The great test of Andrea Pirlo / Mr. World

Andrea Pirlo will return tonight (Sunday, 21:45) to San Siro Stadium, which he knows so well, for the Derby d’Italia, the prestigious and critical meeting between Inter and Juventus.

11 days ago Pirlo left the famous stadium smiling, after his Juventus handed the table leader Milan their first loss of the season. It was a huge character test for Pirlo and for his team, which if it had lost, would have gone up to 13 points from the top. But Yuba won, and not only won, but also showed tactical superiority. And it is no coincidence that Pirlo received a great deal of praise for the great game, which brought the old lady back in full force to the championship fight.

Less than six months have passed since Juventus president Andrea Aneili decided to appoint 41-year-old Andrea Pirlo as the Italian champions’ coach for the past nine years. It was clear to everyone that this was a huge gamble for Aneili. Pirlo was a huge player, but got the job without having coached at all before.

In fact, the plan was to coach the young Juventus (up to the age of 23), who play in the third division, so that he would gain experience and in a year or two he would get the senior team. This is the route taken by, for example, Pep Guardiola in Barcelona and Zinedine Zidane in Real Madrid. First the young team, then the seniors. But on August 8, nine days after Pirlo got the humble job, Aneili decided to fire coach Maurizio Sari, even though he led Yuba to the championship.

Sari was sacked a day after Juventus were knocked out by Lyon in the last eight of the Champions League. The media and fans were not really shocked, as after nine consecutive championships the big ambition was to get as far as possible in the Champions League. It was a disgraceful piece.

Sari’s dismissal came as no surprise – but Pirlo’s appointment, a day later, certainly raised eyebrows. In the face of the many skeptics, there were also quite a few who thought it was a worthy appointment. One of them was veteran coach Renzo Olivieri, president of the Italian Coaches Association.

Oliveiri said at the time: “Pirlo’s knowledge is greater than that of most coaches who have been working for many years. I was his instructor in the coaching course and I know who it is. He is very focused, smart and knows how to analyze situations. He is one who always looks ahead. Is it a gamble? Andrea Anieli He thought deeply before making the decision. “

By the way, Pirlo received a score of 107 out of 110 in the test of the “Pro” course, which he completed in September. In his dissertation, entitled “The Football I Want”, he mentioned as an inspiration the Barcelona of Johan Cruyff and Guardiola, Ajax of Luis van Gaal, Milan of Carlo Ancelotti and also Juventus of Antonio Conte. Yes, the same Conte in front of him will show up tonight (Sunday, 9:45 p.m.) at San Siro. The current coach of Inter, the man because of whom he decided to become a coach.

The summer of 2011 was a turning point in the careers of these two giants. Conte, a decade older than Pirlo, was then appointed as Juventus’ new coach. And one of his first moves was to sign Pirlo, who had just ended his contract with AC Milan. Conte coached Pirlo at Juventus for three years, between 2011 and 2014. Together the two have won three consecutive championships, the ones that started the current streak.

“Conte has made history at Juventus,” Pirlo said of his colleague yesterday. “I learned a lot from him, so I will always be grateful. Conte is the first person who made me want to be a coach. He is a great person and a great coach, but tomorrow we will be for 90 minutes rivals on the lines.”

On the comparison between them, Pirlo said: “Conte and I have a very different personality, which is probably why we always got along very well. We talked before the season started and there is a lot of appreciation and affection between us.”

Indeed, Conte is an extroverted man, full of wind and storm, one who is unable to hide his feelings. He runs around the lines, never stopping to wave his hands, shouting at his players, whether they hear or not. Pirlo is the complete opposite. At times he looks like an alien, unconnected to reality, calm and quiet even when the passions are raging on the lawn. He barely smiles, and never looks angry or nervous, even when there was a good reason for it.

But behind the Sphinx lies a football genius. And this has been said by many good people, including Johan Cruyff and his former Italian teammate Gianluigi Buffon, who still plays for Juventus.

Pirlo’s genius was the way he played, the way he understood the game. When Carlo Ancelotti turned him into a back-up midfielder, somewhere in 2001, when young Andrea crossed the road from Inter to Milan, his genius came to light. He reinvented the role of the creative back midfielder, he became the first quarterback of football.

