Juventus will be playing for Andrea Pirlo’s job this weekend
On Saturday evening, Juventus will face Torino the second Derby della Mole of the season, having barely defeated their crosstown rivals 2-1 thanks to the late contributions of Juan Cuadrado.
Prior to the international break, the Bianconeri lost 1-0 to Benevento in what can only be described as a third embarrassing result this season, right down there with the blowout loss to Fiorentina and the disaster in Porto.
Andrea Pirlo has been feeling the heat due to Juve’s struggles in the Champions League and the recent slip-up in Serie A. The Bianconeri seem to be out of the Scudetto race after the loss to Benevento, who are relegation candidates.
According to a report from La Gazzetta dello Sport, via Football Italia, Juventus are prepared to fire Pirlo if the Black and Whites have a “negative” result in either this weekend’s match against Torino or Wednesday’s battle against rivals Napoli, whom they beat in the Supercoppa Italiana but struggled against in Serie A.
Juventus may be trying to light a fire under the team
While it seems like Juve do not want to fire Pirlo and want to trust the club legend with a rebuild after another big summer window, the Bianconeri don’t have much choice. The standard is set so high at Juventus that if a manager cannot figure it out against teams they should be beating and performs this poorly in the league one year after winning the title, the Bianconeri may have to make a chance.
Going with Pirlo was a gamble due to his lack of experience, so that’s why he has less wiggle room than a more established manager. Though, of course, that did not exactly help Maurizio Sarri either, even though he won Serie A.
We’ll see if Juventus really are putting Pirlo under the hot seat these next two matches, but, more importantly, we’ll see how the Bianconeri respond. Even if Juve aren’t seriously going to fire him, someone planted this information for a reason. Either it is true, or it is a ploy to get Juventus to feel the heat.
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As we saw with Real Madrid this season, sometimes a team will rebound and fight especially hard for a manager they love. Pirlo has several former teammates in the Juventus squad and seems to have the utmost respect of the players as a legendary player himself. Therefore, we could see a big response in the derby this weekend. And we will need to, especially if Juve are serious about moving on from Pirlo already.