Yesterday, Italian legend Andrea Pirlo played one final match before retirement — his testimonial at the San Siro. After a career spent with Brescia, Inter, Reggina, Milan, Juventus, New York City FC and the Italian national team, a world-class selection of former teammates came together to celebrate the career of the midfield maestro.
The match pitted the White Stars against the Blue Stars, and here’s a selection of just some the players representing the sides.
White Stars: Dida, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Nesta, Javier Zanetti, Gennaro Gattuso, Frank Lampard, Marco Verratti, Arturo Vidal, Roberto Baggio, Alessandro Del Piero, Filippo Inzaghi, Ronaldo and Francesco Totti.
Blue Stars: Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Barzagli, Cafu, Marco Materazzi, Daniele De Rossi, Clarence Seedorf, Antonio Cassano, Ronaldinho, Andriy Shevchenko, Carlos Tevez and Luca Toni.
20 years of football in front of my eyes for Pirlo farewell.
Don’t you believe it?
Take a look at the lineups pic.twitter.com/Z0PGOj4ibY— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) May 21, 2018
The match finished 7-7. Some of the highlights include a 28-year-old Alex Pato running circles around players, only to be outdone by the 44-year-old Inzaghi, who can still run circles around players. The legendary forward came on as a late substitute and bagged a hat-trick.
Both Luca Toni and Clarence Seedorf scored towering headers, and Pirlo provided a cheeky assist for “Bobo” Vieri to get on the scoresheet.
The most star-studded testimonial ever
14-goal thriller
Hat-trick for Filippo InzaghiThe perfect way to celebrate the career of Andrea Pirlo! Enjoy the highlights pic.twitter.com/02BIi3CQuy— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) May 22, 2018
Andrea Pirlo's Testimonial
San Siro
White Stars 7-7 Blue StarsLike a Who's Who of Italian football legends pic.twitter.com/YC4lKAZQxl— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) May 21, 2018
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