Football Genius: Alessandro Del Piero

Alessandro Del Piero (born 9 November 1974 in Conegliano, Veneto) is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer  who plays for Serie A club Juventus, of which he is also club captain. Del Piero was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé as a part of FIFA’s centenary celebrations. Del Piero was also voted in the list of best European players for the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. In the year 2000, Del Piero was the world’s best-paid football player from salary, bonuses and advertising revenue. Del Piero usually plays as a supporting-striker and occasionally between the midfield and the strikers, known in Italy as the “trequartista” position. Del Piero’s playing style is regarded by critics as creative in attacking, assisting many goals as well as scoring himself, as opposed to just “goal poaching.” His free-kick and penalty taking is also highly regarded. Del Piero has become famous over the years for scoring from a special “Del Piero Zone”(“Gol alla Del Piero”), approaching from the left flank and curling a precise lob into the far top corner of the goal.

Alessandro Del Piero (born 9 November 1974 in Conegliano, Veneto) is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer  who plays for Serie A club Juventus, of which he is also club captain. Del Piero was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé as a part of FIFA’s centenary celebrations. Del Piero was also voted in the list of best European players for the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. In the year 2000, Del Piero was the world’s best-paid football player from salary, bonuses and advertising revenue. Del Piero usually plays as a supporting-striker and occasionally between the midfield and the strikers, known in Italy as the “trequartista” position. Del Piero’s playing style is regarded by critics as creative in attacking, assisting many goals as well as scoring himself, as opposed to just “goal poaching.” His free-kick and penalty taking is also highly regarded. Del Piero has become famous over the years for scoring from a special “Del Piero Zone”(“Gol alla Del Piero”), approaching from the left flank and curling a precise lob into the far top corner of the goal.

Along with three awards in Italy for gentlemanly conduct  he has also won the Golden Foot award, which pertains to personality and playing ability. Del Piero holds the all-time goalscoring record at Juventus. On 6 April 2008, Alessandro Del Piero became the all-time highest-capped Juventus player, ahead of Juve legend Gaetano Scirea. As of May 2010, he is in eighth place in the UEFA Champions League  all-time goalscorer records  and joint fourth with Roberto Baggio within the Italian national team records.

While playing for the local youth team of San Vendemiano since the age of 7,  Del Piero used to play as a goalkeeper because he could play a lot more football that way. His mother thought it would be better for him if he played as a goalkeeper, since he would not sweat and the possibility of him getting injured was less likely. His brother Stefano told their mother: “Don’t you see that Alex is good in the attack?” and Del Piero switched position. Del Piero is the son of Gino, an electrician, and Bruna, a housekeeper. He regularly played football in the backyard with two friends, Nelso and Pierpaolo as a child. All three dreamed of becoming footballers, but only Del Piero would eventually manage to do so. Alessandro’s older brother, Stefano, briefly played professional football for Sampdoria  before injury struck him. The family lived in the hamlet of Saccon – a rural home in San Vendemiano. While growing up Del Piero’s family did not have much money for travelling abroad, so he considered being a lorry driver in order to see the world.

It was while playing with his local side of San Vendemiano in 1988 that Del Piero was first spotted by scouts  he left home at the young age of 13 to play in the youth side of Padova Calcio. In 1993, he transferred to Juventus, and has been there ever since.  Del Piero made his Serie A debut against Foggia  in September 1993, scored his first goal in his next game against Reggiana  after appearing as a substitute, and then grabbed a hat-trick  against Parma  on his first start. Juventus claimed their first Scudetto  in eight years in his first season and success continued to follow. With the Turin club, he won the Serie A championship seven times (1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006), the Champions League  (1996), and the Intercontinental Cup  (1996). His best season was in 1997–98, when he scored 21 goals in Serie A and finished top scorer in the Champions League with 10 goals, which included a peach of a freekick against Monaco in the semi finals. His goal in the 1997 UEFA Champions League Final  was unable to prevent Juventus from going down 3–1 to Borussia Dortmund. Del Piero struggled for form at the beginning of the 1998–99 season, whilst doping allegations were aimed at Juventus (they were later found innocent). In October he picked up a serious knee injury in the 2–2 draw withUdinese. This kept him out of action for the remainder of the season. Juventus struggled without him and limped home to a lowly 6th place in the league.

