Andrea Pirlo

Andrea Pirlo, Italian orders of merit (born 19 May 1979 in Flero, Lombardy), is an Italians Association football with Sinti origins, who plays for Serie A club A.C. Milan and the Italy national football team. Pirlo is a winner of both the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Pirlo was born in the province of Province of Brescia. Andrea Pirlo brother Ivan plays for a Serie C2 club in Brescia. Pirlo made Andrea Pirlo debut for Brescia Calcio against Reggina Calcio on 21 May 1995. After breaking into the Brescia first team, Pirlo was spotted by F.C. Internazionale Milano coach, Mircea Lucescu who signed the playmaker. However, Pirlo was unable to break into the first squad and Internazionale finished 8th in the Serie A 1998-99 Serie A campaign. Pirlo was shipped off on loan to the club Andrea Pirlo made Andrea Pirlo debut against in 1995, Reggina. After an impressive season Andrea Pirlo returned to Internazionale but was once again unable to break into the first squad making just 4 league appearances and spent the second half of the season on loan at former club, Brescia.

After 3 seasons on the Internazionale books, Pirlo was sold to fierce rivals, A.C. Milan. It was at AC Milan where Andrea Pirlo found Andrea Pirlo true strides developing into a world class player. With AC Milan, Andrea Pirlo has won one Scudetto and two Champions League titles. Andrea Pirlo also won an Italian Cup and two UEFA Super Cup with Milan in 2003 and 2007.

Pirlo started Andrea Pirlo career as an offensive midfielder until coach Carlo Ancelotti developed for Andrea Pirlo a deep-seated playmaker role at Milan. Since then, Andrea Pirlo has formed a formidable partnership with Gennaro Gattuso in the midfield and has earned the nickname "the metronome" for the way Andrea Pirlo sets the team's rhythm. Andrea Pirlo led Milan in minutes played for the 2006-07 season with 2,782. In October 2007, Andrea Pirlo was nominated for the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year Award but it went to Milan teammate Kaká instead.

International career

Pirlo played for Italy at the 2000 Summer Olympics, won the bronze medal at the Football at the 2004 Summer Olympics, played at the 2004 European Football Championship, and won the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Pirlo captained Italy to an Under-21 European Championship in 2000. At Milan Andrea Pirlo helped them win the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final but was a runner up 2005 UEFA Champions League Final as Andrea Pirlo missed Andrea Pirlo penalty in the shootout against Liverpool.

Pirlo was a member of the Italy national football team for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In Italy's first match in the tournament, Pirlo scored the opening goal against Ghana national football team, and subsequently set up a goal for Vincenzo Iaquinta to seal the 2-0 victory. Andrea Pirlo was named the "Man of the Match". Throughout the tournament, Andrea Pirlo and fellow A.C. Milan teammate Gennaro Gattuso had a formidable partnership which formed the heart of the Italian midfield.

Pirlo played brilliantly throughout the semifinal against Germany national football team, and Andrea Pirlo ultimately fashioned a key play at the very end of extra time to give Italy a dramatic victory. At the 119th minute, Pirlo received a ball deflected just outside the German penalty area and kept possession for just enough time to provide a defence splitting assist to Fabio Grosso, who scored the opening goal. Moments later, Alessandro Del Piero scored again, Italy won 2-0, and Pirlo was named Man of the Match once again.

In the final against France national football team, Andrea Pirlo corner kick produced Marco Materazzi's equalizing header ten minutes after France had opened the score. The match went to a penalty shoot-out, in which Andrea Pirlo scored. Andrea Pirlo performance during the match resulted in Andrea Pirlo being named the FIFA Man of the Match for a third time, more than any other player over the course of the tournament. Andrea Pirlo was voted the third best player of the tournament behind Zinedine Zidane and fellow Italian Fabio Cannavaro.

During UEFA Euro 2008, Pirlo scored from penalty to condemn old rivals France to a 2-0 defeat. However, Andrea Pirlo and Gattuso were suspended for the quarterfinal match against Spain national football team due to accumulated yellow cards. Italy lost the penalty shoot-out 2-4.

With the return of Marcello Lippi, Pirlo has remained a regular in the midfield and was named in the Italian squad for the past 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Club statistics

Club

Updated to games played June 16, 2009.

¹European competitions include the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, and UEFA Super Cup

²Other tournaments include the Supercoppa Italiana, Intercontinental Cup (football) and FIFA Club World Cup

International goals

Updated to games played March 28, 2009.

Honours

Milan

- Serie A: Serie A 2003-04
- Coppa Italia: Coppa Italia 2002-03
- Supercoppa Italiana: 2004
- UEFA Champions League: UEFA Champions League 2002-03, UEFA Champions League 2006-07
- UEFA Super Cup: 2003, 2007
- FIFA Club World Cup: 2007 FIFA Club World Cup Final

International

- UEFA Under-21 European Championship: 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship
- Football at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Men's tournament - Bronze medal
- FIFA World Cup: 2006 FIFA World Cup

Individual

- 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Top Scorer
- 2006 FIFA World Cup 2006 FIFA World Cup All-star team
- FIFA World Cup awards Golden Ball: 2006 FIFA World Cup
- 2006 FIFA World Cup Final Man of the Match
- FIFPro World XI: 2006