New York was always the ideal place for Andrea Pirlo if he ever wanted to stray from his Southern European nest, a soccer-mad region in which his fame is basically on par with that of the Pope.
‘‘Just being able to go out to dinner at the trendiest restaurants," he told the New York Times Magazine's Jeff Oloizia. "In Italy, I can’t do that."
Let's face it: for overseas soccer stars so accustomed to getting mobbed on the street, New York has built-in perks that no other city can match.
Indeed, compared to his days bossing midfields for nearly two decades in Serie A, it's as if Pirlo is breathing fresh air for the first time.