Pep says City aren’t special as Sarri pays price for Juve failure
Italian giants Juventus have appointed Andrea Pirlo as their new manager on a two-year deal.
Juve acted swiftly following the sacking of Maurizio Sarri, who paid the price for his side’s Champions League exit on Friday night.
The 41-year-old Pirlo, who made 164 appearances for the club between 2011 and 2015, was only named as the Under-23s manager 10 days ago.
Former Chelsea boss Sarri, 61, led Juventus to the Serie A title in his first season at the club but the away goals exit to Lyon on Friday saw him sacked.
A club statement read: “Juventus announce that Maurizio Sarri has been relieved of his post as coach of the first team.
“The club would like to thank the coach for writing a new page in Juventus history by winning a ninth consecutive Scudetto, the culmination of a personal journey that saw him move through every level of Italian football.”
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice against Lyon but Memphis Depay’s penalty was crucial to lead the French side to a surprise victory. Juve lost four of the 12 matches since the restart before their exit from Europe.
Following his sacking by Chelsea at the end of the 2018-19 season, Sarri succeeded Massimiliano Allegri in Turin and opened his reign with a 14-game unbeaten Serie A run, a campaign which featured strong challenges from Inter Milan and Lazio.
It was to the latter side that Juve first lost in the league last December, allowing the Roman club and Inter into the title race. When domestic football resumed in June after the shutdown, Juve’s poor form saw them struggle to beat Antonio Conte’s Inter to the Scudetto by a single point.
Former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, still out of work nine months after leaving Spurs, had been linked with the Bianconeri role, with previous managers Allegri and Conte, plus Simone Inzaghi of Lazio, also in the frame.
Pep Guardiola, with a year left on his contract at Manchester City, had also been in the frame as a potential successor, but the Catalan has publicly committed his future to the Premier League club..
Meanwhile, Guardiola has dismissed suggestions Manchester City should now be regarded as Champions League favourites.
City secured their place in the quarter-finals with a memorable victory over Real Madrid, beating the 13-times winners 2-1 at the Etihad to progress 4-2 on aggregate.
They will now play Lyon in a one-off match in Lisbon next Saturday as the remainder of the competition is played as a mini-tournament.
City will travel as one of the stronger sides but, after failing to beat Lyon in last season’s group stage, Guardiola is taking nothing for granted. He said: “All the teams who will be there, they’ll all think they have a chance.
“Why are we so special to win the Champions League than the other ones? I don’t see one reason why.
“We played against Lyon last season and we lost and drew. We couldn’t beat them. That is the reality.
“It is incredible for us but at the end of the day it is the last 16. We still have three games.”
City had no supporters to roar them on but they played with a formidable intensity as they looked to build on their 2-1 first-leg advantage rather than defend it.
Gabriel Jesus was outstanding, forcing an early error from Raphael Varane to tee up Raheem Sterling’s 100th City goal.
The Brazilian then took advantage of another Varane blunder to make it 2-1 after Karim Benzema had levelled on the night. There was no way back for Real after that and Guardiola felt to beat a side of their calibre was landmark for the club.
He said: “There are still many incredible teams left but the important first step for our confidence, for this year, for the future, was we beat Real Madrid.
“To win the Champions League you have to beat them, or Barcelona, Bayern Munich or the best Italian teams. You have to do it.
“For us, for our club, these wins give us a lot of presence in Europe because it is just the last decade we were there.
“It is so important, not just for the players, but for all the club, the workers, our fans.”