WHEN THE PONYTAIL MET THE ARCHITECT

*this article originally featured in Futbolista Magazine

Think about some of the best goals ever scored. Long range screamers. Massive volleys. They’re a bit… loud. A bit braggy. Uncouth, if anything. There is art in something defter, something slightly more divine.

Italian legend Roberto Baggio joined newly promoted Serie A side Brescia in 2000. At 33 years old, this was seen to be the last hurrah of one of the great attacking players of his generation. Past his peak he may well have been, but The Divine Ponytail was still capable of moments of sheer beauty.

In January of 2001 Baggio was joined in Lombardy by a 21-year-old attacking midfielder by the name of Andrea Pirlo, who joined his boyhood club on a six-moth loan deal as he struggled to break into the Inter Milan squad. Pirlo’s game was dramatically changed during his time playing with Baggio at Brescia - it was here that he dropped deeper into the regista role that he would go on to define for the next two decades. On the pitch, Il Divin Codino and L’Architetto formed an intrinsic understanding, combining to produce moments of footballing magic.

One such moment came in a league match against Juventus in early April of the 2000/01 season. Brescia were struggling down in 16th place in the table while Juventus sat in 2nd. The match was winding down with Brescia trailing 1-0 thanks to a first half Gianluca Zambrotta goal. In the 85th minute of the game, Pirlo finds himself picking up the ball just inside his own half. He looks up and sees the number 10 shirt of Baggio, pointing where he wants the ball as he peels off the shoulder of the Juventus defender. After surveying the scene for a beat, Pirlo lofts an inch-perfect pass into the eighteen-yard box for Baggio. The kind of pass that cuts a path through the air accompanied by an operatic note. It is simply perfect, and exactly where Baggio wanted it. The veteran opens up his body and allows the ball to drop over his right shoulder and - with one of the best first touches you will ever see on a football pitch – leaves Juventus goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar and his entire back line for dead, slotting home a left footed shot into the empty net.

The Bianconeri look on stunned as Brescia embrace, not quite able to process what they have just witnessed. The game finishes 1-1.

Brescia, buoyed by Baggio’s presence, would go on to finish 8th in Serie A that year, despite starting the season as strong favourites for relegation. Pirlo played ten games in this second loan spell at Le Rondinelle, with 30-year-old former Barcelona playmaker Pep Guardiola arriving at the club in the summer as an eventual replacement. Just think how close we came to a having Pirlo, Guardiola, and Baggio in the same side. Unfortunately, the Brescia board swiftly vetoed this on account of how Not Chill you guys would be about it nowadays. Pirlo returned to Milan, immediately swapping the Nerazzurri of Inter for the Rossoneri of AC.

This one moment of beauty against Juventus stood as a monument of Pirlo and Baggio’s time together in Lombardy. A changing of the guards of two of the best Italian footballers to ever grace the pitch.

For the longest time, my Myspace profile picture was Pirlo and Baggio standing together in a defensive wall; names and numbers visible on the backs of their shirts. I wonder what they’d say if I told them that. Not very much, I’d imagine. I’d mumble something awkward about how Baggio Magical Kicks got me through university and run away out of embarrassment. Pirlo looking on, second-hand cringe threatening to crack the world’s most perfect face.

Still, what an absolute goal though.