There are certain moments in the history of football that remain etched in its collective memory for eternity. Maradona’s run. Zidane’s head butt.
Pirlo’s Panenka.
The 2012 UEFA European Championship, jointly held by Poland and Ukraine, was won by Spain but what most people remember is the effortless chip by Andrea Pirlo past Joe Hart that helped Italy advance past England in the quarter-finals. The reaction to the audacious penalty ran through every level of the game.
Carlo Ancelotti
Did you see what Pirlo did? Only a genius has this intuition.
Michael Owen
Wow. Pirlo is a joke.
Xavi
What a great penalty from Pirlo – phenomenal.
Kwadwo Asamoah
Pirlo. Mamma Mia!
The players and coaches of the game were equally in awe.
Roy Hodgson
We did all the things one could possibly do from a professional point of view but it still doesn’t change the fact that Andrea Pirlo has the incredible confidence at that level of football to do a Panenka chip over the goalkeeper.
Daniele De Rossi
If I had to choose a lasting image from the game I’d say Pirlo’s penalty. I’d not seen such a crazy shot as that since the days of Francesco Totti.
Immediate comparisons were made to Totti’s infamous chip at Euro 2000 in which the legendary Roma captain told Luigi Di Biagi and Paolo Maldini that he was going to chip Edwin Van Der Sar – and then did it.
Pirlo
I didn’t do a Francesco Totti…can you really plan something like that so far in advance? If you can, you’re either Totti, a clairvoyant, or stupid.
According to Pirlo he didn’t make the decision on the kick until the vary last second.
Pirlo
He moved and my mind was made up. It was all impromptu, not premeditated. The only way I could see of pushing my chances of scoring close to 100%…it was pure calculation that made me chip the ball. At that precise instant, it was the least dangerous thing to do.
[Hart] was really fired up and I thought about doing that…Hart was doing all sorts on his line.
Pirlo says that Hart’s actions in attempting to unnerve him played a major role in his decision to chip him.
Hart
I saw it as the best way for us to win the shoot-out.
Pirlo
Hart was very sure of himself. I thought that he had to come down off his high horse.
Hart
I couldn’t even tell you what I did. But it felt right at the time. It obviously wasn’t.
Pirlo
Many so-called experts perceived all manner of hidden meanings in that episode. A secret desire for revenge.
Hart
I don’t think there was personal vengeance from him and there certainly wasn’t any from me.
Pirlo
The truth’s a lot less romantic than how it may have looked.
Hart
I don’t think he did it to embarrass me. He just tried to get it in the net and they won the shootout. That’s it.
Pirlo
There was absolutely no showboating about it — that’s not my style.
For as much as the penalty has come to define him in the minds of millions, it was a different penalty kick that Pirlo sees as the one that defines him.
Pirlo
Nobody will believe me but, in my own mind, I’m much more the Pirlo who stuck the ball down the middle at World Cup 2006 than the Pirlo of the inspired chip against England in the quarter-finals of Euro 2012.
All quotes taken from either Andrea Pirlo’s autobiography I Think Therefore I Play, or interviews with Joe Hart and Andrea Pirlo.