Pirlo ‘did not want Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus, but couldn’t do anything’

Andrea Pirlo ‘did not like Cristiano Ronaldo’ when he was coach of Juventus, revealed his assistant manager. ‘He didn’t want Ronaldo, but he couldn’t do anything about it.’

The 2006 World Cup winning midfielder retired from playing in 2018 and two years later took his first management role, thrown straight into the mix at Juventus in 2020.

Although he only lasted one season there, Pirlo did manage to win the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana, then fired at the end of the season.

It was not entirely a happy experience, as confirmed by Alparslan Erdem, who was his assistant manager at Karagumruk the next year.

“We analysed the data, which showed that Cristiano Ronaldo was the worst at sprints and the high press,” Erdem told the Bild podcast, via Corriere dello Sport.

“Pirlo didn’t want Ronaldo in his team, but he couldn’t do anything about it, because this was Cristiano Ronaldo.”

CR7 represented a huge investment for the Bianconeri, as well as a remarkable draw for sponsorship and revenue purposes, so the coach felt duty-bound to play the Portuguese veteran regardless.

It wasn’t just Ronaldo who was imposed on Pirlo, according to his assistant manager.

“Pirlo much preferred Alvaro Morata, who was perfectly suited to his 4-4-2 tactics. The system just didn’t work with Ronaldo or Paulo Dybala, but there wasn’t anything he could do about that.”

Following another brief experience at Sampdoria, Pirlo is now the coach of United FC in the UAE.

Meanwhile, Erdem has gone on to a main role of his own in North Macedonia with Rabotnicki Skopje.