Balotelli's Italy teammate Andrea Pirlo is something of a cultural icon. Women want him, men want to be him, with every sublime swing of the midfielder's boot sending shockwaves of adoration throughout social media. The Juventus playmaker is also a master of taking free-kicks and when he sent a sumptuous long-distance shot crashing into the England crossbar in a Group D match, the football world produced a collective gasp. Such is his mastery of a deadball, French World Cup winner Thierry Henry proclaimed that Pirlo had intended to hit the frame of the goal, rather than find the back of England goalkeeper Joe Hart's net.
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