Andrea Pirlo said he had not received assurances about the future of Juventus, but confirmation from the president that the “project has just begun” in Turin after the club’s 16-League Champions left the club in the hands of Porto .
Juve dropped out of the Champions League in the round-16 platform for the second season in a row – Serie A titlers scrambled 4-4 on away goals despite being the defeat of Porto 3-2 10-man after extra time on Tuesday.
Federico Chiesa scored in the second half for Juve and Adrien Rabiot went home after Sergio Oliveira’s second goal to set up a grandstand finish, but the Italian giants fell short.
For the first time in the League Cup / European Cup, Juventus have been relegated in the last 16 for two consecutive seasons as pressure mounts on first – year head coach Andrea Pirlo.
Pirlo, who replaced Maurizio Sarri at the start of the season, will also look for third-placed Juve in Serie A with 10 points troubling Inter leaders.
When asked about his future and whether he had spoken to Juve president Andrea Agnelli, Pirlo told reporters: “The president did not reassure me. He confirmed that this project just started.
“I’m completely calm about the future, I’m sure we’ll move on together. We just started last summer. All the players who joined Juventus last summer are has shown that they have what they have to play at this stage. So I am, ‘I’m sure we can do better in the future. “
Juventus failed to advance from the knockout stage of the Champions League after extra time for the first time since 2016.
“I spoke to the president after the game and we talked about the game and what we need to do to improve it in the future,” Pirlo said. “We started the game well tonight. We had a chance to score with him [Alvaro] Morata but we lost it and then conceded the first goal.
“After the goal we scored, we were too long and also psychologically we weren’t in the game thinking that was too hard to come back in. In the second half instead we played with approach different and we were able to reverse the result, they were unlucky in some cases and in the end we made another mistake that cost us the certificate. “
Cristiano Ronaldo fired a blank while Juventus took off on Tuesday – a result that immediately cast doubt on the 36-year-old’s future with the Bianconeri.
Juve have not progressed past the semi-finals since Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, came from Real Madrid in 2018, after finishing second in two of the previous four seasons before he signed up.
In addition to his assist for Chiesa’s first goal, Ronaldo was largely under Porto’s control, but Pirlo defended a five-time Champions League winner.
“When Ronaldo plays in the Champions League it’s usually as if your team starts the game one goal ahead of your opponent. But it can happen even to an amazing player like him without be able to score, “Pirlo said.
“Federico won twice and played well. Also a champion like him [Cristiano] you can have a bad game. He was fighting a lot tonight but unfortunately he didn’t make us go through the next step this time. “