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Andrea Pirlo has openly defended his decision to take Cristiano Ronaldo off during Juventus' win over Inter Milan in the Coppa Italia on Tuesday night.
The Portuguese star was unhappy with the move, but the manager insists that his star forward needs rest.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been one of the world's best players for more than a decade now, and the one thing that has rarely happened is him getting subbed off.
Yesterday's match was one such night where the manager decided that he wanted to take the Portuguese off before the final whistle.
Juventus were taking on Inter Milan in the Coppa Italia, and they ended up winning 2-1 at San Siro.
Cristiano Ronaldo was on hattrick when Andrea Pirlo took him off in the 77th minute.
Talking to Rai Sport in the post-match interview, the Juventus manager said:
"It's normal that when you go out in a match like this you want to play to help the team. There is no contract clause that says he can't be subbed off. He knows he is a fundamental player for us but to get his breath back, he must always be at the top."
"He proved it with his performances after some criticism. He couldn't have done better than that. I said [to him] that he had to rest, we have an important match on Saturday. He has played many consecutive games, every now and then a little rest is good for him."
Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus
Cristiano Ronaldo joined Juventus from Real Madrid in 2018 and is in his 3rd season at the club.
The Portuguese has already played under three differnet managers with at the Serie A side - just two fewer than his nine years at Real Madrid.
Juventus have won Serie A in both the season with Cristiano Ronaldo and have also bagged the Supercoppa Italiana.
However, they are yet to win the Coppa Italia with the Portuguese playing for them, and he is desperate to lift the trophy this season.
After last night's 2-1 win over Inter in the first leg of the semi-final, Juventus now have one foot in the final.
