Guess I'm in the minority. I always respected Juve as an opponent. I thought they were the only ones worth competing with. I look down on Inter...and find Roma delusional.

I want us to beat Juve really really bad...but for me it's a pure sporting rivalry. Their shirt is just as glorious as ours..as far as I'm concerned...calciopoli excluded.

what can Inter take pride in? having never been relegated is the best they can come up with

And the triplette. I have many Inter fans, and they consider us and Juventus thieves, whilst their club is honorable and successful. I can't help but cringe every time I have debates with them.

I don't think the first Italian club to win the treble is embarassing, but they have a history of failure. Juve have a history of failure in Europe. We just do not fail.

Forgot about the triple. no one can undervalue that.

Why, thank you! Glad I did. I can only hope you don't run into some of them pathetic Juventus fans anytime soon, who think that not only their club is a gift to the world of football, but the whole world is against them. Italy, Europe, UEFA officials, everyone. And that's not even talking about their dirty play, pressuring referees, etc.

And then they've got sick little names for everyone and their grandmothers,

they lie, cheat, steal, anything for a result. Like I said, it was a good few years when Juventus got what they had coming and stayed in the wilderness of Serie B. But now with their Scudetto, I fear they will be back and gain strength from now on. Sad.

Seriously, I abhor violence, but I'd give a good kick to the knickers to the next person who calls us Bilan.

You know, I don't really care about it. The triplette means you've been awesome for only one year. Inter fans take immense pride in that. But prior to 2010 and afterwards, they had their fair share of problems. Before the triplette, they were simply winning in Italy with zero competition from Milan and Juventus, Roma being the toughest opponent, but utterly failing in Europe against the various Villareal's and Valencia's. After the triplette, they completely crumbled apart, changing five coaches in two years. Where's the coolness in that? When we were under Sacchi's, Capello's and Ancelotti's magical spells, we used to dominate in Italy and Europe for several years.

Well, there's the way Inter did it and the way Barca or Man U did it...


And the thing is, years from now, people won't care how Inter won the triple and what became of them after it, not even the way they approached the Barca game which wasn't even catenaccio, worse than that. all they'll remember is this: Inter were the first Italian club to win the triple. I would have liked that honor for us. it's a source of pride. but now it's too late. although not for joining the club at least.

And the triplette. I have many Inter fans, and they consider us and Juventus thieves, whilst their club is honorable and successful. I can't help but cringe every time I have debates with them.

Pirlo: "From a tactical and didactic point of view, Conte is even better than Ancelotti and Lippi, who are also two great coaches."

Andrea Pirlo has revealed that he left Milan because he was no longer in the first team plans of boss Massimiliano Allegri.

The playmaker quit the Rossoneri on a Bosman last summer to join Juventus and he subsequently inspired their Scudetto success.

“Milan offered me a one-year extension, but I wanted three years because I was younger than the other players whose contracts were expiring,” he told the Gazzetta dello Sport.

“But the real reason behind why I left Milan was because Allegri wanted to use Massimo Ambrosini or Mark Van Bommel in front of the defence instead of me.

“That meant that I had to change position on the pitch. So I said ‘no thanks’ to Milan and chose Juventus.

“Milan decided that I was no longer useful to them. I understood that immediately during our meeting.”

Some were surprised by Pirlo’s decision to leave champions Milan for a team who had finished the previous two seasons in seventh place.

“When I was at Gigi Buffon’s wedding in June last year, people asked me if I was crazy because I had left,” he added.

“I then replied that when I decide to join another club, I do it because I want to win. And I also said that we would win the Italian championship.

“And now those same people thank me because they went and put money on us winning the Scudetto…”

While Juventus enjoyed the assists of Pirlo, Milan did struggle at times without his calmness and vision.

“A lot of my former teammates told me that they missed me during the campaign,” he added. “But I’m happy as I won.

“Almost all of my former teammates at Milan sent me text messages congratulating me on winning the Scudetto.”

