In the summer of 2011, Andrea Pirlo was refused a three-year contract by Serie A champions AC Milan. The reason, he was told, was that he was too old. At 32, manager Massimiliano Allegri felt Pirlo was past his best and intended on pairing Massimo Ambrosini and Mark van Bommel at the base of Milan’s midfield.
That summer Pirlo left the Rossoneri after 10 years with the club and joined Juventus, who had finished seventh and were still reeling from the after-effects of Calciopoli. Unlike Milan, the Old Lady offered him the three-year contract he desired. In those three years, Pirlo — deemed too old for Milan — became the lynchpin of Juve’s midfield and guided them to three Serie A titles on the trot.
Just 140 kilometres away, a Pirlo-less Milan declined at an alarming pace — finishing second, third and eighth in those three seasons, leading to Allegri’s sacking.
But when Antonio Conte surprisingly resigned and took up the post at Italy’s national team in 2014, Juventus made the unpopular choice of bringing in Allegri. Now 35, Pirlo was reunited with a coach who had deemed him too old three years ago.
But Allegri had learnt his lesson and picked up from where Conte had left off — offering Pirlo a new two-year contract and building his team around the grand old man from Brescia. His reward: a fourth consecutive Serie A title for Juventus and their first Champions League final in 12 years.
When Pirlo takes to the field on June 6 against Barcelona in Berlin — the same stadium where he inspired Italy to the World Cup nearly a decade ago — he would have turned 36. He continues to confound experts, continues to make a mockery of his manager’s assessment four years ago, continues to defy the sands of time and continues to do so with enviable ease and style.
If Juventus win on that historic night (June 6), where one of these two teams (Barcelona and Juventus) will in all likelihood complete a treble, he has said he will call it quits. If he does so, he would do it at the top of his game on the back of one of his best-ever seasons.
While Pirlo started off his professional career as a trequartista, he was turned into a deep-lying playmaker in 2001 when he was signed by Carlo Ancelotti. There he was afforded more time and space, and a new player was born. Dictating play from deep, Pirlo was the link between defence and attack and could turn meaningless possession within his own half into an assist in one magical moment. Coupling his mastery from open play with an almost peerless prowess from free-kicks and corners, Pirlo had to deal with opposition managers lining up their teams in order to restrict him; more often than not, they failed.
Lining alongside Gennaro Gattuso just ahead of the back four, Pirlo led Milan to three Champions League finals in five years between 2003 and 2007. The first in 2003 was an all-Italian affair as Milan took on Juventus. The match, however, proved largely anticlimactic as both sides cancelled each other out in 120 minutes of drab football — save for a slight moment when Pirlo came agonisingly close to hitting the winner but saw his effort cannon off the woodwork. Pirlo then converted his penalty in the shootout to ensure that Milan emerged victors at Wembley.
2005 was much harder for the Milan man as, after providing the assist in Paolo Maldini’s opener — the fastest goal in a Champions League final — he saw Liverpool pull off the miracle of Istanbul to come from 3-0 down at half-time to win on penalties.
His penalty in the shootout was saved by Jerzy Dudek and the loss took its mental toll on Pirlo. “I thought about quitting after Istanbul because nothing made sense any more...I no longer felt like a man. All of a sudden, football had become the least important thing, precisely because it was the most important: a very painful contradiction. I didn’t dare look in the mirror in case my reflection spat back at me. The only possible solution I could think of was to retire,” Pirlo revealed in his autobiography ‘I Think Therefore I Play’.
But Pirlo and the Rossonerii did not have to wait long to exact revenge, with a repeat of the 2005 final going 2-1 in Milan’s favour two years later. Like in 2005, Pirlo’s free-kick resulted in Milan’s opener as Pippo Inzaghi deflected the midfielder’s effort past a helpess Pepe Reina.
Always a player for the big occasion, Pirlo also enjoyed considerable success with the Itallian national side, playing an integral part in their 2006 World Cup success. As always he was at the heart of things in the final; delivering the corner from which Marco Materazzi equalised to take the match into extra time and then penalties, where Pirlo converted as Italy won 5-3.
So consistent has Pirlo’s genius been over the years that it is almost taken for granted — only to be desperately missed when he does not feature. Marcello Lippi and his men learnt that the hard way when defending their World Cup crown in 2010. Pirlo was out injured and featured for just over half an hour in the final group match, and in his absence Italy failed to advance from a relatively easy group without even a single win to their name.
By 2011, Pirlo’s career — both club and international — had seemed over for all intents and purposes when he left Milan for Juventus but after inspiring Juventus to the Serie A title, he was pivotal to Italy’s Euro 2012 campaign.
In the quarter-finals against England, Pirlo’s 131 passes were more than the entire England midfield put together but the Three Lions held on to take the game to penalties despite Pirlo carving them open time and again. The Italy midfielder then scored an audacious Panenka to embarrass England goalkeeper Joe Hart as Italy progressed to the semis.
Rampant Germany came next but suffered the same fate as England, with Toni Kroos failing to shackle Pirlo — allowing him to run the show as Italy won 2-1 through a Mario Balotelli double.
Spain awaited in the final but the La Roja knew what they were up against — Pirlo had provided the assist for Antonio Di Natale’s goal in the two side’s 1-1 draw in the group stages. The Barcelona trio of Sergio Busquets, Xavi and Andres Iniesta all starved Pirlo of time and space, hence cutting off Italy’s endless supply line. With Pirlo nullified, Italy became toothless and suffered a 4-0 loss.
The same trio — who he so nearly joined when Pep Guardiola was in charge of an all-conquering Blaugrana — stand in the way of a third Champions League crown. Few would begrudge him the title but it would be a bittersweet moment for Juventus fans and neutrals alike; seeing one of the greatest midfielders of our times hang up the boots that have enchanted and mesmerised an entire generation.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 20th, 2015.
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