Andrea Pirlo named Serie A's best player for 3rd consecutive year

All hail that damn glorious beard.

For the third consecutive year, Juventus midfielder Andrea Pirlo has claimed Serie A's player of the year award, handed out at a gala organized by the Association of Italian Footballers on Monday.

"It's always a pleasure to win this award, it means I manage to stay at the top year after year," said the 35-year-old, who watched as many of his Juventus teammates joined him in the league's best XI of the year.

Pirlo, who missed the first six weeks of the current season due to injury, has already achieved two major milestones since returning, playing in his 100th match for Juventus while also reaching the century mark in the Champions League - a match in which he scored a trademark free kick against Olympiacos.

The full list of Serie A's 2014 awards is as follows:

Team of the year: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus); Matteo Darmian (Torino), Andrea Barzagli (Juventus), Mehdi Benatia (AS Roma, now Bayern Munich), Kwadwo Asamoah (Juventus); Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Paul Pogba (Juventus), Arturo Vidal (Juventus); Ciro Immobile (Torino, now Borussia Dortmund), Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli), Carlos Tevez (Juventus)

Coach of the year: Antonio Conte (Juventus)

Best young player in Serie B: Daniele Rugani (Empoli)

Best women's player: Melania Gabbiadini (ASD CF Bardolino Verona)

Best referee: Nicola Rizzoli