It pains me i never played for Barcelona and Madrid - Pirlo

Andrea Pirlo has admitted he regrets neve playing for either Barcelona or Real Madrid in his career. The player revealed this to Marca.

Pirlo who transferred to New York City FC in July 2015, said he was approached by both the Spanish top clubs during his time at AC Milan but the Italian club would not allow him to leave.

Pirlo said: "I still have a thorn in my side at not
having played for Real Madrid or Barcelona, because playing there is a dream for every player.

"But I consider myself very satisfied to have played for the best teams in Italy."

In 2006, Real Madrid under management of Fabio Capell approached Pirlo but a transfer did not fall through. The season AC Milan received a points deduction after being implicated in a match-fixing
scandal.

"Real Madrid? Any player would like to play for
them," Pirlo said. "Fabio Capello was there and
there were a lot of rumours circulating about
Milan's future because of the scandal.

"Milan wouldn't let me go, and they gave me a
new contract. Was I disappointed? Well it's true
that unfortunately they wouldn't let me leave,
but at the same time I spent 10 years at Milan,
winning everything there was to win."

Barcelona also  tried to sign Pirlo for Barcelona in 2010 but again, Milan turned down his approach.

Pirlo said he had been tempted, adding: "How
could you not want to go there? Guardiola told
me he wanted me in his team."

He left the San Siro a year later, joining Juventus on a three-year contract and going on to win four straight Serie A titles.

"I needed another team with a new project, but still a winning one," he said.

"Juve were perfect, as they hadn't won in a long time and were making their debut in their new stadium. It was the best place to start building."



Photocredit : Getty images