Andriy Shevchenko recently released his first book, ‘My Life, My Football’, and as expected there are many interesting stories in it. One of them concerns Andrea Pirlo and his breakthrough under Carlo Ancelotti at AC Milan.
Pirlo arrived at Milan in the summer of 2001 from city rivals Inter. It wasn’t an instant success for the midfielder, who started just seven games in his first season with the club. However, things changed completely when Carlo Ancelotti took over from Fatih Terim.
In his new book ‘My Life, My Football’, which you can buy here, Milan legend Andriy Shevchenko shared his thoughts on Pirlo’s breakthrough. He explained that all of the players knew about the midfielder’s qualities, questioning the initial lack of playing time.
“Carlo Ancelotti had replaced Fatih Terim. As a Milan midfielder, he had won the lot: two Scudetti, an Italian Supercup, two European Cups, two European Supercups and an Intercontinental Cup. A real master of the sport in Italy, Europe and the wider world, just as Berlusconi required. Now he was about to try again as coach.
“Lots of guys in the dressing room already knew him, starting with Maldini and Costacurta. At training, he spoke to you as a coach, a boss, and nothing more, but elsewhere he was one of us. A player among players. No topic of conversation was forbidden, he would tell jokes and muck around, and if you had a problem, you knew that he would listen. That he would help you solve it. It was easy for us to tell when he was happy: he would be eating more than normal.
“He immediately clocked Pirlo, who had not played much under Terim. As teammates, we had known for a long time just how good he was – every time he took to the training field, he turned it into a show for us. The best technical player I’ve ever seen – he treated the ball with respect. When he was under pressure, he kept it. When all hell was breaking loose around him, he kept it. When they were marking him tightly, perhaps even doubling up, he kept it.
“And then suddenly, he would be picking out the striker high up the pitch, with impeccable timing and reading his movements perfectly. He could thread the ball through the tiniest spaces: he saw tunnels where everyone else saw nothing. He danced to his own tune, on his own individual stage. We used to speak about it in the dressing room when he wasn’t around to hear. “Why does this guy never play?
“As soon as Carlo arrived on the bench, there was no longer any need to ask. The moment he sat down, Andrea stood up. Carlo played him in front of the defence, giving him even more space and time to do his thing. The one thing about Pirlo that never changed was his expression, which stayed exactly the same 24 hours a day. It was impossible to tell whether he was happy or angry and he took advantage of this,” Sheva stated.
Pirlo ended up being a key player for Milan up until his departure in 2011, when he joined Juventus on a free transfer. It’s a move that wasn’t appreciated by the Rossoneri fans, but the club management has to take the blame for that one.
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A true metronome 👍👍👍
Well he still didn’t play at DM immediately as he moved between attacking mid and one of the central but attacking mids (like a quasi LAM in the Christmas tree) at first. And he didn’t exactly get crazy game time as Sheva is saying here in his first season with Ancelotti (Ancelotti came in around November). He was still being benched. It was until the summer that Ancelotti decided to move him to DM for good and then the rest was history. He wasn’t the fastest or most aggressive but he was one of the most skilled and his awareness is incredible.