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I also read that Prandelli questioned him about it. Pirlo said it served another purpose too - to pump up his teammates. Quality thinking, if true.
Edit - this is what Pirlo said:
The outrageously cheeky penalty that Pirlo chipped past Joe Hart with his team trailing in the shoot-out is known in Italian as a cucchiaio (spoon) and apparently the midfielder mastered the art as a teenager at Brescia's academy.
Pirlo did not try to dismiss the significance of the way in which he scored: "It was really relevant to the match and our win. This changed the course of the game. In my opinion, Hart seemed to be very confident in himself and, scoring against him this way, it did seem to be a psychological blow. I needed to do something to beat him. Penalties are a very personal thing.
"When you have to shoot a penalty you have to be confident in yourself. I didn't say anything special to my team-mates. We are united as a group."
Yesterday, a member of the Italian media suggested that perhaps he was a bit mad and that might be some kind of explanation for why he took such a risky penalty. "Look, it was not folly. It was not madness," Pirlo said. "I felt like doing that thing at that moment in time. I don't think I was mad when I hit this penalty. I just had this moment of inspiration before I took it."
http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...s-3151560.html
Originally Posted by BonnieShels
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