Allegri returns to Milanello today. Max is in a hurry: here is the Milan of rebirth

Massimiliano Allegri's new course will begin this morning before 9, when the Livorno coach will return to Milanello. He knows the road from Milan to Carnago well because he traveled it hundreds of times from 2010 to 2014, during his first adventure as coach of Silvio Berlusconi's Diavolo. Yesterday his collaborators began work and became familiar with the structures. The "boss" instead was in the headquarters in via Aldo Rossi in the afternoon where he had a market summit with the CEO Furlani and the sports director Tare. A sign of how involved Max is in the key decisions of Milan.

The first real day of training will be Monday, with training in the morning at 9:30, the press conference to present Allegri at 1 pm at Casa Milan and the afternoon session at 6 pm. This morning, however, the first group of players will be at Milanello. Among those present for the tests (on the pitch and in the gym) are Chukwueze, Loftus-Cheek, Jimenez, Bondo, Sportiello, Bartesaghi, Pobega and Nava, as well as new signing Ricci. Tomorrow will be the turn of a second group, which will be joined by some of those who will be sweating today. The players called up to the national teams at the beginning of June will meet again from Monday: among them Maignan (who yesterday celebrated his 30th birthday with social media greetings from Theo and Leao), Pavlovic, Saelemaekers and Leao. The Rossoneri will have to meet up at Milanello at midnight on Sunday to be on the pitch on Monday morning: from that moment on, they will be required to sleep in the technical centre. To take care of all the details: from nutrition to hours of night rest, through recovery between sessions. Especially for those players (such as Loftus-Cheek) who had some physical problems last season.

The work that Allegri has planned is huge. Both physically and... mentally. After the disappointing eighth place last season, Max knows well that the past must be wiped clean and the group's minds "cleaned". It is inevitable to ask for a spirit of sacrifice and dedication to the cause to achieve the minimum common objective, namely returning to the Champions League. Allegri won a championship and an Italian Super Cup in red and black. He knows what "red and black DNA" means and intends to instill this feeling in the group. Naturally, he also demands respect for the rules: he expects everyone to have done their homework during the holidays in terms of individual sessions (many have documented them on social media, but the tests of these two days and the scales will give an indisputable verdict) and he will demand maximum punctuality with the schedules. Arthur and Pogba know something about this, just to give a couple of examples during their last experience at Juventus, excluded from the list of those called up for being late for training. The team is still under construction since Modric is in America with Real Madrid, Gimenez at the Gold Cup, there are no starting full-backs and at least one other midfielder and a striker who will compete for the starting shirt with the Mexican are missing. Translated: working on the automatic 4-3-3 will not be easy, but with those present the focus will be above all to start shoring up the back line. Because last year there were too many goals conceded and certain mistakes should not be made again. For Allegri the team will above all have to be strong and compact in the non-possession phase because important results are achieved when there are no blunders at the back. The double training sessions scheduled for the first phase of the retreat will serve to put gas in the tank. Even if during the season the weeks without commitments in the European cups will allow us to better prepare for the league matches.