Book Review - Andrea Pirlo: I Think Therefore I Play with Alessandro Alciato

This summer, Andrea Pirlo will call time on his international career; and the sight of him on The Word Stage in Azzuri will be confined to footballing history. A player universally respected and admired, a player capable of breathtakingly wonderful feats of brilliance, with a poise and style unique in its application. What we will be left with, alongside his appearances for Italian Champions; Juventus (whom Pirlo has just won an unprecedented three Scuddeti in a row), and a back catalogue of superb goals and incredible performances on the World Stage is his book; Andrea Pirlo: I Think Therefore I Play. It is, as the preposterously titled tome suggests, a footballers work of literature like no other. Part autobiography, part musings and reflections on life and the modern game, it feels like someone has glimpsed the inside of a classical 18th century philosopher's diary. Rich in insight and anecdote, with a level of understanding and insight staggeringly rare in the genre of 'Sports Literature.' This is definitely more Rousseau than Gary Neville. And it is the infinitely the better for it.

Pirlo has an analytical, forensic understanding of his game, which he describeds with a wonderfully lucid account of how he has come to play the game the way he does, how he has become the ticking heartbeat, the constructor and creator par excellence for Juventus and the Italian National team.

“I perceive the game in a different way. It’s a question of viewpoints, of having a wide field of vision. Being able to see the bigger picture. Your classic midfielder looks downfield and sees forwards.  I’ll focus instead on the space between me and them where I can work the ball through. It’s more a question of geometry than tactics. The space seems bigger to me. It looks easier to get behind – a wall that can easily be knocked down."

A viewpoint that first drew the attention of Italy's giant's whilst playing for his hometime club Brescia. Watch this wonderful throughball for Roberto Baggio's Goal of The Season in 2001.

As one would expect, much of Pirlo’s experiences concern his trophy-laden decade at AC Milan. His depiction of day to day life at Milan’s legendary training facility Milanello is a riveting tour de force. There are the fleeting helicopter visits from Silvio Berlusconi, universally adored by all the Milan players, who it seems would descend into giddy excitement with his arrival - “Whenever we heard the whir of his helicopter at Milanello, it sparked a positive feeling deep within us. We were like abandoned dogs furiously wagging our tails at the return of our master." Perhaps less pleased was  the ever affable Carlo Ancelloti, publicly chastened with the tactical demands of his boss, “Carlo son, remember that I want to see the team play with two strikers.”

There is the frankly staggering recollection of Milan’s Turkish head coach, Fatih Terim,  communicating to his players through an interpreter who, it soon becomes clear, knows dangerously little Turkish. This is not before an eye witness account of the most infamous training ground bust-up in Milan’s history; the fight between Zlatan Ibrahimovic & U.S. International, Oguchi Onyewu - “I saw them laying into one another like two bully boys from the roughest estate. They were trying to kill each other.”

There are tales of Rino Gattuso’s penchant for retaliating to squad banter with acts of violence carried out with cutlery - “Gatusso would grab a fork and try to stick it in us.” More worryingly still were his tales of success - “some of us ended up missing games because of one of Rino’s fork attacks, even if the official explanation from the club was one of muscle fatigue.”  

Pirlo in action for AC Milan.

Gattuso it seems, was enforcer in chief at Milan - “Rino’s word was law at Milan, and anyone new to the club was aware that the first thing they’d have to do if they made a mistake was explain themselves to him. Just having this knowledge drastically reduced the chances of people fucking up.”

What you do get is the picture of a player, and of an individual who knows his worth, who understands his monetary value in the modern marketplace. But it’s a sense of personal value that somehow never falls into blind arrogance or an uneasy sense of egotism. Pirlo has won everything of worth there is to win in the game (bar The European Championships) but personal accolades have somehow always eluded him:

"I cant abide the cliché, 'only the teams success matters - I don't care about my own.' Its the tiresome complaint of those who have no personal ambition, whether for want of class or lack of character."

You can feel his anger and sadness at missing out on The Balon d'Or, barely able to bring himself to watch the ceremony with his young son on TV. This sense becomes particularly acute when Pirlo discusses the Uefa Player of The Tournament award at the 2012 European Championships. Despite being widely considered the outstanding player of the tournament in an often brilliant Italian side, he untimely lost out on the accolade to Spain’s Andres Iniesta, after Italy were hammered 4-0 in the final, at the hands of Iniesta’s and the gang. A Spanish side, it has to be said that at times, were dire to watch and had none of the cutting edge (until the final at least) that Pirlo provided for Italy.

