Andrea Pirlo is ‘screwed now’, Napoli’s Gattuso reacts after Pirlo’s new role at Juventus

The manager of Italian Serie A club Gennaro Gattuso has reminded the new manager of Juventus Andrea Pirlo how “screwed” he is now that he is a football manager.

Andrea Pirlo was appointed by Juventus on Saturday to replace Maurizio Sarri who was sacked hours after he failed to guide the Italian Serie A giants beyond the UEFA Champions League round of 16. The club was knocked out of the competition by Lyon via away goal rule after their two meetings ended 2-2 on aggregate.

Gattuso whose team was also knocked out of the competition by Spanish La Liga giants FC Barcelona was a teammate of the new Juventus’ manager while at AC Milan between 1999 and 2012. They were also teammates in Italy national team between 2002 and 2010.

They are two of the most decorated players in Italy and among the most respected players in the world during their A-days. Gattuso and Pirlo won two Serie A titles with AC Milan, they also won one Coppa Italia, one Supercoppa Italiana, two UEFA Super Cup, and one FIFA Club World Cup while they were together at AC Milan. More so, they won the FIFA World Cup together in 2006.

Pirlo was so good as a midfielder that he was a constant nominee for the most prestigious football award in the world, Ballon d’Or. In fact, the 41-year-old Italian tactician finished in the top 10 of the award on three different occasions.

However, unlike Gattuso who has served as the manager of AC Milan between 2017-2019, Andrea Pirlo has never had the opportunity of managing a top-flight club. In fact, he just obtained his UEFA Pro Licence and just had the opportunity of managing a team when Juventus, his former club, appointed him the coach of the club’s reserved under-23 team On 30 July 2020.

So, Andrea Pirlo’s first senior managerial appointment came just 9 days after he was given Juventus’s youth team to manage. The Serie A club has entrusted the entire Juventus club to the football legend after he was given a two-year contract as Maurizio Sarri’s successor.

Gattuso advise to Andrea Pirlo

Hence, as a more experienced colleague, Gattuso wants Pirlo to know that it is one thing to be a good player and it is another thing to retire, get a world-class team to coach, and be a good coach.

“Well, he’s screwed now! That’s the job,’ Gattuso told Sky Italia on Saturday.

OFFICIAL ✍️ | Andrea Pirlo is the new coach of the First Team.https://t.co/riVxl1enbJ#CoachPirlo pic.twitter.com/pf9QRbJ6Ll

— JuventusFC (#Stron9er 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆) (@juventusfcen) August 8, 2020

“He’s lucky to be starting at Juventus, but this profession is one where a great playing career is not enough. You have to study, to work hard, and you don’t get much sleep.

“Being a player and being a coach is really not the same thing at all. It’s a totally different profession and we can’t learn it just from books, we need to get in there and work hard. It’s a different world.”