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

#10 ‘If you’ve got Bar Rafaeli...’

In a view contrary to that of nearly all sports scientists, Pirlo proceeds to systematically dismantle the popular belief that pre-match warmups are a necessary element of football training. And he does so with a pinch of typically dry Pirlo humour that cannot be argued with

In his mind, football is mostly a game played with brains at the very top level. Evidence for that can be found today, when professional footballers are fitter, faster, leaner and meaner than ever, but Pirlo still outclassed all of them despite not matching them toe-to-toe.

“If you’ve got Bar Rafaeli lying naked in front of you, you just can’t wink at her and say: ‘Wait there, I’ll be with you in 15 minutes.’ All you’ll do in that quarter of an hour is think of her. You’ll hold everything back until you’ve got her in your arms and can throw yourself into the moment.”

Who can argue with logic like that!