What the two do share is a near obsession with the game. Just like a young Bergkamp practised against the brick wall near his house challenging himself to hit the ball at a certain part of the brick each time, Pirlo moved the sofa in front of his living room window as a child and practised hitting a sponge ball in the space between the sofa and window so as to become better at taking free-kicks. He carried his obsession with him even as a professional footballer when he spent hours trying to figure out just why his inspiration, Juninho Pernambucano, was able to control and hit dead balls the way he did.