Mircea Lucescu believes Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo can ‘be like Guardiola and Zidane’ and reveals Inter wanted to sign Merih Demiral.
The Dynamo Kyiv’s manager gave Pirlo his firs appearance as a senior footballer back in the ‘90s and will be his first opponent as a coach in Champions League on October, 20.
“I knew Pirlo would become a coach and the same is true of [Diego] Simeone who I coached at Pisa,” Lucuscu told Tuttosport.
Mircea Lucescu believes Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo can ‘be like Guardiola and Zidane’ and reveals Inter wanted to sign Merih Demiral.
The Dynamo Kyiv’s manager gave Pirlo his firs appearance as a senior footballer back in the ‘90s and will be his first opponent as a coach in Champions League on October, 20.
“I knew Pirlo would become a coach and the same is true of [Diego] Simeone who I coached at Pisa,” Lucuscu told Tuttosport.
“I am not surprised Pirlo begins his coaching career at Juventus. It’s not a risky choice for him, the club chose him and will support him. I am very happy for him.”
Since the day of his appointment as Juventus’ head coach, Pirlo has been compared to the likes of Pep Guardiola and Zizou Zidane.
“He can be like them,” Lucescu insisted.
“Andrea was a champion a footballer and can become a big manager.”
The experienced 75-year-old coach believes no one is the favourite in the upcoming Champions League clashes.
“The players go on the pitch, not the coaches, that’s why I see no favourites.”
One of Dynamo’s biggest tasks will be trying to stop Cristiano Ronaldo.
“He is like Maradona, he gives his imprint in the teams where he plays. Facing CR7 is always worrying because he loves scoring and has a unique determination. We’ll try to limit him as a team. Trouble is, Juventus also have other players like [Paulo] Dybala, [Alvaro] Morata, Dejan [Kulusevski] and [Federico] Chiesa."
Lucescu will also reunite with Merih Demiral who he had coached when he was the CT of Turkey National Team.
“Adelio Moro, a former Inter scout, came to Turkey to watch him for Inter. Ivan Zamorano once called me to speak about the player on behalf of Javier Zanetti. They wanted to sign him but Juventus were quicker than everyone else.”