During this time, Del Piero earned the nickname Il Pinturicchio, in reference to a comment by former president Gianni Agnelli when he compared the emerging Del Piero to the renaissance artist Pinturicchio. He’s also been nicknamed by the fans “Il Fenomeno Vero” meaning “The Real Phenomenon”, in a sort of comparison with Ronaldo, who was nicknamed “Il Fenomeno” by rival supporters of Internazionale. One of Del Piero’s greatest strengths as a footballer is his versatility, which allows him to play in a variety of attacking positions. While he started his club career playing as an out-and-out striker, he settled into a deeper role as a support-striker. He has also been positioned as a playmaker in the central slot behind the forwards. Under Marcello Lippi’s reign as Juventus coach Del Piero played in the “trident-attack” formation along with veterans Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio Ravanelli. After that, he took a role in a combination with Zinédine Zidane behind Filippo Inzaghi. As Juve’s playing style changed in Lippi’s second stint with Juventus starting 2001, Del Piero partnered with Zidane’s replacement Pavel Nedvěd  in midfield and David Trézéguet  upfront.

Experts agree that Del Piero was back to his best in the 2005–06 season having scored 20 goals in all competitions. However, his role at Juventus changed in the following season, as coach Fabio Capello  preferred to use him as a substitute for an “immediate impact”, as Capello put it. Del Piero never had a calm relation with Fabio Capello though, evident from the quote on his official site “If Capello had stayed as coach of Juventus, I would have left Juventus”.

In 2006 Del Piero equalled José Altafini’s Serie A record of 6 goals as a substitute after scoring in the final minute of Juventus’s final game of the 2005–06 season. On 10 January 2006 Del Piero became the all time leading goalscorer for Juventus when he scored three times in a Coppa Italia  match against  Fiorentina and took his total goals for the club to 185. The previous record holder was Giampiero Boniperti, who scored 182 goals for the club.  Del Piero scored the last goal for Juventus the 2005–06 season before Juve were forcibly relegated due to the infamous Calciopoli  scandal. After Euro 2004, Marcello Lippi was replaced by Fabio Capello  as Juventus coach. Capello was not convinced of Del Piero’s abilities and frequently benched him in favor of the new signing Zlatan Ibrahimović, much to the disappointment of many fans. But Del Piero still managed to score 14 goals as Juventus won their 28th league title, thanks to his spectacular overhead assist to teammate David Trezeguet which proved decisive in a crucial match against AC Milan at the San Siro.

Juventus were demoted to Serie B and their last two Scudetti were revoked (see 2006 Italian football scandal). Del Piero announced that he would stay to captain the team in Serie B. He underlined that players should stick with the team, explaining that “The Agnelli  family deserve this, as do the fans and the new directors”. While many key players such as Zlatan Ibrahimović, Fabio Cannavaro  and Lilian Thuram  left Turin, he chose to stay and help Juve regain promotion. Del Piero’s first appearance after the World Cup’s triumph was in the Coppa Italia  match against Cesena  on 23 August 2006. Since Juventus played in Serie B for the 2006–07 season, the Coppa Italia campaign became increasingly important for the club in order to achieve a UEFA Cup  spot. Having been on vacation beforehand, Del Piero started on the bench. Juventus and Cesena were locked on 1–1 when Del Piero entered in the 74th minute and after 9 seconds scored the winning goal for Juventus.

Del Piero then came in as a substitute at the 61st minute for Juve’s next Coppa Italia match on 27 August vs. S.S.C. Napoli. Again Juventus were behind, but Del Piero scored twice to give Juve the lead. In the end the match went to penalties. Del Piero scored but Napoli eventually won 5–4 in the shoot-out. Following this, Alex was locked in months of fractious negotiations over the signing of a new contract with Juventus’ new management. After successfully negotiating a new contract till 30 June 2010, Alex was greeted with news of the birth of his first child, Tobias Del Piero. This was quite a staggering turnaround in his fortunes, as only two weeks earlier he was dropped by Claudio Ranieri  for the Serie A match with ACF Fiorentina  and was then axed from Roberto Donadoni’s Italy squad for the games with Georgia and South Africa.

n February 2008, he scored the winning goal for Juventus in a Serie A victory at home to AS Roma (1–0). He scored two goals away at Lazio and was named to two consecutive Serie A teams of the week. On 6 In April 2008 he set a new appearance record for Juventus, overtaking Gaetano Scirea’s previous tally of 552 matches in all competitions.  In April, he registered seven goals in five Serie A  matches, including a hat-trick in a 4–0 away win over Atalanta.

On 17 May 2008, in the final round of the 2007–08 season against Sampdoria, Del Piero scored his 20th and 21st goals, thus becoming the Capocannoniere  and clinching his long overdue first Serie A golden boot. Thus, he became only the second Italian ever to win consecutive Capocannoniere titles in two different leagues – former Juventus  and 1982 FIFA World Cup  hero Paolo Rossi  being the other one (coincidentally Rossi too won the Capocannoniere titles like Alessandro first inSerie B  and then in Serie A). On 26 July 2008, Del Piero was awarded the Scirea Award. On the final weekend of the 2007/2008 season Del Piero scored a brace against Sampdoria in a 3–3 draw. These two goals were crucial as it took him to 21 goals for the season, thus winning him the Capocannonieri prize in Serie A for the first time in his illustrious career, beating the likes of David Trezeguet (20 goals) and Marco Borriello  (19 goals) and matching his highest tally for a top-flight season since 1997/98.

