Last month, we revealed that there were growing whispers concerning Andrea Pirlo's future in Turin.
Although highly regarded by many due to his successful football career, the 2006 World Cup winner has found life as a debut manager a lot tougher than he certainly would have anticipated. Ten points behind bitter rivals Inter in the Scudetto race and dumped out of the Champions League after losing to Porto in the round of 16, the former Juventus midfielder is now facing increasing pressure to keep his spot on the tactician's bench.
Well, those growing whispers have now become a roar. Italian publication La Gazzetta dello Sport has boldly claimed that Pirlo has two games, or, in short, 180 minutes left, to determine whether he'll still remain at the Allianz Stadium or be out of a job.
That means that Juve's upcoming matches will be especially crucial. La Vecchia Signora will first face relegation-threatened Torino in the latest installment of the Derby della Mole this weekend, followed by a home clash with Napoli.
Pirlo's last game in charge of the Bianconeri saw their three game winning streak snapped as the Turin giants suffered a shocking and rather embarrassing 1-0 home defeat to the same Benevento side who managed to draw them earlier this season.
Mind you, Benevento had failed to win their last four games prior to that match, so Torino, who have won two of their last five, just may be hoping to pull off the same kind of upset when the two sides meet on Saturday.
Will Pirlo be able to rally the troops on Saturday? Time will certainly tell, but time is not something that is on his side if he wants to be able to save his job with his former club.
