EURO 2012: PIRLO CONCEDES GERMANY MORE DANGEROUS THAN EXTRA CAUTIOUS ENGLAND

Rejuvenated Juventus and Italian superstar Andrea Pirlo has admitted that Germany will pose a far greater threat to the Azzurri's   defence than England, whom he said sat deep and were too cautious. The 33yr  old veteran playmaker said: “Unlike England, Germany can create many threats to our defence. England played a very careful way. They were sitting back all the match like Chelsea did in the Champions League final. They tried to keep that same shape. For them going to the penalty shoot-out was already a good result.”

According to the former Rossoneri,the difference is, against Germany I expect Mesut Özil to be a great threat in and around the areas where I am playing, whereas Rooney stayed further up. Özil will play in the same area, although he will not necessarily do a man-marking job on me.”



Andre Pirlo Baring His Mind

Germany’s coach, Joachim Low, confirmed that. “There will be no man-marking him but we know how he plays and we will talk about it with the team,” he said. “He is going through a renaissance. After 2010 you thought he was past his prime. But he is a genius strategist who plays a lot of balls through and he can play them where it hurts the other team the most.”

You may recall that Andrea Pirlo sensational form was instrumental in Italian club, Juventus winning the Italian Scudetto without losing a match and also guided them to the Copa Italia final where they lost to Napoli. It sure promises to be a mouth watering encounter tonight as Germany will be hoping to avenge their 2006 world cup semi final loss on home soil in the hands of a team they have not beaten in the past 17 years.

I place my bet on the Azzuri's to go through tonight but they will have to up their game against a young and vibrant German team that has not dropped a single point either in the qualifiers and in this tournament itself. With Schweinsteigger declared fit, the stage is set for another night of an exquisite display of soccer artistery from two of Europe's most decorated footballing nations.