During the 2008–09 summer pre-season, Juventus played Hamburger SV  and Arsenal F.C. in the Emirates Cup, and played a friendly versus Manchester United  at Old Trafford. Juventus’ coach Claudio Ranieri  remarked that Del Piero would have as good a season, or an even better one, than the previous term. In August 2008, Del Piero announced that he would try to keep playing professional football with Juventus until he is 40 years old. With Juventus back in the Champions League, they were drawn into the same group as former winners Real Madrid  and UEFA Cup  winners Zenit St. Petersburg. Del Piero marked their return with a brilliant match-winning free kick to seal a home win against Zenit. On 21 October, he scored a wonderful first-time strike from distance as Juve defeated Real Madrid in Turin. On 21 October, he scored in Juve’s Champions League  match at home against Spanish club. In the fifth minute, from open play, Del Piero swerved the ball in the far corner of the goal with a freekick like shot, giving Casillas no chance, with Amauri scoring the second in the first few minutes of the second half.

On 5 November 2008, Juventus and Real Madrid squared off at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in the Champions League. The Italians won 2–0 (their first away win against Madrid since 1962), and Del Piero was a key performer, scoring both the goals and being praised by both Claudio Ranieri  and Madrid coach Bernd Schuster. As he left the pitch after being substituted, fans from both sides gave him a standing ovation. However, Juventus’ 2009 UEFA Champions League  campaign ended in disappointment as they were eliminated by Chelsea in the 2nd round. Despite converting a penalty in the second leg in Turin, Del Piero was unable to prevent Juventus  from losing 3–2 on aggregate. In the league, Juventus were mostly challenging Milan for second place and an automatic Champions League place. Most notably, Del Piero inspired the Bianconeri to a 3–0 win over Siena in their penultimate game of the season, scoring a brace and setting up Claudio Marchisio  for the youngster’s third goal of the season to end their run of seven winless matches in the Serie A. Juve won 2–0 over Lazio  to finish second ahead of Milan (based on their head-to-head record).

On 17 July 2009, Alessandro extended his contract with Juventus by 1 more year until 30 June 2011 in Pinzolo while training for pre-season, thus practically ensuring that he would retire at the club with which he started his professional career. During his renewal, he said “I am happy at Juventus and we are competitive. I want to keep playing for as long as I can and I’m certain that for at least two more years I will be at the top level.” He marked his 445th Serie A appearance, breaking the all-time club record, with a brace against Genoa on 14 February 2010. He is also currently the all-time top scorer for Juventus, having scored more than 250 goals in all competitions. He has also made over 600 appearances in official matches for the club, breaking the record of Gaetano Scirea who had 552 appearances for Juventus.

On 14 March 2010, Alessandro recorded his 300th and 301st career goal during a 3–3 draw with Siena with the first two goals at the second and seventh minute. On 30 October 2010, Alessandro recorded his 179th Serie A goal, breaking the record of club legend Giampiero Boniperti as Juventus’ top scorer in Serie A and further cementing his status as the most prolific goalscorer in Juventus history.

On 5 February 2011, with his substitution against Cagliari, Alessandro Del Piero became the most capped Juventus  player, edging out former Juventus legend Giampiero Boniperti. Del Piero remains the third most capped player in the Serie A behind Javier Zanetti  and Francesco Totti respectively. On 5 May 2011, he signed a new 1-year contract in the Juventus Arena. His previous deal was due to expire on 30 June 2011.  On 24 May 2011, Del Piero and Juventus played against Manchester United at Old Trafford in a friendly match being former England defender Gary Neville’s testimonial match. Del Piero was substituted after 65 minutes to a standing ovation from the Manchester United supporters. Del Piero is currently Italy’s fourth all-time leading scorer. His tournament debut was Euro 96, but made his only appearance in the first half of a match against Russia before being substituted at halftime. Del Piero competed with fan favorite Roberto Baggio for a spot on the 1998 FIFA World Cup  final roster while struggling to recover from injury suffered during the 1998 Champions League final with Juventus. He also missed two gilt-edged chances in Italy’s 2–1 loss to France  in the Euro 2000 final.

He returned to the international scene in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, after a season in Serie A in which Juventus won theScudetto. Del Piero scored the decisive goal against Hungary, which sealed the Azzurri’s qualification for the finals. He instantly scored with a header against Mexico after coming on as a substitute, a goal which saved Italy from the ignominy of a first round exit. The goal sent Italy through to the second round, where they were eliminated by a golden goal in a controversial match against South Korea.

