Andrea Pirlo insists the Champions League exit to Porto is not ‘the end of our season’ and Juventus won’t change their path, although Cristiano Ronaldo rumours are to be expected.
The trip to Cagliari kicks off at the Sardegna Arena on Sunday at 17.00 GMT.
“The team obviously suffered a heavy blow, but we resumed training and have the path forward clear in our minds,” said Pirlo in his press conference.
Andrea Pirlo insists the Champions League exit to Porto is not ‘the end of our season’ and Juventus won’t change their path, although Cristiano Ronaldo rumours are to be expected.
The trip to Cagliari kicks off at the Sardegna Arena on Sunday at 17.00 GMT.
“The team obviously suffered a heavy blow, but we resumed training and have the path forward clear in our minds,” said Pirlo in his press conference.
“Cagliari are a team who recently changed their coach and immediately picked up some important results, so we need pride and team spirit to put in a great performance against Cagliari.”
This will be the first game since the devastating Champions League Round of 16 exit to 10-man Porto, prompting suggestions in Italy and Spain that Ronaldo could be sold.
“Ronaldo is fine. It’s natural he is disappointed by what happened the other night, as is everyone. He trained well and has recovered to play tomorrow night.
“It’s natural there are rumours after the elimination, as he is the most important player in the world along with Lionel Messi. He has always done well for us, scoring 90-odd goals and more than proved his worth.
“The project started in recent years planned the enrichment of the squad with players of a certain pedigree. It’s impossible to create a team just of young players. This was the initial project and it will be for the future as well.”
This is Pirlo’s first season as a coach, but he does have more experience than most as a player.
“I had many of these situations in my career, as I won a great deal and also lost. I always tried to get back on track despite disappointment and we’ll do the same here.
“Our season didn’t end on Tuesday, we still have Serie A games to play and the Coppa Italia Final. We resume with the urge to show we are Juventus and we can react to negative moments by getting the best out of ourselves. It depends on us and the targets we’ve set ourselves.
“When you start, you hope to win every game, but that is not possible. This isn’t like in your dreams, you have to work hard and know that there will also be defeats.
“Our path will not change, we must have faith and believe in ourselves. We are convinced that we still have a great future ahead of us.”
The Juventus wait for a Champions League trophy continues after 26 years, so what is missing at this level?
“We made some mistakes and when you make those in this competition, you can go out. We have to accept this elimination and learn from those errors. Now our objective is the league.
“We have to take it one game at a time, making the most of the fact we have more time now to prepare for matches and rest players. We also need to be more clinical.”
The injury crisis is beginning to ease in one sense, but Merih Demiral and Aaron Ramsey were added to the absentee list.
“Everyone is fine, except Demiral, Ramsey, Dybala and Bentancur, so the others are all available and ready to play tomorrow. Giorgio Chiellini has recovered and could start tomorrow.
“We hope to have Dybala back after the break for international duty. We’ve practically never had him available this season and that was a big loss.”