Mancini warns Pirlo: ‘Coaching is not like playing’

Italy CT Roberto Mancini was ‘happy’ to see Nicolò Barella scoring against Juventus and warned Andrea Pirlo ‘coaching is not like playing.’

The Azzurri coach shared his thoughts on the Scudetto race in an interview with Domenica Sportiva after Inter-Juventus.

“It was a nice game and I was happy to see Barella scoring. It’s a nice victory for Inter," Mancini said.

“Juventus can play a bad game once in a while, it happens in football,” he added.

Pirlo is being heavily criticised by Italian media.

“It’s normal to have problems at the beginning. Even if you have top players, coaching is not like playing. It’s normal, one improves slowly,” the former Manchester City coach claimed.

Inter reached Milan on top of the Serie A table, but the Rossoneri have one game in hand and will face Cagliari away this evening.

“I think they’ve found harmony, Milan are a young team.

“At first, I thought they could only last until a certain point, but they are still the table leaders. If they win against Cagliari, they can become dangerous and be title contenders until the end of the campaign,” Mancini concluded.