Sarri responded to the accusations by saying that he was not a homophobe , stating what happens on the field , stays on the field . Sarri was consequently fined €20,000 and banned for two Coppa Italia matches by Lega Serie A for directing extremely insulting epithets at the coach of the opposing team . In March 2018 , Sarri came under further criticism in the media when he was accused of making sexist comments when responding to female reporter Titti Improta of Canale 21 , who had asked him in a post-match interview if he thought that Napolis title challenge had been compromised ; he subsequently apologised , later also adding that he had been joking . When asked about these two incidents in his first press conference with Chelsea in 2018 , Sarri expressed regret regarding his behaviour , commenting : These were mistakes , that is for sure . I think that those who know me very well cannot define me in this way – not homophobic or sexist or racist , absolutely not . I am an extremely open person , and I do not have these kinds of problems , and I hope to show this when I work here and live here . Honours . Manager . Sansovino - Coppa Italia Serie D : 2002–03 Empoli - Serie B runner-up : 2013–14 Chelsea - UEFA Europa League : 2018–19 - EFL Cup runner-up : 2018–19 Juventus - Serie A : 2019–20 - Coppa Italia runner-up : 2019–20 - Supercoppa Italiana runner-up : 2019 Individual - Panchina dArgento : 2013–14 - Panchina dOro : 2015–16 - Enzo Bearzot Award : 2017 - Serie A Coach of the Year : 2016–17