Juventus and Italian midfielder Andrea Pirlo feels that once he retires he will not be taking up the role of a coach.
The Azzurri veteran will be 35 when he heads into his seventh and final major tournament for the national team as he has decided to hang his boots after the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
In extracts from his new autobiography, he addressed his future plans also his penalty against England in the 2012 European Championships, as well as the loss against Liverpool in the 2005 UEFA Champions League that almost made him retire.
“After the World Cup in Brazil, I’ll retire from international football.”, said the Maestro during the interview
“I’ll be hanging up my heart. Until that day, nobody must dare ask me to stop, apart from Cesare Prandelli, should he have tactical reasons. I’ll be 35 by then, and it’ll be time to give someone else a go. Being part of a team that belongs to everyone makes me feel good.”
“A lot of the time, it’s better than sex: it lasts longer and if it falls flat, it can’t just be your fault. Take someone like Antonio Cassano, he says he’s slept with 700 women but he doesn’t get picked for Italy any more. Can he really be happy? I wouldn’t be.”
“That shirt, with its Smurf-like blue, gives you a whole new image across the world. It takes you to a higher level. Much better to be a soldier on the pitch than in the bedroom.
Pirlo also spoke about his plans once he retires as a player and what he hates the most as a professional footballer.
“No Coaching for me. I’ll get a life. I wouldn’t bet a cent on me becoming a manager. There are too many worries and the lifestyle is far too close to that of a player. In the future, I’d like to get back a semblance of a private life. ”
“One part of my job I’ll never learn to love is the pre-match warm-up. I hate it with every fibre of my being. It actually disgusts me. It’s nothing but masturbation for conditioning coaches.”
The veteran also disclosed his mentality before he stepped up to take the penalty against England in the last Euro.
“To be clear, I didn’t do a Francesco Totti against England at Euro 2012. Back at Euro 2000, against Netherlands, just before he went up to take his penalty Totti told captain Paolo Maldini that he was going to chip the keeper. I made my decision at the last second when I saw Joe Hart doing all sorts on his line. ”
Pirlo confessed that he had considered retirement after suffering a painful loss in the 2005 UEFA Champions League final against Liverpool
“I thought about quitting because, after Istanbul, nothing made sense any more. The 2005 Champions League final simply suffocated me I’ll never fully shake that sense of absolute impotence when destiny is at work.”
“How it happened I don’t know, but the fact remains that when the impossible becomes reality. Somebody messed it up – in this case, the entire team. A mass suicide where we all joined hands and jumped off the Bosphorus Bridge.”
“For that reason, I steer well clear of the DVD from the Liverpool game. I will never watch that match again. I have already played it once in person and many other times in my head, searching for an explanation that perhaps does not even exist.”
The Juventus regista spoke of Sir Alex Ferguson’s tactics of using Ji Sung Park to mark him when the two sides met in 2010.
“Even Sir Alex Ferguson, the purple-nosed manager who turned Manchester United into a fearsome battleship, could not resist the temptation. He’s a man without blemish, but he ruined that purity just for a moment when it came to me. A fleeting shabbiness came over the legend that night.”
“They’d programmed him to stop me. His devotion to the task was almost touching. Even though he was a famous player, he consented to being used as a guard dog.”
Pirlo also spoke of how close he was in snatching a move to Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea.
“It was August 2009 and I’d reached agreement with Chelsea, the club where Ancelotti had just come in as manager. Carlo was like a father and a teacher for me, a kind, friendly man who knew how to make things fun.”
“But, in the meantime, Silvio Berlusconi had pulled out a second piece of paper. Berlusconi blew my Chelsea move. AC Milan wanted too much cash, and they were also pushing for Branislav Ivanovic to be included in the deal.
Finally, the Mozart also spoke of the racism circling Mario Balotelli.
“Mario Balotelli is a special kind of medicine, an antidote to the potentially lethal poison of the racists you find in Italian grounds. They’re an horrendous bunch, a herd of frustrated individuals who’ve taken the worst of history and made it their own.”
“And they’re more than just a minority, despite what certain mealy-mouthed spin doctors would have you believe. Whenever I see Mario, I’ll give him a big smile. It’s my way of letting him know that I’m right behind him and he mustn’t give up. A gesture that means ‘Thank you’.”
