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10 best excerpts from Andrea Pirlo's 'I Think, Therefore I Play'

Andrea Pirlo is a household name in Italy, and not for the want of evidence. The former Juventus, AC Milan and Inter midfielder is considered to be one of the revolutionaries of his position. His departure from European football broke the hearts of millions of fans worldwide, who miss watching his magical touch every week in the Serie A.

Pirlo attained a cult following for his hard-hitting autobiography ‘I think, Therefore I Play’, which was published in the year 2013. There are several snippets from the book which illustrate the various aspects of his imposing, yet uber-cool personality. The following are the pick of the lot, placed in their order of appearance in the book:


#1 ‘If the sea’s deep, a fish can breathe...’

Andrea Pirlo

The first chapter of the book deals with Andrea’s last meeting with the then Milan vice president-cum-chief executive Adriano Galliani. Seated at his desk, Pirlo takes a moment to reflect on his Milan career – his 10-year long association with the Milanese giants. As he does so, he zooms out of the picture of the room for a bit, and delves deep into the make of the rather impressive pen in his hand.

He then reveals in the following lines why he decided to leave the club – he didn’t want to play on the left of midfield for coach Max Allegri. It is this situation that he describes with his beautiful, and rather fitting words: ‘If the sea’s deep, a fish can breathe. If you put him just under the surface, he’ll get by, but it’s not quite the same thing.’ 

He closes the chapter by remarking “I’ll never say which pen I used.” What a man!

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