Pjanic: Juventus must aspire to much more than winning Serie A

Miralem Pjanic acknowledged this season would go down as a disappointment for Juventus after they again failed to follow their Serie A title with Champions League success.

The Bianconeri won a ninth straight Scudetto in 2019-20 yet once more fell short in European competition.

Juve crashed out to Lyon at the last-16 stage after Cristiano Ronaldo’s two goals in a 2-1 win in Turin on Friday could not rescue the tie, with the Ligue 1 side going through on away goals.

Captain Leonardo Bonucci was first in front of the Sky Italia cameras following full-time and he suggested the team could still reflect fondly on their domestic campaign.

“The main thing was always to win the Scudetto,” he said. “We knew anything could happen in the Champions League with this format.”

But Pjanic, who will now depart for Barcelona following a transfer that saw Arthur move the other way, disagreed with the defender.

“I heard Bonucci talking about the ninth straight title,” Pjanic told Sky. “I don’t want to belittle that, but this club must aspire to much more.”

Compliments to @OL_English on their qualification for the #UCL quarter-finals. https://t.co/ZCqLTbyjkZ

— JuventusFC (#Stron9er ) (@juventusfcen) August 7, 2020

However, the midfielder was also keen to reflect on that title triumph, suggesting Juve – who stumbled across the finish line – had struggled to adapt to new coach Maurizio Sarri while maintaining their high standards.

“The last few months have not gone as I thought,” said Pjanic, who was left on the bench for matches against Atalanta, Lazio and Udinese in July.

“I don’t know for what reasons. I was hoping and wanted to play more, but they are choices to be accepted.

“At Napoli, the coach showed something very good, the team was very involved. This year instead, though, we had difficulties – even the opponents knew that a lot passes [were made] through the director.

“Maybe we played a different kind of football, but we proved it [works] in various games. It takes time, even if winning is not easy.

“We made it look simple, but it was not; we must not belittle what has been done.

“In Europe, this club must do more, aim to win. To get to win, you also need to have everyone available – in recent years, this has not happened.”