Farewell to Bonucci, the BBC Juventus era comes to an end: the story of an insurmountable trio

Leo with Barzagli and Chiellini: Conte lined them up together in November 2011 against Napoli. Feeling, technique and character, this is how they wrote unforgettable pages in black and white and blue

John Albanese

@
GiovaAlbanese

– Turin

Like a painter in front of a blank sheet, Antonio Conte designed the BBC partly out of conviction and partly out of necessity. He had three strong defenders in his hand, but each one was missing that little piece that only the other two could guarantee him. Said and done: in a Juve-Napoli match dated 11 November 2011, the Juventus coach lined up Leonardo Bonucci between Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini. Thus was born a piece of history of Juventus, of all Italian football and beyond: that insurmountable wall will characterize an entire generation of world football.

bbc with buffon

Bonucci of the three was the most technical. Less rocky than Barzagli and less competitively bad than Chiellini: but head held high and foot educated, so much so that he always knows how to put the ball where he needs it, on short and long shots, with quality to spare. Leo in that trio was the director, the thinking head. Without forgetting the third “B” represented by Buffon, the maximum security behind the three Juventus defenders. After Conte, the first Allegri also built his fortune on that defence: the three understood each other perfectly and not ruining that toy turned out to be a winning intuition.

captain’s band

Time passes for everyone. After Barzagli, the first to leave in 2019, it was Chiellini’s turn to say goodbye. Last summer Bonucci also received the captain’s armband: he wore it as a starter for one season, despite having kept it several times in recent years. Now that armband will go on Danilo’s arm, already designated and replaced by Leo in the many games he had to miss due to physical problems that kept him out of action last season, when the defense was often all Brazilian, with Bremer and Alex Sandro.

present and future

The old BBC is still partly in business. Only Barzagli, who since last year has embarked on a career as a football commentator on Dazn (despite having obtained a coaching license and also having had some small experience as a technical collaborator) has finished playing football. Chiellini still plays, at Miami FC, and doesn’t seem willing to stop, at least until the end of the year. Bonucci will now start looking for a new accommodation: he aims for the European Championship, he will therefore have to find a team willing to give him space for his characteristics. Sarri’s Lazio? It’s a guess.





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