Andrea Pirlo doesn’t think Milan will challenge for the Scudetto this year, and says Juventus “are still the team to beat”.
The New York City midfielder played for both clubs, but doesn’t think the Rossoneri’s capture of Leonardo Bonucci will give them the edge in the title race.
“Juve are still the team to beat,” Pirlo explained to La Repubblica.
“They’ve strengthened with Douglas Costa, [Federico] Bernardeschi and [Wojciech] Szczesny and now they’ll take someone else.
Andrea Pirlo doesn’t think Milan will challenge for the Scudetto this year, and says Juventus “are still the team to beat”.
The New York City midfielder played for both clubs, but doesn’t think the Rossoneri’s capture of Leonardo Bonucci will give them the edge in the title race.
“Juve are still the team to beat,” Pirlo explained to La Repubblica.
“They’ve strengthened with Douglas Costa, [Federico] Bernardeschi and [Wojciech] Szczesny and now they’ll take someone else.
“Every year people say it’s the turn of Napoli, Roma and others, then we see how it goes.
“Bonucci will give Milan great charisma, personality and international experience, while Juventus will miss his technique and his ability to play the ball.
“Will Milan fight for the Scudetto? I don’t think so. When you’re starting from zero and take 10 new players, they can be as good as you want it’s still difficult to win straight away.
“You have to get them to play together, to fit well together on the pitch. [Coach Vincenzo] Montella has a difficult but stimulating job. Their goal is to reach the Champions League.”
It has been suggested that Bonucci left the Bianconeri due to Massimiliano Allegri, a similar situation to Pirlo’s free transfer from Milan.
“I don’t know what happened between them, but I left Milan because I was at the end of my contract and I wanted a new adventure. It was nothing to do with Allegri.
“I didn’t change through any fault of his, I could have stayed at Milan too but I felt that a cycle was finished.”
Pirlo won the Champions League twice at Milan, but lost in the final with Juve and saw them beaten in Cardiff too.
“I don’t think there’s anything missing in particular, anything can happen in a final. I’m still sorry for Berlin, not for me but for the team.
“Juve dropped off in the second half in Cardiff, it can happen. I lost one against Liverpool when we were 3-0 up at half-time, and that was with Milan…”