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Former Juventus midfielder and Italian international Andrea Pirlo made his official debut for New York City FC, coming on as a substitute for his new club in their 5-3 win over Orlando City at the Yankees Stadium. He brought his calm and collected game to NYCFC as they fought resiliently to claim all three points against their opponents.
Despite providing a number of telling passes throughout his cameo, Pirlo’s highlight of the match came in stoppage time. With former AC Milan teammate Kaka standing over the dead ball from outside the box, the Italian pointed out to his keeper Josh Saunders and signalled to him to dive towards the left side when the ball is struck.
Incredibly, video footage of Pirlo pointing out the exact direction of the free-kick emerged after the game, and his decision was proved right when Kaka’s free-kick was saved onto the post.
Considering that they were team-mates for six years it is no surprise that Pirlo knew about Kaka’s intentions, but his ability to correctly point out the direction for a long-range free-kick was indeed something brilliant. The 36-year-old is expected to make his first start at home when Montreal Impact come visiting next week.
Watch the incident here -
