The suave midfielder has named his Premier League XI and it does have a few surprises. Well, actually not too many as 5 of the 11 players are from Manchester City – the parent club of New York City FC, his current team.
The Italian legend seems to have gone with a 4-1-4-1 formation and has chosen players from just 4 teams – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City. The fact that no one from Manchester United gets a place in his XI shows how far the mighty Red Devils have fallen.
Pirlo is a World Cup winner, 2-time Champions League winner, 2 time Serie A winner and although he has never played in the Premier League, he does know his football and we must not doubt the midfield maestro’s dream team even if our favourite player fails to make the cut.
Pirlo was speaking to Shortlist and here is his team in full.
Pirlo has gone for England number 1 Joe Hart in goal and perhaps he is the only debatable inclusion in the team. David De Gea, Petr Cech, Thibaut Courtois and Hugo Lloris are top class goalkeepers and either of them could have been selected.
The defence, though, is bang on. Chelsea skipper John Terry and Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany occupy the 2 centre-back positions flanked by Arsenal’s Nacho Monreal and Chelsea’ Branislav Ivanovic.
2 Manchester City stars, Yaya Toure and Kevin De Bruyne along with 2 from Arsenal- Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez and Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho make up an enviable 5-man midfield.
Pirlo has gone for just one striker and no prize for guessing who that is. Sergio Aguero is one of the best strikers in world football let alone the Premier League and this is what Pirlo thinks too: “Just one of the best strikers in the world, despite some injury problems. When he is fit and in the team, Manchester City look another class to everybody else in England.
Some notable absentees are Eden Hazard, Wayne Rooney, Laurent Koscielny, Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane and who knows if Pirlo had named his substitutes few of these might have featured.
