Andrea Pirlo will bid farewell to football tonight, with a star-studded tribute game at San Siro.

World Cup winners Gigi Buffon, Alessandro Del Piero, Daniele De Rossi, Alessandro Nesta and Francesco Totti will all be taking part.

There will also be a host of foreign superstars, including Andriy Shevchenko, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Frank Lampard.

There are plenty of specialist free-kick takers taking part, but Il Maestro might just be the best of the lot.

Here are five of his best.

Andrea Pirlo will bid farewell to football tonight, with a star-studded tribute game at San Siro.

World Cup winners Gigi Buffon, Alessandro Del Piero, Daniele De Rossi, Alessandro Nesta and Francesco Totti will all be taking part.

There will also be a host of foreign superstars, including Andriy Shevchenko, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Frank Lampard.

There are plenty of specialist free-kick takers taking part, but Il Maestro might just be the best of the lot.

Here are five of his best.

vs Scotland, March 26 2005

This was the night Pirlo truly announced himself on the international stage, scoring both goals as Italy beat Scotland 2-0 – and both were free-kicks.

The first was a fine strike, beating Rab Douglas who had suffered an injury which perhaps prevented him from reaching it.

No goalkeeper could have stopped the second though, with Pirlo bending it into the top corner.

Indeed it was Craig Gordon who dived desperately for the second, meaning the midfielder scored two free-kicks in one match, past two different goalkeepers.

vs Cagliari, November 25 2007

Pirlo was capable of both curling in a free-kick with his instep, as well as the Juninho-style swerving effort.

A fine example of the latter came at Cagliari in 2007, sealing a late 2-1 win for Milan.

The ball actually hits close to the centre of the net, but such was the swerve and dip on it, goalkeeper Marco Fortin had no chance.

vs Inter, December 23 2007

Milan may have lost the Derby della Madonnina to Inter in December 2007, but Pirlo opened the scoring with a textbook strike.

With the ball just inside the D at the edge of the box, conventional wisdom would suggest there wasn’t enough time to get it up and down.

That didn’t faze Pirlo though, and he curled a strike into the near top corner which left Julio Cesar standing.

vs Fiorentina, March 20 2014

After a 1-1 draw in Turin, Juventus were heading out of the Europa League at the Last 16 stage with just under 70 minutes played.

Fernando Llorente was brought down on the edge of the box, presenting Pirlo with an opportunity.

As Massimo Ambrosini joined the wall and tried to put the Bianconeri man off, legend has it that Pirlo told his friend and former teammate: “turn around, you can watch it go in”.



It did.

vs Mexico, June 16 2013

What could be better for a footballer than playing in the Maracana? How about winning your 100th cap while doing so?

Not good enough? Throw in scoring with a glorious free-kick and you’ve got Pirlo’s game against Mexico in the 2013 Confederations Cup.

With 27 minutes played, Pirlo pulled rank on Mario Balotelli and thumped a free-kick right into the top corner, past the despairing dive of Guillermo Ochoa.

It was his 13th and, it turned out, final goal for his country, and Pirlo certainly signed off in some style.

Bonus free-kick

This one against England at World Cup 2014 didn’t actually go in, but just look at that swerve…

Bygaby

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