Andrea Pirlo

Andrea Pirlo began at his hometown club Brescia as an attacking midfielder, a role in which he sometimes struggled. He was gifted enough to be compared with Gianni Rivera, but he lacked pace and more dynamic players competed for his spot. Back at Brescia on loan in 2001, he found his boyhood idol Roberto Baggio already in the attacking midfield spot, so coach Carlo Mazzone moved Pirlo deeper, the first time anyone had used him as a deep-lying playmaker. At AC Milan, Carlo Ancelotti took the idea further and planted him just ahead of the defenders. Pirlo later said Ancelotti "changed my career, putting me in front of the defence." With Gennaro Gattuso doing much of the chasing beside him, he set the tempo, which earned him the nickname "the metronome." In his second season he led Serie A in passes, averaging close to ninety a game. Milan won the Champions League in 2003, and again in 2007 when his free kick set up Inzaghi's opener against Liverpool. The 2005 final against them was his low point: he missed in the shoot-out and later admitted he considered retiring. Italy teammates called him "the Architect" for the way he built attacks with long, lofted through balls. He could play it short, but he liked the difficult pass, and his long distribution came off either foot even though he was naturally right-footed. A clean touch, good balance and the odd feint let him hold on to the ball when pressed. He also polished his curled free kicks by studying Baggio in training, took ideas from Juninho's knuckleball, and finished level with Siniša Mihajlović for the most free-kick goals in Serie A history. Big occasions rarely seemed to weigh on him. At the 2006 World Cup he scored against Ghana, set up Fabio Grosso's late extra-time opener in the semi-final against Germany, delivered the corner for Marco Materazzi's equaliser in the final and scored Italy's first penalty in the shoot-out. No one won more Man of the Match awards at that tournament. Against England at Euro 2012 he chipped his shoot-out penalty straight down the middle, saying he had waited for the goalkeeper to move first. That night he also completed more passes than England's entire midfield. The limits were real. He was not quick, not a ball-winner in the tackle and not built for constant running, so at Juventus, where he won four straight league titles, Antonio Conte flanked him with Marchisio and Vidal to cover the ground. Pirlo made up for it by reading play early and stepping into passing lanes. When opponents squeezed him, as Costa Rica and Uruguay did at the 2014 World Cup, his influence faded and critics said Italy leaned on him too heavily. In New York, his low defensive work-rate drew criticism as well.