Wow, out of nowhere for real. Such a great career and defo sad to see him go. He was really good back in the day, probably sexiest long passing amongst all players (with Alonso and Scholes of course). Also, a really funny and classy guy in real life.

What do you think of him? Where is he amongst best midfielders ever? Which is his best moment?

Pirlo long-passing compilation

Wow, out of nowhere for real

He's only played about 1000 minutes over the 35+ games so far this season. He's slow, can't track back, and Vieira has basically benched him for the last few months. If he hadn't retired, NYCFC would've cut him.

Great career for sure, but his time in MLS is hopefully the last time we get a 35+ year old with nothing left to offer. If you come here and play like Villa or Drogba, fine. If you play like Pirlo/Marquez/Lampard? I just hope MLS has learned.

Yeah, one of the best midfielder in serie A and in Italy but sadly, he didn't offer as much in MLS. Still, its what he did in Milan and Juventus that will be remembered the most. :D

He was retired to me ever since he left Europe. It's not like he went to the States for any reason other than money. Football in the MLS is of a very low quality.

Pirlo was a gem. Only central midfielders I have seen better than him are Iniesta, Xavi, Kaka, Ronaldinho, and perhaps Modric. And none of these players quite had the trequartista playing style of Pirlo. I don't think there's a single midfielder in Europe's top teams who can boast the playing style or qualities of Pirlo. And that alone should speak volumes of Pirlo's unique footprint in football's history.

Hats off to a stellar career.

World Cup

2006

Champions League

2002-03. 2006-07

Serie A

2003-04, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15

Coppa Italia

2002-03, 2014-15

Club World Cup

2007

UEFA Super Cup

2003, 2007

Supercoppa Italiana

2004, 2012, 2013

Individual Awards

2006 World Cup Bronze Ball
2006 World Cup Final MOTM

Football in the MLS is of a very low quality.

:U

He was retired to me ever since he left Europe.

For the rest of the world, not.

Don't follow MLS so I can't really tell, but wouldn't expect much from him this late in career, I honestly forgot he is still playing so I was bit confused when I saw it.

About MLS' quality, it is slowly getting better but Josef Martinez is arguably best player in league and still didn't do anything in Torino. Although I watched a bit of highlights and few players stand out, also Carleton seems very talented and Sargent just came to Werder this summer, so maybe we can see something more of them. Imo in 5 years if it doesn't develop they should change something (in terms of league quality).

About MLS' quality, it is slowly getting better but Josef Martinez is arguably best player in league and still didn't do anything in Torino.

That you even said that shows how little you know about this league. Giovinco, David Villa, Almiron, Piatti, Bradley, all of them are easily better than Martinez. That's not even considering players like Bastian, Altidore, or Lodeiro, all of whom I'd rate higher than him, but that's personal preference rather than common opinion like the players I mentioned first.

As for the league quality, it's improved greatly since teams began using their 3 DP slots on younger talents. Almiron and Martinez are both good examples of that.

Absolute legend for me. It's sad that's it is so hard to find such an artist in the mid with modern football (Modric is one of the few succesful ones). These days are a lot about physical strengths in that area.

@Emo: he came to MLS to retire, his mission was not to play football, but more to explore and spread his way of playing in the US. Noone (at least from whom I know) expects any of the retiring players to make any impact.

@Dyn: ABSOLUTELY TRUE, same with me, the moment they moved to MLS, I considered them retired. They go there to make football more famous, spread European football ideology, not to actual play football. The impacts are not on goals or assists, but more the football's contribution in itself.

@Gon: who said for the rest of the world not? At least, it is debatable. I can say for me and lots of the people Im talking to, it is the case. it does not take a football guru to know that when a super star goes to MLS or China, very much likely that he is in his last football days and about to retire

EXCEPT for David Beckham, his story is slightly different. He went there with a clear purpose, and on top of that is to play football. (he was still relatively young). I still think it was a stupid move.

PS: MLS is not that bad, I have watched a few games (mostly in David's time), and back then there were already very decent matches.

@tuan So everyone that go to play in MLS automatically already retired, but your favorite player Beckham is an exception? No.

@Gon: who said for the rest of the world not? At least, it is debatable. I can say for me and lots of the people Im talking to, it is the case. it does not take a football guru to know that when a super star goes to MLS or China, very much likely that he is in his last football days and about to retire

And that's fine. It honestly is. But we have two types of old Europeans that come here. The first type works their asses off, appreciates and adapts to the pace of the game here, and is successful. Examples include Drogba, Villa, Henry, Keane, and Bastian. The second type thinks they're retired already, puts in no work whatsoever, thinks they're better than league-proven players, and expects to coast to victory. They inevitably fail. The keynote examples here are Gerrard and Marquez, but to different degrees Lampard, Pirlo, De Jong, Defoe, and others.

Beckham is a weird one. The league only allowed players to break the salary cap with the "DP" rule as he arrived, the rule was literally created for him. When you can only pay your top player like 500k a year, obviously the quality of the league is not going to be good. However, in the 10 years since Beckham arrived, the MLS has gone from little more than a joke to a legitimate league. Internationals from all over CONCACAF and South America play here. So do European ones. Teams have no patience anymore for big European players who arrive and generate fans, but not wins.

I guess I just don't like it when European fans ignore the progress that has been made in the last decade. I was never proud of MLS when I started watching soccer - there was no reason to be. Now I am. But people still treat it the way it was ten years ago, I don't know why, ignorance might be enough, but for some I think there is legitimately a fear of what happens when the American sports base inevitably embraces soccer. It's the USA. With money, a good league, and hopefully in the near future a better Continental tournament, the sky really is the limit. I think people want to ignore that possibility as much as possible.

I guess what I'm getting is that I lose a lot of respect for the second type of player. I honestly hate Gerrard for how he handled his time here. It's hard to hate on Pirlo, because he's Pirlo, but he didn't do much better. If all you wanted to do was cash a big paycheck, you should've gone to China. On the plus side, I'm happy to report that not since NYCFC (Manchester City's affiliate) joined the league and threw money at old players have any disappointing old Europeans joined the league. I like to think MLS is beyond that now.

Sun, interesting that you dont mention Guillermo Barros-Squelloto. He was a beast at Colombus Crew. Best player in the league for like 3 seasons in a row. Also, Quatemo Blanco was half decent in Chicago Fire but he got old and lazy.

@rain

Didn't he come from Boca? I know he's managing them now. Doesn't quite fit my "European" narrative. Tbh, South American have nothing but respect for MLS, and many of their internationals play here.

@Sun, all of them might be of better quality but is there really anyone in better form than him? Didn't he score like 6 goals in 3 matches or something like that?

@Sun, all of them might be of better quality but is there really anyone in better form than him? Didn't he score like 6 goals in 3 matches or something like that?

Yeah. He's scored 18 on the season which is 4th in the league at the moment. His form is excellent, but you got me rattled cause that's not what you said in your first post. Sorry.

Gattuso is the real mvp

Saw that on reddit, Gattuso quotes all over the place now. Mainly talks about his role next to Pirlo and some personal stuff.

Pirlo is a legend. For a guy that didn't always have the best speed, strength and defending attributes, he sure made the best with his shocking beast passing and dribbling, but more importantly his pure genius.

Aaaah man, look at this maestro, making the genius look easy.