Rúben Amorim's Historic Chance at Juventus
Rúben Amorim walks into Turin with history at his shoulder.
Two games, two wins, six points: Milan’s new era has started at full speed. A 2-1 comeback away to Torino, a controlled 2-0 over Venezia at San Siro, and suddenly Sunday night at Juventus is no longer just an early-season benchmark. It is a date with a piece of club folklore that has survived untouched since the 1950s.
If Amorim wins in Turin, he will become the first Milan coach since 1958 to open his Serie A reign with three straight victories. Not even the giants of the Rossoneri bench – Arrigo Sacchi, Fabio Capello, Carlo Ancelotti – managed that.
That alone tells you how rare this opportunity is.
Chasing ghosts from the golden age
Only three men have ever done it for Milan: Mario Sperone in 1952, Gipo Viani in 1956 and Cina Bonizzoni in 1958. After Bonizzoni, nothing. Sixty-eight years of great managers, great teams, great trophies – and yet nobody has matched that simple, ruthless start of three wins from three.
Sacchi, the revolutionary who redrew European football, stumbled at the second hurdle. In his second Serie A match in charge, his Milan fell to Fiorentina, undone by Ramon Diaz and a young Roberto Baggio. The ideas were there, the pressing, the courage, but the perfect start slipped away in Florence.
Capello came closer. In 1991 he won his first two league games, steady and assured, only to be checked in his third. The opponent? Juventus, away. A 1-1 draw that felt respectable at the time but, in hindsight, is the single result that keeps him off this particular list.
Ancelotti never even got that far. His first Serie A match as Milan coach, in 2001, finished goalless against Piacenza. No drama, no disaster, but no statement either. The trophies came later, in Europe and at home, yet the opening chapter of his Milan story was written in grey ink.
Amorim now stands where they once stood, but with a chance to go where they did not.
A modern test in a classic setting
The numbers are simple. Two games, two wins. Torino beaten 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Venezia dispatched 2-0 at San Siro. The performances have not been flawless, but they have been convincing enough to give shape to the optimism that greeted his appointment.
Juventus away is something else. The fixture carries weight, even when the table is still stretching its legs in late August. For Capello, it was the first bump. For Amorim, it could be the springboard.
A win in Turin would not put a trophy in his hands. It would not guarantee anything in May. What it would do is place his name alongside Sperone, Viani and Bonizzoni in a tiny, exclusive corner of Milan’s history, and ahead of Sacchi, Capello and Ancelotti in one specific, telling metric: how quickly a new idea takes hold.
Milan have hired Amorim to build a project, not to chase trivia. Yet football’s small milestones often reveal something about the bigger picture. Start fast, impose your style, handle the pressure of the first real away cauldron – these are the tests that shape a season’s tone.
On Sunday night in Turin, amid the noise and the tension of a classic Serie A rivalry, Amorim is not just fighting for three points. He is pushing against 68 years of precedent.
If he breaks through, what else might this Milan be ready to rewrite?
