Pirlo’s unintended miracle: uniting Italy (against his candidacy)

Perhaps Andrea Pirlo didn’t perform a miracle, but he certainly came close. And what’s more, he did so without realising it – or almost without realising it.

In a country where football divides people over trifles and nonsense, Andrea Pirlo, once again without realising it, has managed to unite the wider world – not just the footballing one – around issues far more important than the national team. To have Ignazio La Russa, Andrea Abodi, Pina Picierno, Carlo Calenda and Mauro Berruto all on the same side is something quite incredible.

And if only that were all. Barring rare exceptions where someone tried to kick the ball into the stands to disrupt play, the Pirlo case has sparked a debate over whether or not it is appropriate to accept money from a Russian betting company that is closely linked to Putin and sponsors propaganda events to justify the invasion of Ukraine. It was even pointed out that all this might well be acceptable – one is, quite rightly, free to sign contracts with whomever one wishes, provided one takes responsibility for one’s actions – but it can become a problem if one becomes the national team manager of a country that has politically demonstrated its support for the invaded nation rather than the invader. This line of reasoning has managed to unite, without distinction, supporters of Inter, Juventus, AC Milan, Roma, Lazio, Napoli and so on and so forth. Andrea Pirlo wrote that “the collaboration at the centre of the controversy stems from my time in Saudi Arabia and is exclusively of a commercial and sporting nature”. This was directly refuted by the club he manages. He added that “attributing political significance to this collaboration means attributing to me beliefs that I have never expressed and which do not reflect my views”. And on this point there can be no doubt. It may, however, be a source of misunderstandings and incompatibilities.

It has even made a country with a long history of corporatism and patronage – a history that still often resurfaces – realise that, to become manager of the national team, it would be helpful to have demonstrated that one is, if not quite a winner, then at least almost a winner. Or even just that one is on the right path to finally winning, rather than having gone from one sporting failure to another. Always, however – let’s be clear – with that marvellous, radiant allure of someone who, over a decade ago now, worked wonders on the pitches of Serie A and the Champions League, seeing things that we mere mortals could not even imagine.

And as if that weren’t enough, Andrea Pirlo has also managed to challenge the notion – still very much in vogue in Italy – that a lone leader, convinced he has descended to earth to work miracles, can have limitations and flaws, and is not always the solution to every problem. Giovanni Malagò believed that relying on a potential miracle-worker like Paolo Maldini might be the right path to take to rebuild the football system that had led to the national team failing to qualify for three World Cups in a row. A decision dictated by the realism of a skilled sports manager such as himself, but one that immediately clashed with the desire to revolutionise the system from above and by imposition – a system that, to change truly, would instead require consensus and an awareness of the abyss into which it has fallen.