The strong bond between Mancini and Pirlo after exchanging Italy roles

Andrea Pirlo and Paolo Maldini have built a strong bond during their time at Milan, but they never got to play together with the national team, as the ex-midfielder made his debut just a few months after Maldini’s international retirement.

Multiple sources claim that Pirlo is now the leading candidate to become Italy’s national team coach after Pep Guardiola rejected the FIGC proposal.

Pirlo set to become new Italy head coach? Maldini has recently been appointed as the Azzurri’s technical director and is responsible for selecting the next head coach, although FIGC President Giovanni Malagò provides the final approval.

ROME, ITALY- MARCH 20: Andrea Pirlo and Paolo Maldini of AC Milan celebrate their second goal at the Serie A game between Roma and AC Milan at the Stadio Olimpico on March 20, 2005 in Rome Italy. (Photo by Newpress/Getty Images) As reported by Gazzetta , Maldini already wanted to hire Pirlo as Milan’s head coach in 2023, before being sacked by the Rossoneri.

If Maldini had stayed, he would have probably recruited his former teammate to replace Stefano Pioli, who would end up staying at San Siro for one more season.

“It’s true. We had talked about it, but it was just a chat between friends,” Pirlo said in October 2023.

Maldini and Pirlo had played together at Milan, winning the Champions League twice, plus two Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia, two European Supercups and one Club World Cup.

However, they never got to play together with the Italy national team, as Pirlo made his debut just a few months after Maldini’s international retirement.

Maldini, in fact, played his last Azzurri game at the 2002 World Cup Round of 16 against South Korea, which saw La Nazionale knocked out.

Pirlo made his debut just a few months later, in September 2002, against Azerbaijan, coming off the pitch at minute 77 to replace Filippo Inzaghi, another Milan legend. Back then, Pirlo had just begun his second season with the Rossoneri.

Thanks to their time at Milan, Pirlo and Maldini, two of the best players of all time, have built a solid relationship on and off the pitch, as both have repeatedly confirmed in recent years.

EMPOLI, ITALY – OCTOBER 01: Paolo Maldini of AC Milan looks on during the Serie A match between Empoli FC and AC MIlan at Stadio Carlo Castellani on October 1, 2022 in Empoli, Italy. (Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images) Maldini was even one of the first people to know that Pirlo had been appointed as the new Juventus head coach in the summer of 2020, just a few weeks after being appointed as the Bianconeri’s U23 coach.

“I called him to congratulate him on being appointed head coach of the U23,” Maldini once said.

“I jokingly said: ‘You are not going to Turin to coach the first team, are you?’ And he replied: ‘How did you know?’ I was one of the first people to find out. What started as a joke turned out to be the truth.”