The 32-year-old has fond memories of his time with the Diavolo, but he admits that their attempt to get him suspended for a Cup game after an alleged elbow on Van Bommel was uncalled for.

“That annoyed me,” he continued. “I played there for 10 years and they know that I don’t do certain things…”


The experienced Italian international also took advantage of the interview to praise ‘rookie’ Coach Antonio Conte.

“Conte is a great. I’ve had a lot of Coaches in my career, but never one who has been so prepared, so meticulous in his work and who explains things so well.

“We watch videos of our opponents three or four times a week and it's difficult for them to surprise us as a result.

“In terms of tactics and the way he teaches, he’s better than Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi.”


With the Scudetto won, Pirlo now believes that his side can be a force in next season’s Champions League.

“This Juve is one of the strongest ever in terms of mentality and pride,” he commented. “We can make a bid for the Champions League as we are now by playing in the same way.

“But we’ll need a few signings to complete the squad, even if we would have done well in the competition this season.”

This Juve is one of the strongest ever in terms of mentality

Carlo Ancelotti was the coach who made him what he is, someone hit Pirlo on his head and feed him this intel.

I thought his "I'm #1" comment was made in the heat of the moment and there'd be no more comments like that, but he still hasn't stopped and something tells me we'll hear more from him in the future.

What a weird interview... this guy is doing his best to undo all the good things he did for Milan. what a shame.

Carlo Ancelotti was the coach who made him what he is, someone hit Pirlo on his head and feed him this intel.

Agreed.

It seems Pirlo wanted the team built around him, when in reality his performances of recent years wouldn't even mean he deserved assurance that he'd be a first XI player.

I can't agree. His last few seasons were truly awful, for all the club knew he was finished. If he really felt he had 3 years in him, he'd have accepted a 1-year deal. Then if as he believed, he still had it and had a good season - he'd get another 1-year deal on more money. Something tells me he didn't believe it himself which is why he was very desperate for a long contract. You'd think after what we've done for him he'd show us more respect.

Inter to Milan to Juve. Get some morales, Andy. Nothing but a mercenary.

I'm on Pirlo's side in this one. I honestly don't find anything wrong with his comments. Allegri didn't treat him with respect, our medical staff kept him out for a whole year, and the club didn't offer him a 3-year deal, when he was clearly the youngest of the bunch, comprising Seedorf, Inzaghi, Ambrosini etc. His "elbowing" against van Bommel was blown out of proportions, and the way the club reacted afterwards indicating it to the media was utterly disgusting. We gifted one of the best players in the world to our direct rivals and he was one of the main reasons why they beat us to the scudetto race. Enough said.

was blown out of proportions

@dru: Mercenary scum? Hmm...you mean like Baggio?

I think the funniest thing is that their lack of European football over the last 5 or 6 years will have destroyed their co-efficient. I enjoy watching them as a 3rd/4th seed team with a tough group.

Massimiliano Allegri prepares for next season with Riccardo Montolivo at Milan and sends a message to Andrea Pirlo. “I don’t care what he says.”

The Coach has nothing more to play for this term and takes on already-relegated Novara this afternoon.

“I must compliment Juventus, as they had an extraordinary year and deserve this Scudetto. This does not mean it was a failure for Milan, though,” said Allegri.

“We won it last season, went close this time and hope to be competitive in Europe and Serie A next year too.

“Next season Montolivo will arrive and he is a very talented player with great technique. In any case, Milan will remain competitive next year and we must continue the work we started last season. We need to begin again with great enthusiasm.”

Montolivo is a free agent, as his contract with Fiorentina expires on June 30.

There is the sensation this is the end of an era, as Alessandro Nesta, Gennaro Gattuso, Pippo Inzaghi and Mark van Bommel have all confirmed they are leaving Milan, while Clarence Seedorf and Gianluca Zambrotta are expected to follow with their contracts expiring next month.