Pirlo began his career at Little Brescia, where he collaborated with Tal Benin and also with Roberto Baggio, who was his biggest inspiration and taught him how to kick free kicks. Inter did not know how to use his skills, but in Milan he became a star.

For 10 years Pirlo played in the Rossoneri uniform, won two championships and two European Cups and established his status as one of the best in the world. It is no coincidence that he was nicknamed the “Architect”. A year after the trauma of the loss in the Champions League final to Liverpool, which almost caused him to retire, Pirlo recovered and was crowned world champion.

Andrea had a huge World Cup in Germany in 2006 and was named the outstanding player in the final victory over France. He cooked the goal for Marco Matraci and also scored first in the penalty shootout. Marcello Lippi, his national team coach, said of him: “Pirlo is the quiet leader. He talks with his feet.”

Then, in 2011, the most amazing thing happened. Milan decided to give it up, even though it helped them win the championship. Pirlo, 32, said thank you and signed for Juventus. “When Andrea told me he was joining us the first thought that went through my mind was: There is a God in heaven,” Buffon recounted that moment. “I think it was the turn of the century.”

To this day Milan fans fail to understand how the team let him go, let alone one of its biggest rivals. In his four seasons in the old lady’s uniform, Pirlo won four championships and helped her qualify for the 2015 Champions League final.

Even though he was already 36 years old, he was still one of the best midfielders in the world, with the accurate depth dedication and incredible free kicks. In the final in Berlin Barcelona won 1: 3 and with the final whistle, which also ended his 20-year career in Italy, he could not stop the tears.

Pirlo was without a doubt one of the greatest players to grow up in Italian football, and he was probably also the smartest player. It is no coincidence that his autobiography is called “I think, that means I play.” On this wisdom Andrea Aneili probably built when he appointed him the new coach, despite the lack of experience.

His debut game ended with a 0: 3 victory over Sampdoria, but a month later Pirlo experienced his first loss, 2: 0 to Barcelona in the Champions League. What characterized the first months of the Pirlo era was the loss of too many points against small teams – Crotone, Verona, Benevento. And while the two Milanese started the season great, Yuba trailed behind.

Then came the rematch against Barcelona at the Camp Nou on 8 December. This was a record display of the regenerating Yuba. Alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored a pair of penalties, also starred young American midfielder Weston McKenny, an anonymous player that Pirlo brought in from Schalke in the summer.

The away win over Barcelona was a kind of stamp for Pirlo, whose work in the team is bearing fruit. It was also a statement of intent, and beyond that placed Yuba in first place at home. The prize: a meeting in the quarter-finals of the Champions League against Porto – while Barça received PSG in the draw.

A little over a month after the victory at the Camp Nou, Juventus landed on the ground after the 3-0 home loss to Fiorentina, in a game that ended 2020. It was Juventus’ only league loss of the season in the league, but it did not pass quietly. Yuba has never lost at home with such a result since the opening of its new stadium in 2011. Commentators also mentioned that in this round a year ago, when Maurizio Sari was the coach, Juventus had 11 more points.

Pirlo realized he still had a lot of work to do. First, he realized that his team was getting too many red cards – six so far, and in almost every game in which it was left with a numerical disadvantage, it lost points. And no less important, he tried to instill in his players the attitude that every game is like a final, against Inter or against Spezia and that one must not lighten one’s head and must not lose points against any opponent.

Juventus arrive for tonight’s game against Inter after four consecutive victories, over Udinese, AC Milan and Sassuolo in the league and against Genoa in the cup on Wednesday.

In the next four weeks, Juventus expect no less than eight games, until the renewal of the Champions League. On Wednesday, Pirlo has a chance to win a bachelor’s degree as coach, when Juventus and Napoli meet in the Italian Super Cup. It will also be an exciting encounter between Pirlo and his old friend Gennaro Gattuso, the Napoli coach, with whom he won the 2006 World Cup.

So far Andrea Pirlo’s record at Yonvatos is not bad at all: 15 wins, 6 draws and just two losses in 26 official games. But everyone understands, and Pirlo understands better than anyone, that he will be judged only by the degrees he wins. If Juventus lose the championship to AC Milan or Inter, after nine consecutive championships, the failure will be registered in his name. And the fact that this is his first season as a coach, will not serve as an excuse.

Five and a half months from the start of his new career, is it still too early to say what heights will coach Andrea Pirlo reach? But there is no doubt at all that the signs are positive.