Pictures as Pirlo joins the bhoys and ghirls of New York

The Parlour in New York is used to celebrity guests, often from around the world and will again be heaving today as Celtic fans keep up to date with the match against Dundee.

This week there was a special guest with the members and friends of the New York CSC joined by Andrea Pirlo.

A World Cup winner who has played for AC Milan and Juventus will always be assured respect with the Italian ace earning universal approval for the manner that he played the game with an emphasis on craft and guile rather than brute force.

Earlier in the week Pirlo mentioned that he would be retiring from the game at the end of the MSL season after winding down with New York City.

Having played against Celtic for Juve and Milan discovering The Parlour wouldn’t have come as a great surprise with the Irish community almost as visible as the Italians in New York.

The visit from Pirlo was in recognition of The Parlour winning a poll for the best soccer bar in New York with thousands of hoops supporters piling in to lend their support.

One of the bhoys

Pirlo’s career took off in 2001 when he joined Milan from city rivals Inter, in a decade across the corridor of the San Siro he made more than 400 appearances lifting all of the major club trophies and the 2006 World Cup for Italy against France.

At the age of 32 Milan felt that his best days were in the past with Juventus quickly stepping in to offer a three year contract to the free agent.

As Juve re-established their grip on Italian football Milan were made to regret their decision to bin the maestro, after four seasons in Turin he headed across the pond to New York City and finally The Parlour.