Fabio Paratici Reveals Juventus Decided to Sack Maurizio Sarri Before Champions League Exit

Juventus' chief football officer Fabio Paratici has confirmed Maurizio Sarri would have been removed from his post as manager irrespective of the outcome of their Champions League tie against Lyon.

Sarri was relieved of his duties on Saturday, a day after La Vecchia Signora failed to progress to the quarter finals, falling a goal short of overturning a 1-0 deficit from the first leg in France.

Just four hours after Sarri's sacking, Juventus made the surprising announcement that former player Andrea Pirlo would take the managerial reins in Turin, just a week after he was recruited to lead Juve's Under-23s.

Paratici has since told Sky Sports Italia that the chain of events which led to the removal of Sarri and his replacement with Pirlo were in no way dependent on the Lyon result.

“We had already made our evaluations before the Lyon result,” said Paratici. "We had already said, one game does not decide the future of a coach. Our evaluations were based on the whole season and not just a single match."

Paratici went on to talk about the process of recruiting Pirlo, and his optimism when it comes to the legendary playmaker's capabilities as a manager.

“The decision for Pirlo was very natural, in the Juventus style, because he is someone who as we said just over a week ago played with us, has always been in contact with everyone here and it felt natural," Paratici explained.

"We also believe he is destined for greatness. He was as a player and we think with confidence he can do the same as a coach.

"Andrea has in his mind the same approach to coaching as he does when he played. That’s football of great quality and hard work. He wants to propose a certain type of football, the kind European teams are generally trying to follow, and he was very convincing in his explanation to us."