ANDREA PIRLO

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Italian international Andrea Pirlo has revealed that he will be quitting the international scene after the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The Juventus player is regarded as one of the greatest midfielders to have graced the game.

He started out as an attacking midfielder, but he was converted into a deep lying playmaker. He has made this position as his own over the last few years, while there have been few to replicate his skill in this position. He has been an instrumental part of the Italian team, which managed to lift the FIFA World Cup in 2006.

At 33 years of age, Pirlo is coming to the end of this stellar career. He will be 35 years of age by the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Hence, he is of the opinion that he needs to retire from international football in order to focus on his club career. Milan recently released Pirlo thinking that he was past his best, but he helped Juventus win the league title after a nine-year gap last season. He made his debut for the national team back in 2002 against Azerbaijan. He has been included in several star lineups announced after the end of a major tournament.

“The young players need to be given their chance. I will continue at club level for as long as I still have the passion and feel important. Otherwise I would be the first person to retire,” said Pirlo. The former AC Milan midfielder has 97 international appearances to his name. He is soon expected to cross the 100 appearance mark. Italy are expected to qualify for the World Cup comfortably, as they lead the group with a significant advantage. Pirlo also helped the national team reached the final of the Euro 2012.

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The Juventus midfielder Andrea Pirlo has spoken about the importance of training well in order to compete with the younger players. The 32-year-old was recently voted as one of the players within the UEFA team of the year. He became the only player from Italy to be nominated for this team. Pirlo was one of the remarkable successes of last season. He moved to Juventus on a free transfer from AC Milan after being released from the San Siro due to his age concerns. However, he has put behind them in brilliant fashion and has helped Juventus win their first title since the match fixing scandal of 2006.

Pirlo has also once again been instrumental in the progress up the ladder in recent months. After receiving the nomination, the 32-year-old said that training extremely hard is one of the ways of keeping fit for the matches. Just because players get old, they should not stop training the way they used to. The midfielder recently said that he would welcome the Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard with open arms at the club. The 34-year-old England international is out of contract at the end of the season, and he is free to discuss terms with a foreign club.

“Well, you need to know a bit of everything. You need to know how to defend, how to attack, how to direct the game, win the ball and score goals – a bit of everything. I just try to give my best in training to be fit for the matches. The older you get it becomes more and more important to train well and focus on every single detail, just to stay in your best form as long as possible,” said Pirlo. Juventus are once again top of the Italian Serie A table this season as well.

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The Juventus midfielder Andrea Pirlo has confirmed that the Italian club Juventus will not be playing for a draw when they take on the task in the final group match of the Champions League. Juventus will be able to progress to the next round of the competition if they manage a victory against Shakhtar Donetsk. However, they can qualify for the next round even if they just match the result of the European champions Chelsea, who will be at home to Nordsjaelland. Due to the 3-0 victory over Chelsea in the previous match, Juventus are in a position to qualify for the last 16 stage ahead of Chelsea.

Hence, there has been a suggestion that the club will be looking for a draw from the final group match against Shakhtar Donetsk, who are top of group. There is the opportunity for Juventus to leapfrog Shakhtar with a victory over the Ukrainian team. It is exactly what the players will be playing for according to Pirlo, who was instrumental in helping the club win the Italian league title last season. The 32-year-old midfielder has once again been instrumental for the club this season. A draw would be ideal for both Shakhtar Donetsk and Juventus, but the Italian club will have only a victory in mind according to Pirlo.

“Any talk of playing for a draw is not true of any of the players here at Juventusand I am sure it is not true of the Shakhtar players. We want to win the group and I am sure Shakhtar do as well. We have no duty to help Chelsea, but we have a duty to ourselves and to our fans to try and win the group. We want to win the group and I am sure Shakhtar do as well,” said Pirlo.

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