Article by Aurelian Botezatu – Published Thursday, October 16, 2025, 11:59 / Updated Thursday, October 16, 2025 11:59
Andrea Pirlo (46 years old) worked with Cristiano Ronaldo (40 years) at Juventus for one season, between August 2020 and May 2021.
At all the clubs he has been to, Cristiano Ronaldo has been among the best players. A great fitness fanatic, he even criticized his teammates when one of them pulled the trigger.
Andrea Pirlo, photo: Imago Images
However, during his time at Juventus, where he played between 2018 and 2021, CR7 failed to live up to the demands of one of the coaches he worked with. For Andrea Pirlo (46), who trained him in the 2020 – 2021 season, Ronaldo was even a negative example!
At Juventus, Cristiano Ronaldo was the weakest at sprints
This was revealed by Alparslan Erdem (36), who worked as the Italian's assistant coach at Karagümrük in Turkey from July 2022 to May 2023. Invited to Bild tabloid's 'Stammplatz' podcast, Erdem said: “At one point, during a meeting, Pirlo's analyst gave us as an example some data from Juve period.
One thing was clear. Pirlo didn't like Dybala and Cristiano Ronaldo didn't suit his style of play at all. He wanted to press forward, and the data showed that Cristiano Ronaldo was the weakest in sprints. He didn't want it, but there was nothing he could do about it. It was Cristiano Ronaldo!”.
Andrea Pirlo and Cristiano Ronaldo left in 2021 from Juventus
Erdem claims that Pirlo liked Alvaro Morata better: “He was perfect for his system, 4-4-2. Ronaldo didn't fit his strategy, but he just couldn't afford to take him out of the team.” Juve bought CR7 for 118 million euros in 2018, from Real Madrid, but in the summer of 2021, they sold him to Manchester United for only 17 million.
Pirlo was also fired from the Bianconeri then, even though he won the Italian Cup. The former great midfielder of the Italian national team now coaches United FC in the United Arab Emirates.
