Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo has said he is not afraid of being fired despite watching his side clash from the Champions League against 10-year-old Porto on Tuesday.
Andrea Pirlo’s opinion
With the last-16 tie-level at 3-3 in aggregate, Sergio Oliveira’s penalty shot from a long distance went under the crumbling wall of Juve in extra time, as Wojciech Szczęsny could only shoot a low drive into the back of the net. The goal meant that Adrien Rabiot’s late hit was just a consolation, as the Portuguese side stunned Juventus to reach the quarterfinals on away goals after a 4-4 aggregate result.
I was attracted to a broader approach
“I don’t know why Maurizio Sarri was sent off,” Pirlo told Sky Italia after the game. “I am the coach of Juventus, I was brought in for a broader approach, a project that has always had to develop over the years, so I am not worried about being fired. “I’m not happy to work a full week as I would rather stay in the Champions League. Now that we are in this situation, we can work on various aspects of training that we have not had time to do so far this season, and try to improve them.”
Talking about Oliveira’s free kick, Pirlo added: “We choose the players to go into the wall. It never happened before that they turned around, maybe they felt that it was so far away that they did not feel danger. It was a mistake, it usually does not happen, the players did not feel that this was a dangerous situation and conceded a goal.”
Pirlo is in his first season as Juve’s head coach after his predecessor Sarri was fired after just one year of charges. Despite winning Serie A, Sarri was sent off as Juve’s manager after his side crashed from the Champions League to Lyon in the last 16. Pirlo can barely replicate even Sarri’s success as Juventus are currently third in Serie A, 10 points behind Inter’s leaders.