Andrea Pirlo

[XaviMessiGirl]

Oh ok. But the bolded part is not said anywhere on the article though. Also, can it also mean "to take"? Because that's what is said on the article. I just assumed it meant he would first try to select Eto'o and run with him because he was the fastest.



This would be awesome.

Yeah, it can (and actually I believe "to take" IS the primary meaning... if I was writing a sentence in Italian I would be more likely to use "comprare" if I was talking about buying something). But in the context, or my interpretation of it anyway, it sounds like he meant that he bought Eto'o, because he says he had the fastest player in the game & still lost to Nesta a lot, which to me implies Nesta didn't have him. I could be misunderstanding though.

But yeah, keep in mind that I'm not a native speaker & am largely self taught (no courses or software), still would say I'm at a beginner level too so my translation won't be perfect. But as it looks like I'm the only one on the forum who has the book (and I'm not even sure there are any frequent posters who know much Italian anyway), figured it's better than nothing. It should at least be generally accurate.


On a side note I think it's funny that we're sitting here analyzing how Pirlo & Nesta play FIFA

 

[XaviMessiGirl]

My brain hurts now But here is my effort, the chapter where he talks about Barca.


After the wheel, the PlayStation is the best invention in history. And when there is a PlayStation I am Barcelona (apart from a few times I chose Milan). I can't say the exact number of virtual matches I played last year, but at least four times as much as real ones. Me against Nesta was a classic at the time in Milanello: we would arrive at 9:00 ready for breakfast, in our room until 11:00, train, lunch and then again to our room at 4:00 in the afternoon. A life of sacrifices. Our battles were pure adrenaline. I chose Barcelona, Sandrino also. Barca against Barca, the first player I bought was Samuel Eto'o, the fastest of all, yet I often lost. I was pissed off, threw the joystick, asked for a rematch and lost again, but I could not use the excuse that the other team's coach was better than that of mine: Pep Guardiola for him and Pep Guardiola for me, at least the level of the bench we left equal. We had also thought about kidnapping him - that's right, in the flesh – on 25th August 2010, when Milan played at the Camp Nou for the Gamper Trophy, then we gave up: it wouldn't have been a happy move. He would suffer, poor guy.

And then, the idea of kidnapping someone came first to him rather than to us, in a sense that it was Guardiola to kidnap me, just that night. At the end of the match they all went after Zlatan Ibrahimovic, as crazy to watch as his agent (the mythical Mino Raiola), on a collision course with the Catalans and in the process of transferring to Milan. Some of my teammates were looking for him to motivate him to leave, some of his friends from home to convince him not to, the journalists to get some quotes that did not take long to arrive: “It would be great to play at San Siro in the same team as Ronaldinho. Here the coach doesn't talk to me, in the last six months he has opened his mouth to me only twice.” It's not a mystery, the words Guardiola had for me. In all this chaos, taking advantage of the hunt for Zlatan and the fact that the attention was off him for a moment, he invited me into his office. I left the dressing room and found his trusted friend since birth, the '007' in slippers: Manuel Estiarte, who in his sporting life had been the best water polo player of all time, the second man in the world to walk on water.

“Andrea, come with me. There is the coach who wants to meet you.” Without the cap on his head I struggled to recognize him, however I looked at him and felt the scent of chlorine.

“Very well, vamos.”

I didn't pray and I entered, the furniture was plain, on the table there was red wine. “Good start,” I whispered, and fortunately the most envied coach in the universe didn't hear me. His tone was very similar to mine, not content exactly.

“Take a seat Andrea,” he said in perfect Italian.

I had not focused much on my surroundings, but only on who had spoken to me. Guardiola was sitting in a chair. He began to speak to me about Barcelona, saying that it was a different world, a perfect mechanism that invented itself. He wore a pair of pants the same dark tone as his tie, and a white shirt. He was very elegant exactly like he talked.

“Thanks for agreeing to meet me.”

“Thanks for the offer.”

“We need you around here.”

Here there is to say that the speed of his words wasn't part of his repertoire. After two minutes he had already arrived at the point. As a footballer he set the game, as a coach he learned to attack. Always with extreme style.

