Del Piero: "Cristiano can't do what he did five or 10 years ago"

Alessandro Del Piero has spoken about his former club Juventus’ struggles last season and defended the management of Andrea Pirlo while suggesting Cristiano Ronaldo should look at changing his playing style to squeeze the best out of the final years of his career. “You have to see if a player is functional or not. I think CR7 has entered a stage in his career where he can no longer do the things he did ten or five years ago, he should think about changing his program in line with his potential, which remains very high,” Juve’s record appearance holder and top goalscorer said in an interview with Corriere della Sera."He'll have to talk to the club and to Allegri if they want to continue together." 

Del Piero also said Pirlo had been unfairly criticized after Juventus narrowly qualified for the Champions League after seeing their stranglehold on the Serie A title broken by Inter. “The difficulties were not only his, but Juventus’ as a whole. It would be unfair to place all the blame on Andrea.”

Del Piero not ruling out Juventus return

The former Italy forward is set to commentate on Euro 2020 for Sky Italia, but he is also doing his badges to become a coach alongside some old teammates. “[Christian] Vieri is the most undisciplined. [Paulo] De Rossi is already a coach, he just needs a bench and that will happen soon.”

Of his own future, Del Piero said he would probably not be taking up a boardroom position at Juve like Paolo Maldini at AC Milan. “I’m not closing any doors. They haven’t ever called me but I wouldn’t want a role based on what I did in the past, that will always be there like my relationship with Juve. I’d like to do something based on who I am and what I can give now.”