Miralem Pjanic has revealed he he received offers last summer but “had no reason to change club. It’s my dream to win the Champions League and I’m in the ideal place.”
The Juventus midfielder was linked with Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in recent months but told Il Giornale that he had no desire to leave the Bianconeri.
“There was some interest, it’s true, but I had no reason to change club. I don’t know if Juventus will be my last big club, because transfers don’t just depend on the player, but also on the club and who might or might not need you in that role.
“The midfield is the heart of the game. You need to be able to run and think quickly, do it all. One of the best qualities for a midfielder is to think a few steps ahead, see things the others don’t.
“I get compared to Andrea Pirlo, but he was absolutely world class, so it’s an unfair comparison. What we did share was our career trajectory, as we both started out in the trequartista role and ended up as deep-lying playmakers.
“Zidane? Everything he touched turned to gold, he is the number one, but I am already working with a great Coach now.
“The truth is that winning is the only thing that matters. If you go forward three years, nobody remembers if you played badly, all you see written down in the history books is who won.
“A great player is only remembered by the trophies he was able to bring home.
“Ronaldo? He has always been decisive in the big games, he was born to score important goals. And now we have him in our team. It’s up to us to make the most of his presence.
“When we have a chat, he tells me that he is happy and confident in the strength of this Juve side. I can see that the Champions League will come to Juventus over the next few years. It’s my dream to win it and I am in the ideal place to achieve that dream.
“Atletico? Their philosophy is not easy to deal with at all, so it’s up to us to control both games and most importantly try to score a goal in Madrid.
“Atleti do have a lot of similarities with Juve, as both teams are solid, allow few spaces and don’t concede many goals. They are very aggressive when marking or pressing opposition players, whereas we have stronger individual talents. That is where we must make the difference over the two legs.
“They’ll be even more motivated because they want to play the Final on home turf, having played two in the last five years. They’ve got the same record reaching the Final in that period as Juve.
“We feel strong, even if we’ve been knocked out of the Coppa Italia by Atalanta. Other than that, we’ve only had great results this season. There have been some more complicated matches lately, so we need to improve in two or three areas when facing these knockout ties.
“We’ve conceded too many goals recently and it is not like us. The team must defend as a unit and when I say all together, I really mean it. Even the strikers must participate in helping the defence.
“This is an important year and we’ve got to focus.
“We should’ve won 4-0 against Manchester United that night. We’ve proved many times that we are strong, but people always want to create a sense of alarm around us. We’re not worried.”
