Turin, Aug 9 (IANS): Italian midfield great Andrea Pirlo has been announced as the new head coach of Serie A champions Juventus. Pirlo will replace Maurizio Sarri in the role, who was sacked after the Champions League exit and the 41-year-old former World Cup winner was announced as his successor.
“Andrea Pirlo today signed a two-year contract until 30 June 2022,” said Juventus in their statement.
The decision also comes just nine days after Pirlo was announced as the coach of the side’s under 23 squad. This will be the first managerial job for Pirlo, who retired from football in November 2017.
Juventus was the last club Pirlo played for in Italy after a highly successful 10 years at AC Milan. He won two Champions League titles, two UEFA Super Cups, two Serie A titles, a FIFA Club World Cup, a Supercoppa Italiana, and a Coppa Italia before joining Juve on a free transfer in 2011.
With the Turin giants, Pirlo won four more consecutive Serie A titles alongwith two Supercoppa Italiana titles, and a Coppa Italia. His final game for Juventus and in Europe was a 3-1 defeat to Barcelona in the 2015 Champions League final.
Pirlo is also the fifth-most capped player for Italy with 116 appearances. He played an instrumental role in their victory at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Juventus on Saturday sacked Sarri after he failed to guide the Italian champions to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, losing to Lyon in the last-16 stage.
“Juventus Football Club announces that Maurizio Sarri has been relieved of his post as coach of the First Team,” a statement on the club’s official website said.
“The club would like to thank the coach for having written a new page in Juventus’ history with the victory of the ninth-consecutive championship, the culmination of a personal journey that led him to climb all the divisions of Italian football,” it added.
The former Chelsea and Napoli coach took charge of Juventus in June last year and had put pen to paper on a three-year contract at the time.