"Italy is simply more important. More Important than Inter, Milan Juventus or any other
club side. Its the biggest deal there is."

For fans of the perennially underachieving England team, Pirlo’s insights into his motivation for representing his country will strike a chord at the very heart as to what place International football holds during The Champions League era.  His attitude is likely to be viewed with anathema by more than a few England internationals throughout the last decade. For Pirlo, it is clear where representing his country ranks in importance of his professional career.

“Italy is simply more important. More important than Inter, Milan, Juventus or any other club side. It’s the biggest deal there is”

“Players know that if they get injured with Italy, there’ll be trouble waiting for them when they return to their clubs. And yet I'll never reign myself in or take a backwards step – for me, that would be high treason."

Pirlo as a Juventino.

There are plenty of 'What If's?" from Pirlo's career. After the World Cup in 2006, he had all but signed for Fabio Cappelo's Real Madrid, whilst Milan were awaiting their fate from The Calciopoli match fixing scandal. Pirlo, though his love for Milan is obviously one of genuine affection, is erudite when explaining the limits to this affection, particularly when it meant the prospect of playing in Serie B."There was no way I was going to pay for other peoples sins."

A move to Chelsea In 2009 to join his great friend and Mentor Carlo Ancelotti was only averted after Pirlo was handed a blank contract by Milan and told to fill in the wage demands himself. This, sadly, denied English Football fans the chance to see one of the great footballers of the modern game ply his trade in England.

And in the summer of 2010, Pep Guardiola personally reached out to Pirlo with the offer of playing at The Camp Nou. Something of a personal dream for Pirlo, who had idolised both Pep The Player & Pep The Coach - “He builds teams, moulds them, berates them, guides them, nurtures them. He makes them great. He takes them to a higher level; a place beyond mere football. On what it would of took for Pirlo to play in Catalonia - “Id have crawled there."

Pirlo is remarkably tapped in to the problems facing the domestic game in Italy, and in particular its increasingly antiquated infrastructure, which has suffered from years of systemic underinvestement. He argues along with many critics, how important the promotion of Club owned stadia is to the future of the game in Italy. Juventus are currently the only side in Serie A who own their stadium, with most still renting from Municipal Council bodies. This has resulted in many Serie A ground’s falling into disrepair. As we write, Milan & Inter have both agreed in principle to leave the increasingly dated and decrepit San Siro by 2017, but given the frequency with which these announcements have been made over the last two decades, its perhaps best to view this plan with more than a small dose of pessimism.

Capital giants Roma, at last are finally headed out of the much unloved Stadio Olympico they share with city rivals Lazio, to move into Stadio Della Roma - a brand new purpose built football ground on the outskirts of the city, based on the model of Juve’s ultra modern stadium in Turin. 

Many have seen this as responsible for the violence and hooliganism still prevalent in the Italian game. With stadiums not owned by clubs, there is a very real relauctance for them to tackle the issues inside stadia that have blighted The Italian game for decades. Pirlo has been a voice calling for change across Italian football, ending with a stark warning that, “Lets be honest, were not far away from the abyss.”

This book is not an emotive 'tell-all' footballers autobiography. If anything, its probably the least personal volume you will ever read, penned by a footballer. But then, that's the point, Andrea Pirlo isn't just any other footballer, and as he himself writes, "Some sentiments should belong to me alone." Quite. It is a brilliant work of literature - lucid, funny, utterly compelling, with a supporting cast of the Great and The Good of Football's elite from across the last decade, with whom Pirlo has spent his life. 

Pirlo’s great friend, Alessandro Del Piero, “Something more than a mere footballer, one of the all time greats.” His Milan team mate Zlatan Ibrahimovic, “a ticking timebomb of a human being.” On his mentor and coach at Milan, Carlo Ancelotti, “If you’re a player who wants to get on and give everything, you won’t find anyone better than him.” On his idol and teammate, Paolo Maldini, “An example and an inspiration, a compass that I’ll carry with me not just for the rest of my playing days but for the rest of my life.”

In decades to come, historians, fans, and writers will come to see this book as what it is, a timeless snapshot of elite European football in 2014.  It will rightly be regarded in years to come as a classic.