With their nine-year reign in Serie A ended and membership president Andrea Agnelli roundly criticised for his function in the aborted European Super League, Juventus now danger lacking out on subsequent season’s Champions League. Juventus have been knocked out of Italy’s high 4 final weekend following a 3-0 house defeat by AC Milan, leaving coach Andrea Pirlo’s place more and more below menace getting into the ultimate three video games. The head of the Italian Football Federation even warned Monday that Juventus could be thrown out of Serie A subsequent season in the event that they don’t formally withdraw from the Super League, having as but did not distance themselves from the mission.
Pirlo was largely spared the wrath of critics following the membership’s last-16 exit to Porto in the Champions League, his stature as a participant and inexperience in the dugout serving as a defend.
But with the growing regularity of poor performances, the 41-year-old now finds himself the first goal of mounting frustrations.
“While he might have all the reasons of a newbie, Pirlo didn’t enhance throughout the season,” Gazzetta dello Sport wrote Monday, lambasting an “unrecognisable” Juventus, “missing in id, fashion, depth and organisation”.
“You can be unmoved when the results are there, but when the team is in difficulty, to see the coach powerless and expressionless, incapable of shouting, that stands out,” it added.
Pirlo shouldered the accountability for the Milan loss however insisted he was not going to step apart.
Local media report that membership officers have determined to complete the season with Pirlo however might then reduce their losses on a failed gamble.
Massimiliano Allegri, who led Juventus to 5 titles in a row between 2015 and 2019, has been cited as a attainable alternative, together with Zinedine Zidane, ought to he depart Real Madrid.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FATE BEYOND THEIR CONTROL
However Pirlo might nonetheless finish the marketing campaign with a second trophy, as Juventus face Atalanta in the Italian Cup ultimate on May 19. Juventus beat Napoli in January’s Super Cup.
All isn’t misplaced for Juventus however wins in their remaining video games in opposition to in-form Sassuolo on Wednesday, champions Inter Milan and Bologna won’t be sufficient to reclaim a spot in the highest 4.
Juventus final missed out on the Champions League in 2011 whereas Cristiano Ronaldo, the competitors’s all-time main scorer with 134 targets, has featured in each version since 2003.
Failing to qualify would see Juventus lose out on roughly 80 million euros, jeopardising their means to retain Ronaldo and afford his reported pre-tax annual wage of 54 million euros.
It would probably spell the top of Ronaldo’s Turin spell, who regardless of turning 36 in February is the main scorer in Serie A this time period with 27 targets. That might although unencumber alternatives for others to emerge from the Portuguese star’s shadow.
There are off-pitch distractions as properly, with sporting director Fabio Paratici approaching the top of his contract, and Agnelli one of many key figures in the doomed Super League mission.
Agnelli, as soon as an in depth buddy of UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, was changed as head of the European Association (ECA) final month and branded a “snake” for joining the breakaway league.
He must also answer for his sporting decisions, namely appointing Pirlo, and the club’s deteriorating finances, with accounts in the red since 2018 and the heavy investment in Ronaldo.
The club’s next moves could hinge on whether Juventus secure Champions League football, although the final say will go to Agnelli’s cousin, John Elkann, the CEO of Exor, the holding company of the Agnelli family.
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