Yet it makes grim reading for Juve fans. The Croatian’s goal as Lazio boss was to win European football, but he failed.
After Tudor’s Lazio troops tasted a 2-0 Coppa Italia defeat inside the Allianz Stadium to Juventus last April, he had nine matches remaining that term.
Fast forward virtually a year and Tudor finds himself under the spotlight for another nine important games in charge of a top Italian team.
Installed as Juventus interim head coach, after Thiago Motta was given the boot, Tudor will have very little time with his squad ahead of Saturday’s showdown with Patrick Viera’s mid-table Genoa. There are 13 Juve players involved in international duty.
This final furlong for Juventus is all about picking up precious points in order to try and qualify for next season’s Champions League. A top four finish is their only route to competing in European top club competition.
Here’s how Tudor fared when tackling Lazio’s last nine games of the 2023/24 campaign, chasing European football but missing out with a seventh place finish.
Tudor's April 2023/24 results
Beaten by Juventus without scoring, and downed by goals from Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic in their Coppa Italia semi-final first leg, Lazio also failed to find the back of the net in their next encounter. Tudor tasted a slender 1-0 defeat at the hands of their capital rivals AS Roma, which eventually proved costly.
Rock bottom Salernita were brushed aside 4-1, with Lazio in explosive form, in their next game. With maximum Serie A points, the Rome side were back in the mix for a top six berth that would secure European soccer in the following campaign.
Tudor made it back-to-back 1-0 triumphs in Genoa, then turned his attention back to Coppa Italia action against Juventus. He masterminded an impressive 2-1 success inside the Stadio Olympico, but the Bianconeri progressed to the final courtesy of a 3-2 aggregate win.
Lazio’s final Serie A match in April was yet another 1-0 victory, this time ousting Tudor’s former club Hellas Verona.
Tudor's May 2023/24 results
With four matches in May to tackle, Lazio were desperate for as many points as possible with AS Roma, Atalanta, Motta’s Bologna and Fiorentina chasing the fourth, fifth and sixth place for a European soccer berth.
Runaway leaders Inter Milan had the Scudetto sewn up, while AC Milan and Juventus were battling it out to finish runner-up.
Mid-table Monza held Lazio to a thrilling 2-2 stalemate, and Tudor’s team scored another brace in their following game with a comfortable 2-0 success over relegation-threatened Empoli.
Inter manager Simone Inzaghi was unable to get the better of Tudor in their penultimate Serie A match of the season. Denzel Dumfries’ late strike cancelled out Daichi Kamacha’s first-half goal for a 1-1 draw inside the San Siro.
What turned out to be Tudor’s last game at the helm with Lazio didn’t turn out as he planned. Needing victory over already relegated Sassuolo and for AS Roma to lose against Empoli, who needed victory to stave off the drop to Serie B, Lazio fluffed their glorious opportunity.
Mattia Zaccagni broke the deadlock inside the Stadio Olimpico on the hour-mark, but Lazio allowed Mattia Viti to level matters six minutes later with the teams playing out a fast and furious 1-1 draw.
To make matters worse hosts Empoli stunned AS Roma 2-1, courtesy of a stoppage time winner from M’Baye Niang, to leapfrog Frosinone who were relegated after slipping up 1-0 to Udinese.
Reality bites for Lazio
Tudor failed to secure either a Coppa Italia final appearance or European soccer from his final nine games with Lazio, so his task at Juventus is not going to be straightforward.
Pipped to European soccer by AS Roma, Tudor’s only defeat in his final nine matches, was difficult to stomach for Lazio fans, players and the club hierarchy.
Tudor’s team appeared to run out of ideas when push came to shove, three stalemates from their last four 2023/24 Serie A matches proved costly and is a warning sign of what Juventus can expect.
Too many draws by a head coach sounds familiar, and that sort of unwanted record rather than a winning mentality was partly the reason why Juventus pulled the plug on Project Motta.