Italy have been boosted by the news that midfielder Andrea Pirlo will continue to play for the national team amid speculation that he was set to retire in order to focus on his club career. The 35-year-old has been the most important player for Italy in the last decade, as he has often been the creator of many things good in a team that has lacked quality up front since the retirement of Alessandro del Piero. Even though Italy were knocked out of the group stages in the World Cup 2014, Pirlo was one of the better players.

After recently bringing in Juventus manager Antonio Conte to replace Cesare Prandelli, Italy appear to have convinced Pirlo to stay on playing at the national team level. Conte has worked closely with Pirlo in the last three years, as the brilliance of the former AC Milan man has largely been responsible for Juventus winning three successive league titles. Pirlo is already one of the legends at the international fold after having made 112 appearances for the national team. He sits fourth in the list of all-time most appearance makers for the four-time World Cup winners. It remains to be seen if new Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri will be happy with this decision.

“I have been talking with (new Italy coach Antonio) Conte who asked me if I was ready to play again for the Azzurri and I told him that I was. It was a difficult decision to take. I had wanted to stop playing for the national side but he (Conte) took over and he asked me to lend a hand. I am happy to do that and we are hopeful we can achieve great things together,” said Pirlo, whose job now will be to get Italy to the Euro 2016. Conte began his regime with a 2-0 win over Netherlands in a friendly.

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