November 6, 2017 is a day to remember in world football, because on this day, former AC Milan, Juventus defender, and the greatest playmaking midfielder in human history - Andrea Pirlo officially announced his retirement.

Pirlo's greatness does not need to be repeated by the author, the word "artist" is well-deserved for the Italian midfielder - football is played with the brain, and his feet are just tools.

No one knows whether Pirlo, who has just retired from football, will become a coach, but at the moment, on a training ground in the United States, Master Pi is with a teenager who also plays football with his brain.

"You're better defensively than me, you're very open-minded, you're good at long passing, as long as you work the ball and break through with the ball, and practice more penetrating the ball, you'll surpass me."

If someone hears this, they will be envious, jealous and hateful to this young man, because not every young person will get the earnest teachings of this generation of grandmasters at close range.

This young man is Tan Xibi.

Although he was in the limelight against Manchester City, Tan Xibi, who was very dissatisfied with his performance, wanted to improve his skills in attack, so he chose to "apprentice" the world's greatest midfield master.

Thanks to his mentor Agostiño Oliveira, Tan Xibi took advantage of the two-week gap in the international break to take a leave of absence from the team and went to the United States to learn from his mentor with the recommendation of his mentor.

Facing Tan Xibi, who is a full 20 years younger than him, after watching Tan Xibi's game footage in advance, Pirlo made an exception and agreed to give Tan Xibi a seven-day special training at a training ground in a small town, mainly to improve his offensive ability.

Unlike Pirlo's career, which started as an attacking midfielder, and Pirlo did not have a strong body or extremely fast speed, starting his football career with a height of less than 1.7 meters, Tan Xibi rarely started from defense, rather than choosing the most showy frontcourt position, for which Pirlo specifically asked Tan Xibi.

Tan Xibi's answer is: "The vision in the back is wider than in the front. ”

'It's a good habit to keep watching what's going on around you in the game, but before you receive the ball, you have to watch ahead of you to make choices faster than others and avoid the opposition pressing and losing the ball in the back court.

'Receiving the ball close to the full-backs allows you to get away from the opponent and lose the ball in that position on the other hand. If the opponent is too close to you in the middle, you have to actively move wide to get rid of the defence and then receive the ball, so that you have enough free space to observe the ball and find more passing routes and make the best passing options. ”

'Wall, you're not like me, you can play as a number six between the two centre-backs, so that when a defender is attacking in front, you can drop back to form a back three, especially when you're pressed.

"I've seen your game, you protect the ball like me, you're smart, you put your body between the ball and the opponent when you break the ball, but you don't seem to be good enough on the ball, so a lot of times you choose to pass the ball to your team-mates. However, I believe that as your ball control improves, you will be more threatening. ”

"Teach you a trick, the first kick and the body feint at the same time, you can lead the defender in the wrong direction, so that the opponent can't make physical contact with you at all, so that you can get rid of the opponent's defense."

"To be an offensive playmaker, you have to practice the ability to penetrate the ball forward, whether it's a ground ball, a half-height ball, a long pass, and you have to leave a lot of advance for your teammates when you pass the ball, so that they can catch the ball and push it straight forward."

"When you don't have a good passing opportunity, you can create a threat after dribbling, or you can create a great space with your team-mates in a one-two, don't handle the ball hastily, the ball is important at your feet."

"When serving corners and set-pieces, the best area for the ball to land should be in the space from the penalty to the small penalty area, and the accuracy of the serve requires long-term training, and the same goes for direct free kicks, it's up to you."

Tan Xibi learned very seriously about Pirlo's pears, and the small population of the American town was small, and he didn't know these two people, so without being disturbed by the outside world, Tan Xibi's technology made rapid progress.

Seven days of training went by quickly, and before parting, Tan Xibi specially invited Pirlo to a Chinese meal before inviting him to the Emirates Stadium to watch the weekend's north London derby.

Due to the great impact of Tan Xibi's withdrawal from the national team, the MVP of the week was originally awarded to Tan Xibi, who shined in the Manchester City game, and finally chose Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, who performed well in the Champions League and the league.

At the end of the international break, the world preliminaries on all continents have ended, and the top 32 of the World Cup have all been released, but Italy's failure to participate in the World Cup for 59 years shocked the world football world, causing Luigi Buffon to withdraw from the national team.

The Chinese team lost to Serbia and Colombia with a score of 0-2 and 0-4 respectively in the two warm-up games, which made Chinese fans see the huge gap between the national team and the world's strongest teams, and also triggered the topic of whether the Chinese team would lose so badly if Tan Xibi was there.

Coming to the fans' favorite weekend league day, the biggest attraction of the 12th round of the Premier League is the north London derby on Saturday noon morning, if Arsenal wins, it will surpass the bitter rival Manchester United with one game less, jump into second place, close to the top Manchester City points, and lay a good foundation for the title to keep the top four.

With the first north London derby of the season approaching, the media has been buzzing with the derby, and even reporters have appeared in Josep Guardiola's pre-match press conference, asking Guardiola what he thinks of the game.

Pep Guardiola, who has just won the Premier League Manager of the Month for October, asked reporters a topic that has nothing to do with him, and did not appear unhappy, but said with interest: "I will watch this game, Tottenham are strong, but Arsenal have been strong at home this season, if Wall can play, I am optimistic about Arsenal." ”

Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino, who was present at the pre-match press conference, first touted Arsenal boss Arsène Wenger, saying that the Frenchman is one of the best coaches in football history, just like Sir Alex Ferguson, hoping to emulate him in the same club for a long time.

Speaking about Tan Xibi, who shot three arrows to the blue moon in the last round of the league, Pochettino said with a serious expression: "He is a genius, I have never seen an 18-year-old midfielder who can play at the core level in a strong dialogue, his defense reminds me of Chelsea's N'Golo Kante, we have to find a way to break his defense, otherwise we will be more unlucky this time." ”

'Of course we have to be careful with his long-range shots, so we have to do a good job of cutting off his shots. But I believe in my players, they can get the job done. I believe the game at noon the day after tomorrow will be exciting. ”

On Friday afternoon, Arsenal's official website, together with Liu Chuanfeng and Taishan Shi, conducted an interview with Tan Xibi before the north London derby.