As of 2008, Del Piero has captained Italy seven times (including Euro 2008) . He also regularly wore the number 10, but later gave it to Francesco Totti and switched to the number 7, as it was the first number he wore at the start of his career. Even though the number 10 was vacated after Totti retired from the national team in July 2007, Del Piero denied any interest in taking back the number, saying he was satisfied with the number 7. On May he was recalled by popular demand to Italy’s UEFA Euro 2008 squad after nine-month absence from international duty, and thus became the second Italian player to participate in 7 major international tournaments (EURO 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008; World Cup 1998, 2002, 2006).

Del Piero was called up to Italy’s squad for the UEFA Euro 2008 Championship in Austria and Switzerland. He was mostly on the substitutes’ bench but started against Romania as the squad’s captain. In the group match against the Dutch, he came on for the under-performing Antonio Di Natale  and made an immediate impact, including several efforts on goal. However he could not prevent the Azzurri from a 3–0 loss. Italy qualified through the group stage in second-place behind Holland, eliminating Romania and France. Del Piero began the 2006 World Cup on the bench, appearing in two out of three group stage matches, and made his first start of the competition in a 1–0 round-of-16 win over Australia on 26 June. On 4 July, Del Piero entered as a substitute near the end of regulation and scored Italy’s second goal in a 2–0 semifinal win over host Germany. In the final against France, which ended 1–1 after extra time, Del Piero scored a penalty in the shootout as Italy won the tournament for the fourth time. He admitted afterwards that winning the World Cup was his childhood dream.  In the quarter-final against Spain, Del Piero made a substitute appearance during extra-time, and with the game ending in a 0–0 draw, it was decided by a penalty shootout in which Spain won 4–2. On 20 August 2008 he won his 90th cap for Italy in friendly against Austria – only the fifth Azzurri player to reach this landmark. Despite announcing that he will carry on playing until he is 40 years old, he has not been called up since Italy’s qualifier against Georgia  on 10 September 2008.

Del Piero is married to Sonia Amoruso, and the two have been together since 1999 and married in 2005. The couple announced in July 2007 that they were expecting their first baby. On 22 October 2007, Amoruso gave birth to baby boy Tobias Del Piero at 0:20 at Sant’Anna hospital in Turin. On 14 February 2009, Amoruso’s second pregnancy was announced. On 5 May 2009 their daughter Dorotea was born in Turin. On September, 12, 2010 Del Piero announced on his personal website the upcoming birth of his third child. The Del Pieros welcomed son Sasha on December, 27th of that year.

Del Piero has used his fame and money to promote and support cancer research; in recognition of this he has received from the Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro a prize of “Believe in Research” during November 2006.

When the Olympic Flame for the 2006 Winter Olympics  passed through Turin, Del Piero was a torchbearer. He has an interest in sports outside of football (particularly basketball) and in turn has gained fans outside of just football, sport icons such as NBA star Steve Nash and cycling legend Eddy Merckx  have stated that they are fans of Del Piero.  As well as an interest in other sports, Del Piero also has a keen interest in music. He has even recorded some albums of his own.  Along with Marco Materazzi, Del Piero appeared on stage at a Rolling Stones  show in Milan shortly after Italy’s World Cup win. He is a good friend of musician and singer Noel Gallagher  and a fan of his former band Oasis. Del Piero appears in the Oasis video “Lord Don’t Slow Me Down”.

On 9 February 2009, it was reported that Del Piero was suing the social networking site Facebook  over a fake profile bearing his name that links to Nazi  propaganda sites. He was said to be aggrieved that the bogus account, which carries his picture, implies neo-Nazi sympathies as he did not have a Facebook profile at that time.  Besides scoring goals, Del Piero is also known for his sense of humour and is a popular guest at Italian comedy shows such as Paperissima and Striscia la notizia. His goal celebration usually consists of him running to the touchline in front of Juve fans sticking his tongue out and has done the back-flip goal celebration on several occasions. He featured in the show La sai l’ultima di Totti, a comedy sketch created by his good friend and Roma captain Francesco Totti  where the two of them and national teammates Milan  defender Alessandro Nesta  and Juve teammate Gianluigi Buffon  would tell jokes about one another.

On TV, Del Piero is famous not just for his matches, but also for broadcasting and advertising skills. He is under contract with German sports equipment manufacturer Adidas,with Uliveto  water, Italian car manufacturer Fiat  and Japanese motorbike company Suzuki. In 2006 he appeared in a television commercial for the Japanese motor scooter Suzuki Burgman together with the sports agent Andreas Goller.

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