Andrea Pirlo is not experienced enough to coach Cristiano Ronaldo at a club as huge as Juventus according to former Real Madrid and AC Milan forward, Antonio Cassano.
The 38-year-old forward who last played for Sampdoria in 2017, said Cristiano Ronaldo is more concerned about his records and other personal achievements than anything else.
Antonio Cassano believes that since Juventus wanted to rebuild the team, they should not have settled for a “rookie” coach like Andrea Pirlo especially when a player like Ronaldo is still very much a part of the club.
The criticism of the 38-year-old former Italy international was borne out of the poor performance of Juventus which saw them leave the UEFA Champions League campaign this season in the round of 16 stage of the competition.
It has become so bad for the Italian giants that the Italian Serie A title they often win is gradually eluding them this season. They are currently sitting on the 3rd spot on the league table with 55 points in 27 games, 10 points away from first placed Inter Milan.
Recall that Juventus bought Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid in 2018 for €117 million to reportedly help the Italian giants win the UEFA Champions League. Unfortunately, the club failed to achieve the feat last season which led to the sacking of Maurizio Sarri and the appointment of Andrea Pirlo.
Before his appointment, Andrea Pirlo was few weeks old as a coach of the Juventus under-23 team and had no other managerial experience elsewhere. Hence, he came into coaching at the highest level and started by managing a 5-time Ballon d’Or winner which has not helped the team as much as expected.
The 42-year-old Italian tactician has not done anything extra-ordinary with Juventus since his appointment and Cassano believes that Cristiano Ronaldo is a brake on the coaching career of Andrea Pirlo at Juventus.
“If you sell Cristiano, there’s €100m with which you can sign a couple of top players,” the former Inter Milan and Roma star told Bobo TV.
“You can’t have a coach who wants to play football with Cristiano Ronaldo. He’s a brake on Pirlo. Cristiano only thinks about his goals and records. If you’re president and you want to start a new cycle, you cannot give a rookie coach the responsibility of coaching someone like Ronaldo.”
Under Andrea Pirlo, Cristiano Ronaldo has maintained his standard of scoring double-digit goals per season. So far this season, the 36-year-old Portuguese star has scored 30 goals and provided 4 assists in 34 games in all competitions for Juventus.
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜! ⚽️👊🏽 #forzajuve pic.twitter.com/e1SPoZV3FS
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) March 19, 2021
