Andrea Pirlo - The Best Midfielder In The World?

Accordingtodp.blogspot.fr 18/10/2012

Throughout his lengthy and successful career in Serie A, Andrea Pirlo has cemented his name as one of the league's, and indeed Milan's, most technically gifted midfielders. Commonly known as l'architetto (the architect) in Italy, Pirlo was always renowned for being a highly impactful, innovative and influential player, but has been seemingly unable to reach the very top heights in comparison to other world footballers, until now.



However, it seems to me that Pirlo can be likened to a vintage Italian wine, in the sense that he keeps on improving with age. Pirlo is currently in the form of his life and has perfected many elements of his game, in particular his mature and experienced decision-making which is crucial to both the retention of possession and to posing a creative attacking threat at the most opportunistic of moments. In my opinion, he is very much overlooked due to the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Alonso etc who have been playing at an extremely high ability in an easier league (La Liga) more adapted to creative players and in teams where they are surrounded by world-class talent to aid them. Pirlo is currently playing at Juventus, a team very much in restoration after the scandals that they have been involved in over the past decade, and displaying creative ability on a higher level than any other player in the world right now.

The 33 year old is now producing phenomenal entertainment on a consistent, weekly basis, and has continuously sparked for Juve ever since 2011 when Milan naively released him as a free agent on account of his age. The fact that Juventus finished 7th in the league before signing Pirlo and then subsequently won the Scudetto and remained undefeated for the entire season is probably the most stunning statistic I can offer to show what an electrifying superstar he is. Last season, as well as leading Juventus to a season free of defeat, the Maestro bagged 13 assists to become the top provider in the season 2011-2012. In his first match for Juventus at a competitive level he claimed two assists and has since never looked back. Over the past year, Pirlo has proven himself to be an incredible play-maker, the best passer of all kinds, and a crazy ball dribbler.

After being named in the team of the tournament at Euro 2012, being overlooked as the player of the tournament which was criminally awarded to Andres Iniesta, he was named as the fourth best player in UEFA's "2012 Best Player in Europe Award". Pirlo, despite not being the quickest man, has, in my eyes at least, been superior in quality to any other midfielder in the world over the past 12 months or so. For Juventus, the Midfield Metronome has been instrumental in most of their attacking play (with the mediocre likes of Vucinic and Matri upfront for Juve), and has been equally as effective for the Italian national side as he helped them to reach the final of Euro 2012.

To the amazement of Italian fans, Pirlo is still continuing to grow and develop, despite his age, and is at the peak of his career form. This week alone he has played twice for Italy in World Cup qualifiers, scoring and assisting against Armenia before making two more assists just days later against Denmark; and he has scored 3 goals in Serie A this season so far (already equaling his total in the last campaign). Pirlo has already enjoyed an extremely successful career which includes trophies such as the World Cup, Serie A, Italian Supercoppa, Champions League, and an Olympic Bronze medal, but the maestro is still achieving great success, and has recently, for me, been undoubtedly the best player in his position and will continue to be this season for Juventus.

"Keep calm, Pass to Pirlo"