“We are very strong, I could not ask for better, but you would be the icing on top. We are looking for a midfielder to alternate with Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets and that midfielder is you. You have all the right characteristics to play in Barcelona and one in particular: you are world class.”

I often stayed quiet during that half hour, leaving the talking to him. I listened, nodded. I was so surprised from that call and that meeting that my reflexes slowed, more stunned than excited. Shaken by the situation, cooked to perfection.

“You know, Andrea, we brought this up quickly because here things go well, we don't waste time. We want to get you right away, we've already spoken to Milan, they said no. But we will not be shot down, we are Barcelona. We are used to certain responses, but at the end things always change. We will try again, meanwhile start moving.”

Until that moment no one had blurted anything out. Not even to me. I was the center of a sensational negotiation in the transfer market – of football and of luxury – without even knowing.

“If you come to us, you will find yourself in a unique position. Our jewel is La Masia, the youth sector, a pride that no other club can boast. It is a Swiss watch, a philharmonic orchestra where the sticks are not allowed nor provided, every year footballers come ready to wear our shirt. The champions are created at home, apart from you. It's all very beautiful, at the same time very tiring. The victories can drain you.”

No, I really didn't expect that. By force, I was finished inside the PlayStation, sucked from my preferred hobby, at the mercy of a puppeteer with the magic hand. “You must come here, Andrea. As a player I have always liked you, I want to coach you.”

I immediately thought of Sandrino, who would have died of envy if I told him. “Though Milan for the moment have said no, we won't give up and we'll see what happens.”

Like to Real Madrid, more than to Real Madrid, to Barcelona I would have gone walking on all fours. In that moment it was the strongest team in the world, do I need to say more? It managed to express a game not seen in years, made its first steps of a ball possession madman. The philosophy “the ball is ours and will stay ours”, combined with a synchronized orchestra from God in person, a Rolex with the batteries of a Swatch. Refined and with a long life.

“We will hear soon. Have a good trip back to Milano, and hopefully it won't be long.”

“Thanks, this was a very interesting chat.”

I exited from his office dazed. On the Milan bus I got on almost last, no one noticed. From the windows, with their noses stuck to the glass, many were looking at what was happening outside. They studied, curious and pleased, the thin line on which Ibrahimovic was doing acrobatics: one part the flame of Barcelona that was fading, the other the spark of Milan that was making fire. Going in opposite directions, the world knew about him, but me they did not. If things had advanced, I would have finished my career in very great company, in a different experience, and I would have liked it a lot. The discussions went on for a little while, at the end Milan did not give in, and it was thought that was it. At the time they considered me capable of understanding why they kept me, without ever outlining a real negotiation with Barcelona. Words, speeches, hypotheses: nothing more.

I would have been fortunate to be trained by Guardiola, because on his teams he leaves a mark. He builds, he guides, he yells, he hugs. He makes them great. He leads to a superior level, besides football there is more. Ibrahimovic, believing to insult him, called him “the philosopher”, but it reflects well and is a beautiful compliment. To be a philosopher means to think, to search for wisdom, to have an idea that you move and you guide, to make sense of things, to orient yourself in the world, to believe that to the end, in each case, the good prevails over the bad, though with a little bit of suffering. Guardiola has taken all of this and he has applied it to football, to a perfect science. More with the force of work than with that of thought, it has not been a miracle, but a sweet program. A very crema catalana, easily digestible. The virtual plunges into the real, a swim between the stage and the reality, alongside Estiarte.

In one word: PlayStation.

 

[Ode to Django]

The thing is with his book that is released while he's still playing, pretty much means he has to kiss Juventus & Conte's ass, because he can't run the risk of upsetting anyone. Should have probably waited until his career is over.

 

[XaviMessiGirl]

yeh, then he could write about how he wished he could trade in the prison stripes for blaugrana & how he bets Tito doesn't throw water bottles at the players at HT.

