Andrea Pirlo - The King Of Making Football Look Really, Really Easy

After scoring two direct free-kicks to help Tottenham earn a 2-2 draw at Swansea in 2015, midfielder Christian Eriksen was quick to credit a certain Italian as the inspiration behind his brace.

"I've watched (Andrea) Pirlo taking free-kicks and he makes it look so easy." he told Sky Sports.

"When he's there over the ball he knows what to do. But everybody has a different position of doing it. I know I have my own and it's working."

For some players, a long run-up is required to find the ultimate 'sweet spot', but former AC Milan, and Juventus midfielder Pirlo only needed a few steps and the goal quivered in fear.

Accuracy was the Italian's biggest strength and didn't Serie A know it.

BT Sport have put together a wonderful compilation of his finest free-kicks, showing youngsters out there that 'knuckleballing' isn't the only way to score from 25 yards:

Unfortunately for all you Pirlo fans out there, Andrea retired last year and broke all of our hearts.

715 games, 116 Italy caps and 18 trophies later, the former Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan midfielder has come a long way since making his Serie A debut for Brescia against Reggiana in May, 1996.

In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Pirlo admitted that "the time has come" - he will retire when the MLS season finishes in December:

"You realise that the time has come. Every day you have physical problems, you cannot train as you want because you always have some problem.

"At my age, that's enough. It's not that you can go on forever until the age of 50. I'll do something else.

"At 38, it's just right to give young players room. I'm not angry. Instead, I will give a hand to team-mates and to the coach."

From Champions League trophies to World Cup glory in 2006, Andrea Pirlo will go down in history as one of the very best.

The six-time Serie A and two-time Champions League winner's game, particular as he's got older, has always been to run the game from deep and let the ball do the work.

Pirlo is widely viewed as one of the most technically gifted players ever to play the game, as he makes everything look easy and effortless. He really is the epitome of cool, calm and collected.

And what about those free-kicks. Marvelous.

Topics: Football News, Football, Andrea Pirlo, Juventus, Milan

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_