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| Andrea Pirlo |
Juventus and Italy legend Andrea Pirlo has told his former
team-mates to win Saturday’s Champions League final for him.
“Here we are: Juve-Real in the Champions League final. I say
‘we’ because even if this time I will not be on the pitch, I will be the number
one supporter,” the veteran midfielder wrote in a column for La Stampa, the
daily based in Juventus’s home city of Turin.
Now playing for New York City FC, Pirlo said he would be
racing home after his new club’s MLS clash with Philadelphia to watch the final
on television.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to sit still,” he wrote.
Pirlo won four Italian titles in his 2011-15 stint at
Juventus. He was part of the side that lost 2015 final to Barcelona and the
pain lingers still.
“Sometimes I think back to that night two years ago in
Berlin. When you lose a final you find yourself back there in your mind and
you’d love to play it again. Unfortunately for me, I can’t do that, but I’m
happy they can.”
Pirlo, who won European football’s biggest prize twice with
AC Milan, said a Juve triumph would be a fitting honour for club captain Gigi
Buffon as the Italy goalkeeper nears the end of his trophy-laden career.
“I say this as a friend and a former teammate who knows him
well – he deserves it,” Pirlo wrote. “This is the only thing he’s missing.”
The 38-year-old said Real would be formidable opponents but
were not unbeatable.
“There are reasons to be wary of them, but that is true of
every team at this level. If Juve approach this clash the way they know how,
they’ve got a great chance. They’ve not gone wrong in all the matches that have
counted so far this season.”
AFP
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