Juventus striker, Mario Mandzukic has opened up on the dressing room fight that has seen the club sell both Dani Alves and Leonardo Bonucci this summer.
According to Mandzukic, both players fought during half time of this year’s Champions League final against Real Madrid, with the scores level at 1-1.
The Serie A champions eventually collapsed in the second half and lost 4-1 in Cardiff.
“I want to intervene to silence the rumours of an ugly atmosphere inside the Juve locker room,” Mandzukic was quoted on spaziomilan.it.
“It was simply Bonucci and Dani Alves to have created this chaos and, fortunately, with their sales everything will become calm again.
“They were the ones who had a row during the Final and it’s simply because they have diametrically opposed personalities. Leo and Dani would argue all the time and, on the day of the Final, we simply watched another of their many dramas.
“As soon as we got into the locker room, everyone had treated this like a normal game with just three points up for grabs, or at least that’s how it seemed. So we expected Dani Alves to do his usual routine of putting on the Radio Party Groove music in the locker room while we were getting changed.
“This time, though, he didn’t stop there. He went over the top, playing Samba Do Janeiro at full volume as if he wanted to break our eardrums and then started dancing like there was no tomorrow.
“I thought he was being stupid, but ignored him and went to my locker. Leo didn’t, as for him the Champions League was an obsession.
“He went up to Dani and said he’d break his legs in three seconds if he didn’t turn off that music. Obviously, a row erupted and it just kept going, until Dani Alves said that if he lost the Final, he’d still have three Champions League trophies in his locker, whereas Bonucci had none.
“At that point, everyone turned around scandalised. I’ve won the Champions League, but I’d never dare say something like that. We shouldn’t even have thought about the eventuality of defeat.
“Then Leo grabbed Dani by the throat and, as he was about to punch him, Max (Allegri) divided them and took a decision of a real leader: he said he didn’t care who started it, but at the end of the game they’d both get kicked out.
“It was the wisest decision ever made. Now, the group is calm and united again, without the annoying bragging of Leo and the usual Brazilian pain in the neck of Dani Alves, who would never let us just get changed and focus.”
Bonucci has been sold to AC Milan for just €42m and Dani Alves had his contract terminated early by mutual consent, before signing for Paris Saint-Germain.
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