Pirlo In Awe Of Arsenal

"The way in which Arsenal move the ball around on the floor is extraordinary," Pirlo gushed. "They are both fast and effective.

"I talk a lot about Dutch football with Clarence Seedorf and although I wasn't born when Holland played 'Total Football', I can see that whatever Arsenal team is trained by Arsene Wenger, they have always played beautiful and effective football, very skilful ball retention, especially on the ground, and they always have great movement to fill empty spaces - it is a kind of total football perhaps.

"We'll have to be smart enough, and good enough to prevent it killing us. Arsenal and AC Milan are very special teams, this season."

Pirlo, who will be looking to pull the strings from the heart of Milan's midfield tonight, picked out his direct counterpart for special praise.

"Cesc Fabregas is very strong, technically gifted, with a strong personality, he has a bit of everything - and he is scoring a lot this season too. Even though Fabregas is young he is already one of the strongest players in the world.

"He can only improve too - which is scary."

Source:Goal