Reuters
Czech coach Pavel Nedved, vice president of Juventus, said Wednesday that coach Andrea Pirlo and striker Cristiano Ronaldo will not leave the club despite a disappointing season.
Pirlo took charge of Juventus unexpectedly, succeeding coach Maurizio Sarri last August, despite his lack of previous experience in the field of coaching.
The 41-year-old, who won the World Cup, two Champions League and six Serie A titles before retiring in 2017, was criticized recently after Juventus’ hopes of winning their tenth successive league title dwindled.
Juventus were knocked out of the Champions League last 16 by Porto, before suffering a surprise defeat by modest Benevento on Sunday, ten points behind league leaders Inter Milan.
“Pirlo will remain coach of Juventus. I am 100 percent sure of that. We are committed to our project with Andrea and we know that we will face difficulties. We wanted to provide better results than that, but we were expected to face difficulties. We will be calm because we are on the way,” said Nedved. “Right, according to plan. Pirlo has all the ingredients to be a great coach.”
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Ronaldo was also criticized after Juventus were knocked out of the Champions League, and there was speculation about his possible departure at the end of the season.
Nedved said: “For me, Cristiano is an untouchable player. He has a contract until June 30, 2022 and he will remain in the team. We’ll see what happens next.”
Source: Reuters
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