Pirlo hopes Dybala stays after heroics against Napoli
Andrea Pirlo is hopeful Paulo Dybala will stay at Juventus after the forward came off the bench to secure a Serie A win over Napoli.
Dybala scored as a substitute in a league game on Thursday (AEST) for the first time since March 2020, steering a fine finish past Alex Meret in Juve's 2-1 win after Cristiano Ronaldo's first-half opener.
It proved to be the decisive goal, with Juve having been left living dangerously in the closing minutes after a late penalty from Lorenzo Insigne.
With a year to run on his contract, it has been suggested Juve could look to move Dybala on after this season, but head coach Pirlo is keen to keep the Argentina international.
Indeed, Pirlo believes Dybala would have made a greater impact this season had he not missed nearly four months of action with a knee injury.
"When you have a player like Dybala at your disposal, you always try to let him play. We've almost never had him," he told Sky Sport.
"When you miss someone like this, it becomes difficult, and when he comes back he helps you win.
"He still has a year on his contract. We hope to be able to keep him."
The win saw Juve bounce back from its shock 1-0 home loss to Benevento last week, but league leader Inter remains 12 points ahead after beating Sassuolo 2-1.
Pirlo accepts the champion has itself to blame for allowing such a gap to open up, but he was delighted with the attitude shown by his players against Gennaro Gattuso's side.
"We've lost a lot of points. We gave up too many chances on the road that led us to having this gap to the leaders," he said.
"When you sacrifice yourself for everyone in the game, you get the great benefit of the result. Everyone sacrificed themselves. Cristiano, too, when someone was out of position, he ran backwards."
