Italian Serie A NewsAndrea Pirlo is not concerned about being sacked after Juventus UEFA exit
Pirlo

Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo has insisted he is the’ coach of Juventus’ despite his side crash out of the Champions League.

Pirlo

The 10-man Porto side shocked Pirlo’s side Juventus with an extra-time free-kick to progress to the quarter-final stage.

The last-16 tie that was level 3-3 on aggregate went into extra time. The Portuguese side went down one man following Medhi Taremi’s red card but Sergio Oliveira’s Long-range free-kick proved the difference.

The tie has proved to be the worse season for Juventus as they are also struggling in the domestic league. Juve is third behind AC Milan second, and Inter Milan first.

“I don’t know why (Maurizio) Sarri was removed,” Pirlo said after the game.

He added, “I am the coach of Juventus.”

“I am not happy to be working with a full week, as I’d have preferred to stay in the Champions League,” he stated.

Pioli also talked about the free-kick that saw Cristiano Ronaldo turn his back on the ball. Ronaldo takes part of the blames for the crucial goal that handed Porto progress to the Quarter finals.

“We choose the players to go in the wall. It had never happened before that they’d turn around; maybe they felt it was so far out that they didn’t sense the danger.

“It was a mistake. It usually doesn’t happen. The players didn’t feel it was a dangerous situation and conceded a goal,” Pioli explained.

Pirlo has struggled to replicate Maurizio Sarri’s success in his first season as Juve sits third in the Serie A table. He has also suffered crashed out of the Champions League against FC Porto. Despite that, Pioli insists he does not fear being sacked.

Meanwhile, Juventus Sporting director Fabio Paratici has revealed that the superstar’s contract is ‘not an ‘immediate issue.’

Ronaldo still has a year on his contract at the end of the season and Paratici has not ruled out an extension. He insists he is in no rush to sort it out any time soon.

“There’s still another year of contract,” Paratici said.

“Cristiano’s contract renewal is not an immediate issue on the agenda, there’s time to talk about it,” he revealed.