“These are going to be difficult days, as we are saying goodbye to players and men who have written Milan history. It must be a celebration for those lads who are leaving and I thank them for giving their all. Unfortunately you cannot hold back time.

“To be here for 10 years and win so many trophies means you have a very strong mentality. We’re finishing a season and an era.”

There was already a sign of change within the Rossoneri camp last summer, when Andrea Pirlo joined Juventus on a free transfer and proved decisive in the Scudetto race. The veteran midfielder sniped at Allegri, suggesting the Coach “didn’t want” him around.

“I thank Pirlo for the hard work he put in last year. I evaluate players when I have them at my disposal. After that, I don’t care what they do or say,” replied Allegri.

Two things:

1) About Pirlo. I must say, all maestro's I've encountered in my life are a bit eccentric, egocentric and specific. Take Boban who did what he did here in Zagreb while fighting with the Yugoslav police - and who always remained a bit of an eccentric. I'll never understand why he decided to leave Milan for Celta Vigo. Take Rui Costa who was a gentleman for most of the time, but also had his blackouts and could crack someones bones. Take Seedorf who's at the same time a gentleman and a "heavy" personality. So I understand Pirlo's behavior. He's hurt; but on the other side, he's gone too far in a few aspects. I understand him, yet I'm not completely with him.

2) Hmh. This Allegri response gives us the direct answer: Montolivo is our new creativity man, and I don't think we're planning on anyone else.

One second he didn't have any motivation,another,Allegri didn't want me...etc

Hmh. This Allegri response gives us the direct answer: Montolivo is our new creativity man, and I don't think we're planning on anyone else.

Pirlo said he had to change position on the pitch, so he said no thanks. that means Allegri wanted to use him... in a different position. not entirely surprising given that he uses Urby as an AM...

Andrea Pirlo's peerless pass-mastery could lift even the Trentside fog

Juventus's pageant with Notts County and the title–winning form of their regista epitomise a fine moment for the Old Lady


The first time I saw Andrea Pirlo was on a cold and fog-shrouded November evening in Monza in 2000, when he was a member of the Italy Under-21 team sent out to confront Howard Wilkinson's England selection. Only 11 minutes had been played when the referee abandoned the match but since that night Pirlo's quality has illuminated every ground on which he has played, and none more so than Juventus's new stadium, where he and his team-mates celebrated the Serie A championship on Sunday.

A byword for graceful creativity, Pirlo has been the most influential midfield player in Europe this season, bar none. Last summer he left Milan, his home for 10 glittering years in which, mostly under Carlo Ancelotti, he won two European Cups, two Uefa Super Cups, one Fifa Club World Cup and two Italian league titles, and where he had intended to finish his career. But Massimiliano Allegri, Ancelotti's latest successor, wanted to install a different sort of influence in the position Pirlo had made his own, at the base of midfield: someone more physical, more aggressive, such as Mark van Bommel or Massimo Ambrosini.

A one-year extension was the best Milan could offer when Pirlo's contract expired. The player reckoned that, at 32, three more years would be about right. Milan declined his suggestion and probably no greater misjudgment has been made since Real Madrid sold Claude Makélélé to make room for David Beckham. Once it became known that Pirlo was on the market, Juventus snapped him up. Their new coach, Antonio Conte, himself a former international midfield player of great distinction, saw Pirlo as the foundation of the side he was building to go with the club's new home.

Last September the stadium was inaugurated with a stylish gala. Following the speeches and the presentation of great figures associated with the club's history, from Giampiero Boniperti to Edgar Davids, a game took place between Conte's new team and Notts County, the current representatives of the club who, back in 1903, sent Juventus a set of the black and white striped shirts in which they have played ever since.

When you think of all the famous clubs who would have happily accepted such an invitation, the Barcelonas and Manchester Uniteds and Bayern Munichs, this was a gesture of great historical sensitivity on the part of Andrea Agnelli, Juve's 36-year-old president, the fourth member of his family to hold the post. It came in response to a tentative call from Jim Rodwell, Notts's chief executive, wanting to ask Juventus to help mark this year's 150th anniversary of the world's oldest professional football club. Certainly, Agnelli responded, but why don't you join our celebrations first?

