aoikiji

Watching Milanthrashing Man United last Thursday was a great pleasure, especially when their manager, the great Alex Ferguson was so sure that they can repeat the treble this season. Well, they push their luck too much. Likewise his counterpart Jose Mourinho at Chelseawho saw his team knocked down by Liverpool. But I’m not about to talk about Kaka’,Milan leading goals scorer in all competition this season. I’m an Arsenal fan by heart, but in Europe I am always fond by AC Milan ways, simply because there is one man I admire most in the team, and his name is Andrea Pirlo. And I want to pay tribute to this guy, as an Italian…

10 years ago, I like the style of Dimetrio Albertini in the midfield position. As a nation that has won World Cup for the 4^th time, Italy never fails to produce a talent. Yet, why am I really amazed by this fella known as Pirlo? Known mostly for his killer passes and spectacular freekicks, Andrea Pirlo is more of defensive midfielder than involved in attacking, a role I really love to play when playing football. However with his teammates at Milan that has genuine defending skills such as Gennaro Gattuso and the superb skills of Clarence Seedorf, Pirlo plays a more like central midfielder. But it’s not only the quality of passes and his superb vision that often caught the defence that make him indispensable, it is because Andrea Pirlo is a natural playmaker in the team.

Italians have a word for a player like Andrea Pirlo: ‘fantasista’. He may look languid, but his vision, passing and set-piece skills have drawn comparisons with the great Roberto Baggio.

When playing for his country, the Azzuri is strengthened by his presence. Team-mate Gennaro Gattuso once said: "When I see what Andrea can do with the ball I have to ask myself whether I am a footballer." Pirlo’s first career highlight came when Italy won the 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, scoring twice in the final against the Czech Republic. Pirlo made his Azzurri debut against Azerbaijanin September 2002 and replaced the suspended Francesco Totti at UEFA EURO 2004™, starting against Sweden and Bulgaria. Under new coach Marcello Lippi, Pirlo became a key player and was instrumental for Italy as they won the 2006 FIFA World Cup, an ever-present who scored the first goal of his country’s campaign in Germany.

So, here’s the profile of this great player:

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 5th, 2007 at 12:46 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.