As Andrea Pirlo announced his retirement from football, the messages started to pour in from both teammates and opponents around the world. It would be strange not to hear from Gennaro Gattuso, who was Pirlo's right hand man during his spell with Milan and the Italian national team. Gattuso spoke to Radio 24 about his former teammate, "Pirlo is a person of extreme intelligence and credibility. These qualities allow him to take part in any role in football. He helped me tremendously throughout the course of my career, when I was in difficulty I just gave him the ball. I am like him? Don't joke around, it would be like mixing nutella with chocolate. When I thought that we were playing the same sport, I almost thought about changing careers because of his qualities."
Gattuso went on to speak about Pirlo's renaissance at Juventus, "He worked very hard and found his motivation thanks to Antonio Conte. In his first season there they were able to train for a full week due to not playing in European competitions, and that helped him recharge his batteries."
