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Juventus and Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo has confessed his love for PlayStation in his new autobiography.
After the wheel, the PlayStation is the best invention of all time,” he wrote, according to an extract printed by The Guardian. I can’t say with any certainty how many virtual matches I’ve played over the last few years but, roughly speaking, it must be at least four times the number of real ones.
Pirlo vs [Alessandro] Nesta was a classic duel back in our [AC] Milan days. We’d get in early, have breakfast at 9am and then shut ourselves in our room and hit the PlayStation until 11. Training would follow, then we’d be back on the computer games until four in the afternoon. Truly a life of sacrifice.
Our head-to-heads were pure adrenaline. I’d go Barcelona and so would Sandro. Barca vs Barca. The first player I’d pick was the quickest one, Samuel Eto’o, but I’d still end up losing a lot of the time. I’d get pissed off and hurl away my controller before asking Sandro for a rematch. And then I’d lose again.”
Pirlo also compared playing on a PlayStation to football management, citing former Barcelona boss and current Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola.
Being a philosopher is to think, seek wisdom and have principles that guide and influence what you do,” he pondered. Guardiola has taken all that and applied it to football, an imperfect science. He racked his brains and dispersed the fog, more through hard work than mere thought.
What he’s achieved hasn’t been about miracles, rather a gentle programming of his players. It’s virtual reality mixed with real life; a swim between the shores of fantasy and reality with Estiarte by his side. In other words, we’re talking PlayStation.”