And so it came to pass that the players and officials of a club in the third tier of the English game found themselves on a private jet and in a five-star hotel, all at the expense of hosts for whom their ancestors had done a small favour more than a century earlier. For that, as much as for anything else, I reckon Juventus fully deserve their success in recapturing the Serie A title, the reward for a deed of outstanding dignity and generosity.

Others will conclude that Juve's success in remaining unbeaten throughout the entire league season was more to do with the quality of Pirlo's passing. As he did for year after year in Milan's colours, the newcomer made himself constantly available to his team-mates, always there to receive the ball and move it on in the most relevant direction. He was compass and metronome rolled into one, and he did not get injured or suspended.

As the very promising Conte showed the extent of his tactical imagination by shuffling his team's formation from an initial 4-2-4 to 4-1-4-1, then to 4-2-3-1, and finally to an alternation between 4-3-3 and 3-5-2, Pirlo remained the keystone, utterly reliable and seemingly ageless. Only the colour of the stripes had changed.

Pirlo began his career as a classic No10, an attacking midfielder in the mould of Gianni Rivera or the young Roberto Baggio. The role did not quite suit him and it was while he was on loan from Internazionale, his first big club, back to Brescia, where he had started out, that the veteran coach Carlo Mazzone identified a new, deeper position from which he could direct the play. He became what Italians call a regista. Not having a word for it, we borrow a term from American football: the quarterback. Xabi Alonso and Paul Scholes are pretty good exponents but no one in recent times has come close to Pirlo's calm mastery and next month he will be a key figure in Cesare Prandelli's Italy at the Euro 2012 finals.

And so on Wednesday, four days before their team conclude a highly successful season with an appearance in the Coppa Italia final against Napoli, Agnelli and his fellow directors will open their new club museum, located in the Juventus Stadium (which really deserves a more resonant name). Among their guests will be Ray Trew, Notts County's owner, who rescued the club from their latest flirtation with oblivion two years ago, and Jim Rodwell. With their own anniversary functions already under way, the pair will be hoping to bring back news of a return fixture with the new champions of Italy before the start of next season. Imagine it: Andrea Pirlo at Meadow Lane. Just as long as the Trentside fog holds off …

Pirlo: 'Italy are like Juventus'
By Football Italia staff

Andrea Pirlo is confident Italy can shine at Euro 2012 by taking inspiration from Juventus. “At Milan they thought I was finished, but here I am...”

The midfielder’s contract with the Rossoneri was allowed to expire a year ago and he revitalised his career by becoming decisive for Scudetto winners Juventus.

“At Milan they thought I was finished, but here I am...” smiled Pirlo in a press conference on international duty with Italy.

“I don’t know if I will continue my Azzurri career until the 2014 World Cup. We’ll see if I am still useful and will still be called up.”

Cesare Prandelli has pledged that Pirlo will have a crucial role in the European Championships next month.

“Our objective is to go all the way in this competition. We are not among the favourites and we know that, but I am convinced Italy can finish in the top four.

“Spain are the reigning World and European Champions, so clearly they are the favourites. Then there are great sides like Holland, Germany and France.

“Italy have great inner strength. This side resembles Juventus and can go far, as we have everything we need to go far.

“We enjoy playing our football together, have quality and hunger, so those are our strengths. We aim to reach at least the semi-finals, because we are Italy and we can do it.

“Am I crucial? There are many strong players here and it’s not always true that the one with the most touches during a game is the most important. In any case, I am happy to take my share of the responsibility.

“I have no problem changing position on the field, as I’ve always happily adapted both at club and international level. ("I had to change position on the pitch. So I said ‘no thanks’ to Milan and chose Juventus"). We’re used to playing in various systems, so Coach Prandelli will decide.”

Way to go. He needs a few more of these, and he'll be crossed off from my list forever.