Magician: Italy ace Andrea Pirlo. Pic/Getty images

Italy came into the tournament in the midst of a crisis of form and confidence as well as surrounded by ugly match-fixing headlines, but Pirlo, 33, believes that history will give Italy the edge.

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“Germany are definitely scared of us, they know we can create difficulties for them given what’s happened in the past and they will have to be careful to avoid a repeat of what happened in 2006,” said the Juventus midfielder.

The two sides met at the same stage of the World Cup in Germany six years ago and Italy won 2-0 — before going on to beat France on penalties in the final.

Italy also triumphed over West Germany in the 1970 World Cup semi-final and the final in 1982. — u00a0