 

[MoFroBo]

@MilanNext: Pirlo's book: "When they asked me if it was true I almost signed for Real Madrid I had to fake saying it wasn't true and that i loved Milan"

@MilanNext: Pirlo's book: "F*** off, it's a shame it ended like that (Pirlo staying in Milano). I would have gone to Madrid rushing"

@MilanNext: Pirlo's book: "Real Madrid has more appeal, more future, more everything than Milan. Real Madrid scares the other teams".

@MilanNext: Pirlo's book: "Anyway at the end of the season in which i was supposed to move to Real, I consoled myself winning the Champions League".

Rossoneri must despise him a lot, I mean A LOT This type of cunt people are worst, wearing a mask and acting all nice to everyone while it is opposite. Lost any respect to this cuntface.

 

[Indignado]

Every person wears a mask, but only few write a book about it. I'd rather appreciate his honesty.

 

[Ode to Django]

consoled myself with the CL he's the only one who i've ever heard say bad things, it all sounds very dickish to be honest. But i'm not suprised as he is a current Juventus player. I've never heard anyone diss Milan as much, most want to return or have nothing but respect.

I don't think of him any less, but he comes across as very bitter.

 

[spark]

I would have been fortunate to be trained by Guardiola, because on his teams he leaves a mark. He builds, he guides, he yells, he hugs. He makes them great. He leads to a superior level, besides football there is more. Ibrahimovic, believing to insult him, called him “the philosopher”, but it reflects well and is a beautiful compliment. To be a philosopher means to think, to search for wisdom, to have an idea that you move and you guide, to make sense of things, to orient yourself in the world, to believe that to the end, in each case, the good prevails over the bad, though with a little bit of suffering. Guardiola has taken all of this and he has applied it to football, to a perfect science. More with the force of work than with that of thought, it has not been a miracle, but a sweet program. A very crema catalana, easily digestible. The virtual plunges into the real, a swim between the stage and the reality, alongside Estiarte.

In one word: PlayStation.[/b]

Pep, Xavi and Pirlo talking football would have been too much for the universe to handle. I always said only a brute like Ibra would think philosophy is an insult

 

[MoFroBo]

Every person wears a mask, but only few write a book about it. I'd rather appreciate his honesty.

Nothing wrong about revealing this, I am just surprised how someone can be so ungrateful. He won trophies with Milan, had a chance to play with world's best players, was paid millions. And ever since he left Milan not a single sign of appreciation was shown. I mean even Ibra has to say only positive things about Milan.

 

[Galning]

hilarious. Even Ibra didn't go that far with his book.

 

[XaviMessiGirl]

Every person wears a mask, but only few write a book about it. I'd rather appreciate his honesty.

yeh same, it is worse to me to be fake your entire life, than to be brutally honest but piss people off in the process. I'm not sure the whole story with Madrid as I haven't read that part yet, but as I wrote in my translation above he had really wanted to go to Barca in summer 2010 but the transfer was blocked. Then that season Milan started playing him out of position & whatnot, giving him a poor season, he didn't like how they treated him when he actually did leave either, so it's understandable he would be unhappy. Though I'm guessing he probably was happy until that last year at Milan, then he retroactively got bitter about other stuff.

Perhaps some of his language & choice of words were too strong but again I'd rather see a true reflection of his thought process than a lot of sugar-coated shit. I can understand why Milan fans wouldn't like this though, after all he achieved with them. It hurt as a Barca fan to see some of what Ibra said in his book but at the end of the day it's better than faking it & saying his time at Barca was perfect. Then again Pirlo to Milan is a lot different that Ibra was to Barca.

 

[Furia]

-

 

[XaviMessiGirl]

Yeah, Ibra definitely meant it ironically but still, Pirlo had a lot of nice words for Barca & Pep.

 

[trqhai]

Dear XaviMessiGirl, where can I find the text for Pirlo's book ? Could you send the the ebook on Italian ?

Thanks so much,

 

[XaviMessiGirl]

Dear XaviMessiGirl, where can I find the text for Pirlo's book ? Could you send the the ebook on Italian ?

Thanks so much,

I have the e-book but I don't think I can send it or anything, regardless it isn't that expensive if you really want to read it or maybe someone else has uploaded it somewhere by now.