Andrea Pirlo announces retirement

The best passer of a ball I've ever seen.

He would have been a perfect fit for Barca.
 
Third best italian player i've seen in my life. Best midfielder of the modern era together with Xavi and Iniesta
Baresi? Maldini? Scirea?
Just curious, not saying he isn't, but who are your two above him? Buffon? Del Piero? Baggio?
In terms of performances for the national team, Pirlo is probably the best Italian player in the modern era. He would always deliver for the Azzuri even when his teammates let him down.



Italy lost this game 3-0. Pirlo was still one of the best players on the pitch.
 
Superb player, up there with the very best imo, fantastic career too.
 
Sad to see another legend retire. What a career and player he was.
 
Would absolutely love a young Pirlo in this United side.

Amazing player and a cool as f*ck character.
 
Admittedly I haven’t watch him much beyond the international tournaments and CL. Based on those, I think he’s the best deep lying play-making since I started watching football. (1990)
 
Xavi, Pirlo and Scholes in that order for me in terms of their overall career. The first two dominated international and european club football whereas Scholes only made an impact in club football.

Pirlo was one helluva footballer, he was a genius and stylish as feck. More entertaining to watch than Xavi for me, but ultimately just a tier below.. not sure he'd have thrived in an environment like England, but will never forget how he made the english look like amateurs in Euro 2012.
 
A true great and a football artist. Going to miss seeing those passes.
 
Its so disheartening to see such an artistic player retire.
Thank You PIRLO and Best of Luck :)
 
So Moyes gets hired and then Pirlo retires? Feck sakes, David.
 
Had he retired instead of going to MLS this thread would be 10 pages long by now
 
I think the hair helps a lot, if he was bald I doubt he be held in such high regard.
 
I must be old.
Old enough and to have seen the tail end of Vialli's prime at juventus, baggio at juventus and milan, final phase of Baresi's career, and 15 years or so of Maldini's. Pirlo had a bigger impact on teams than any defender, even Baresi and Maldini(though it's close). Vialli in his prime at sampdoria was ridiculous but i'd take Pirlo over him too.

I'd take him over Vieri even, and Vieri was a beast of a striker
 
His performance in that 3-0 win against us in the Champions League in Milan was disgusting. Never seen a man pass a ball like that. He wad lobbing people over a stretch of 2-3 meters, in the middle of the field.
 
A Barca fan that's never seen Messi? :eek:
In terms of passing, Pirlo just about edges Messi. I think that Pirlo was a bit more ambidextrous and had an even bigger range than Messi.

Messi is comfortably the best player since 1990 when you take everything into consideration though, but let's not derail the topic.
 
Baggio and Totti. Perhaps i should include Vialli and Vieri too, but Pirlo won us a world cup
Not comparing with past generations, but my favourites from 2006 are Totti, Cannavaro and Pirlo, don't want to go beyond that, because Maldini, Baresi or Baggio is too painfull to compare, better stay in Pirlo generation, and I can't say wich one of them is better, it is pointless.
 
He's got a weird shuffly style, reminds me of one of those really good yet gruff lazy and unfit Sunday morning park players.
 
In terms of passing, Pirlo just about edges Messi. I think that Pirlo was a bit more ambidextrous and had an even bigger range than Messi.

I think Pirlo is probably better in terms of 'quarterback passing' but then you could argue that it's just because he played deeper than Messi does. Guys like Pirlo and Xabi Alonso excelled in that sort of role. For me Messi is the best passer I've ever seen though. Guess that's the good thing about opinions. If we all shared them life would be incredibly boring.
 
Gattuso gives a good sending off to Pirlo

http://www.calciomercato.com/news/g...-figlio-di-p-alla-juve-puo-fare-quello--77060

AC Milan youth manager Rino Gattuso spoke about Pirlo on Radio24.

"With all due respect to his mum, Pirlo was a big son of a whore. He used to make fun of me for months. It was funny really. It ended up when I slapped him (similarly to one of the Bud Spencer move).

No one knows him better then I do. I played with him at all national levels. Everyone spoke about him and his great talent. The guy was a beast. He was a great athetic who could run 1000 meters. That's how me managed to remain so good despite his age. What a runner"

There are rumours that he will go to Juventus after he retires. Well, in football Pirlo can do whatever he wants"
 
Figlio di puttana=son of a bitch
 
Great player. Was underrated for a lot of his career by the casuals then ovverated when he played England in the Euros 12 by the casuals. A tier below Xavi.
 
Why? He did want to discover a new country.

The sad thing is PSG contacted him 2 days after Pirlo agreed to join the Juventus.

Otherwise, he he said he would have joined his friend Leonardo (sporting director) and PSG instead of joining the Juve if he had been contacted some days earlier :(

Seriously ?
A midfield Motta - Pirlo - Verratti, we could have seen that :D
 
I'm not a fan of the obligatory "legend retire in peace" etc crap, but it's really hard to say anything negative about Pirlo at all. Great player, great hair, great beard, great free kick.
Iirc, he complained about Sir Alex's tactics once. Unforgivable.

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Great player. Was underrated for a lot of his career by the casuals then ovverated when he played England in the Euros 12 by the casuals. A tier below Xavi.

A tier below Xavi? Absurd statement.

They are two of the best midfielders of the past two decades and different enough to not be entirely comparable. They could probably have coexisted in a midfield together with a more physical player. No way one is a tier above or below the other.

Xavi was quicker in his short passing game and Pirlo better at long range passing and shooting, for instance. Xavi made his surroundings better whereas Pirlo could be more of a protagonist on his own. Xavi was more well rounded whereas Pirlo was more of a traditional nr 10, although deeper on the pitch. Etc.

A tier below them you can find someone like Xabi Alonso, Iniesta, Verón, and, maybe dangerous to say this here, Paul Scholes.
 
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He got absolutely robbed of the golden ball in 2006 by the way, just thought I'd put that out there. How Zidane won it over him was a complete joke. Pirlo was better in the tournament as a whole and better in the final.
 
He got absolutely robbed of the golden ball in 2006 by the way, just thought I'd put that out there. How Zidane won it over him was a complete joke. Pirlo was better in the tournament as a whole and better in the final.

It's Cannavaro who won the Ballon d'or 2006