Name: Alessandro Del Piero
Position: Striker
Club: Juventus
Nationality: Italian
Age: 36
Date of birth: 09/10/74
Previous clubs: Padova
Alessandro Del Piero usually plays as a second striker or as a Trequartista which is the link player between the midfield and the striker. One of the best players to watch in my life time, he is a Juventus legend and has won so many honours for club and country.
At the age of thirteen he was spotted by scouts back in 1988 while playing for his local side San Vendemiano. He then left home to play for the youth side of Padova. He managed to rise through the ranks of Padova and he played fourteen league games scoring one goal stretching over two years.
But in the summer of 1993 he was transferred to Juventus and he has stayed there ever since. He made his debut against Foggia in September 1993; he scored in his next game against Reggiana after appearing as a substitute. His fine form continued when he scored a hat-trick against Parma.
Juventus claimed their first title in eight years in Del Piero’s first season at the club. More success continued where he won the Serie A league title seven time’s – 1995,97,98,2002,03,05 and 2006. But the last two have been taken away and given to Inter due to the Calciopoli scandal. Del Piero also won the champions league in 1996 and the Intercontinental Cup in the same year.
His best season was the 1997-98 season where he scored twenty-one league gaols and finished Capocannoniere – Serie A’s top scorer. He also managed to bag ten Champions League goals which managed to get Juventus into the 1997 Champions League Final but they went down 3-1 in Munich to Bourssia Dortmund, he got the only goal for Juventus with a sublime flick finish.
But in the 1998-99 season he struggled for form after the back of doping allegations that were aimed at the club, though they were later found innocent. Against Udinese in which they drew 2-2 but Del Piero picked up a serious Knee injury which kept him out for the rest of the season. With this injury Juventus really struggled and only managed to finish sixth in the league.
When Marcello Lippi took over the reigns for the second time at Juventus in 2001, he moved Del Piero to a role with Zinedine Zidane behind Pippo Inzaghi. After Inzaghi was sold to Milan, David Trezeguet was his replacement and Del Piero formed a great partnership with the Frenchman. Zidane’s replacement was Pavel Nedved who frequently drifted out to the left.
After Euro 2004, Marcello Lippi left and was replaced by Fabio Capello as Juventus coach. Capello was not convinced of Del Piero abilities and he often found himself on the bench for in favour Zlatan Ibrahimovic who was signed from Ajax. Del Piero managed to get fourteen goals and he set up the winner for Trezeguet to score the winner at Milan to win the league.
In January 2006 Del Piero broke Giampiero Boniperti’s scoring record of 182 goals for the club. Del Piero broke it by scoring a hat-trick against Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia which took his tally for the club to 185.
In the summer of 2006 after winning the World Cup for Italy, Calciopoli scandal broke and Juventus were relegated to Serie B. Del Piero stated that he would stay and captain the club. This showed loyalty and he underlined that other players should stick with the team. In this season Juventus were promoted at the first time of asking under the management of Didier Deschamps.
But in the following season Deschamps was replaced and Claudio Ranieri took charge. That season was Del Piero’s best. He scored twenty-one goals and took the Capocannoniere crown ahead of David Trezeguet and Marco Borriello. With this he became the second Italian ever to win consecutive Capocannoniere titles in Serie B then Serie A. Paolo Rossi was the other player.
During a Champions League game in Novermber 2009 he was applauded of the pitch at the Santiago Bernabeu, as he was the star performer as Juventus won 2-0 against Real Madrid with Del Piero bagging himself a brace.
In February 2010 he marked his 445th Serie A appearance, breaking the all time club record against Genoa; he managed to score two goals. A month later Del Piero scored his 300th and 301st career goals during a 3-3 draw with Siena.
On October 30 2010, Del Piero recored his 179th Serie A Goal thus breaking Giampiero Boniperti as Juventus top goal scorer in Serie A. Against Cagliari on February 2011 he made a sub appearance and become the most Juventus capped player, once more edging out Juventus legend Giampiero Boniperti. Del Piero remains the third most capped player in Serie A behind two stalwarts in Javier Zanetti and Francesco Totti.
He is the fourth all time leading scoring for Italy at International level with twenty seven goals in Ninety one game. At the semi final of the 2006 world cup against Germany in Dortmund, Del Piero came on a sub near the end of normal time and managed to score two minutes after Fabio Grosso made it 1-0. In the final against France he scored a penalty as Italy won the penalty shoot out as Fabio Grosso sent Fabian Barthez the wrong way.
A massive Oasis fan and best friends with Noel Gallagher he was in the lord don’t slow me down video. Recently on the excellent Football Ramble podcast he was inducted into the Dean Windass hall of fame. A brilliant player of my generation and played with so much elegance and scored some brilliant goals for club and country.
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