Gennaro Gattuso, interview by Radio 24 talked about Andrea Pirlo on the occasion of his retirement from football. AC Milan’s Primavera coach spoke of the good times both spent in rossonero and the anecdotes of that extraordinary epic.
On Pirlo: “When I saw what he did on the pitch I thought I should change profession. Nobody knows him better than me, we played together with Italy at all youth levels. People always talked about his quality, but he was an animal when he ran thousand meters, he had enormous athletic qualities, that’s why he played till this age.”
On Ancelotti’s invention of his role: “It happened at the end of the 2001/02 season, but Ancelotti for a couple of months was trying him in front of the defense, it was not an improvised thing, he often tried him in training. It took some work. He liked to play short but also throw long passes, with Conte then he even changed his way of playing.”
On Pirlo in the dressing room: “He is a big son of a… with all the respect to his mother, he used screw around for months, he was funny. I have slapped him more than Bud Spencer slapped Terence Hill.”
On Pirlo’s future: “He can do whatever he wants in the world of football, he has an extraordinary sense of intelligence, he knows how to stand with others, he has credibility and a big head.”
On Milan’s midfielder: “I’ve been playing for almost 20 years with him considering also the national youths teams, in times of trouble I always passed to him, I felt safe when I was next to him, I knew what I was supposed to do, he thought of the rest. he helped me more in my career than I helped him. “
On his transfer to Juventus: “He had unbelievable luck, he was fortunate enough to find a team like Juventus who were not playing in Europe at the time and worked so hard with Conte. He lacked that, he started to feel good again, he put more strength in his legs and rediscovered his drive. The secret was working so hard during the weekends.”
