Alesandro del piero

Alessandro Del Piero (Italian pronunciation: [alesˈsandro del ˈpjɛːro]) Ufficiale OMRI[6][7] (born 9 November 1974) is an Italian footballer who plays for and captains Sydney FC in the A-League. He is second place in the ranking of Italian all-time top scorers (342 goals, and behind only Silvio Piola, 364 goals).[8][9][10][11][12][13] He played in Juventus F.C. for 19 years (11 years as captain) and holds the club records for goals (290) and appearances (705). Del Piero scored in all competitions in which he participated.[14] He 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.[15] He was also voted in the list of best European players for the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll.[16] In 2000, Del Piero was the world's best-paid football player from salary, bonuses, and advertising revenue. As of December 2012, he is in tenth place among the UEFA Champions League all-time goalscorers.[17] Along with six awards in Italy for gentlemanly conduct,[18][19] he has also won the Golden Foot award, which pertains to personality and playing ability. He played three FIFA World Cup and four UEFA European Football Championship with the Italian national team. He is joint 4th (with Roberto Baggio) in the Italian national team top-scorer ranking, with 27 goals (behind Silvio Piola with 30 goals, Giuseppe Meazza with 33 goals and Luigi Riva with 35 goals) in 91 appearances. Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Club career 2.1 Early career 2.2 Juventus 2.2.1 European success 2.2.2 Injury 2.2.3 Lippi second era 2.2.4 Capello era 2.2.5 Serie B 2.2.6 Return to Serie A 2.2.7 Champion again 2.3 Sydney FC 3 International career 4 Style of play 4.1 Del Piero Zone 5 Outside football 5.1 Personal life 5.2 Charity work 5.3 TV, games and publicity 6 Career statistics 6.1 Club 6.2 Records 7 Honours 7.1 Juventus 7.2 Italy 7.3 Individual 7.4 Orders 8 Notes 9 References 10 Bibliography 11 External links Early life[edit] Born in Conegliano, Veneto, Del Piero is the son of Gino, an electrician, and Bruna, a housekeeper.[20] 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.[21] Alessandro's older brother, Stefano, briefly played professional football for Sampdoria before an injury curtailed his career. 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. While playing for the local youth team of San Vendemiano,[22] Del Piero used to feature 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 commented to their mother that Alessandro looked better playing in an attacking position and Del Piero switched.[23] Club career[edit] Early career[edit] Del Piero began his rise in 1981 in the ranks of San Vendemiano. In 1988, Del Piero was first spotted by scouts and he left home at the young age of 13 to play with the youth side of Padova.[24] At the age of 16, he made his debut in Serie B and on 22 November 1992, he scored his first professional goal in the 5–0 thrashing of Ternana.[25] In 1993, thanks to Giampiero Boniperti, Del Piero was bought by Juventus for five billion lire, with an overlap of 150 million lire per season.[26] Juventus[edit] European success[edit] Del Piero celebrates victory in the 1996 Champions League after defeating Ajax. In 1993, Del Piero transferred to Juventus and played for the Turin giants for 19 seasons until being released in the summer of 2012.[27] Del Piero made his Serie A debut against Foggia in September 1993 and scored his first goal in his next game against Reggiana after appearing as a substitute. On his full debut for Juventus, he netted a hat-trick against Parma.[28] Juventus claimed their first Scudetto in eight years in his second season and success continued to follow. With the Turin club, he went on to win the Serie A championship eight times, though his 2005 and 2006 Scudetti were revoked due to calciopoli,[29] the Champions League, the Coppa Italia, and the Intercontinental Cup. His goal in the 1997 UEFA Champions League Final, however, was unable to prevent Juventus from going down 3–1 to Borussia Dortmund.[30] The following campaign of 1997–98 was his best season, as he scored 21 goals in Serie A and finished top scorer in the Champions League with 10 goals,[31] one of which included a freekick and a hat-trick against AS Monaco in the semi-finals.[32] Again Juventus lost in the final, falling 1–0 to Real Madrid from a strike by Predrag Mijatović on 20 May.[33] Domestic success, however, was achieved that season, as Juventus celebrated its 25th Serie A title.[34] Injury[edit] In November 1998, Del Piero picked up a serious knee injury in the 2–2 draw with Udinese.[35] This kept him out of action for the remainder of the season and the club struggled without him limping home to a lowly sixth place finish in the league.[36] 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.[20] He's also been nicknamed by the fans as "Il Fenomeno Vero"[37] meaning "The Real Phenomenon," in a sort of comparison with Ronaldo, who was nicknamed "Il Fenomeno" by rival supporters of Internazionale. Lippi second era[edit] Del Piero formed a formidable partnership with French striker David Trezeguet, who joined in 2000, and Czech playmaker Pavel Nedvěd in 2001, as Juventus was crowned Serie A champions for a 26th time in May 2002.[38] This success meant that Juventus automatically qualified for the next year's Champions League. Juventus were pooled in Group E alongside Newcastle United, Dynamo Kyiv, and former champions Feyenoord.[39] Del Piero opened up his account in European competition that season when he scored his side's second goal after lovely build up play by Nedvěd and Mauro Camoranesi set him free in their 5–0 defeat of Dynamo Kyiv on 24 September.[40] On the next matchday, Juventus played hosted to Newcastle on 1 October and Del Piero hit a brace to help the Old Lady maintain top spot in their group.[41] Juventus progressed to the second group stage where the club managed to progress along with Manchester United on goal differential over FC Basel and Deportivo de La Coruña.[42] Juventus then saw off FC Barcelona in the quarter-finals through an extra time goal by Marcelo Zalayeta,[43] and faced Spanish opposition again in the likes of Real Madrid in the semi-finals. The triumvirate attacking partnership proved wonders for Juventus, as the team overturned a 2–1 first leg deficit to record a 4–3 aggregate win as all three attacking stars netted in the second leg.[44] Juventus faced Italian rivals Milan in the Final in Manchester on 28 May 2003. After a goalless 120 minutes, the tie went to a penalty shoot-out, where Del Piero finished his spot-kick but it wasn't enough, as Juventus fell 3–2 in the shoot-out.[45] Capello era[edit] After UEFA Euro 2004 in Portugal, Juve manager Marcello Lippi was replaced by Fabio Capello. Capello was not convinced of Del Piero's abilities and frequently benched him in favour of 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 overhead assist to teammate David Trezeguet, which proved decisive in a match against Milan at the San Siro.[46] Journalists and coaches agreed that Del Piero was back to his best in the 2005–06 season, having scored 20 goals in all competitions. His role at Juventus, however, changed in the following season, as coach Fabio Capello preferred to use him as a substitute for an "immediate impact," as Capello put it.[24] Del Piero never had a calm relation with Fabio Capello. In 2006, Del Piero equalled José Altafini's Serie A record of six goals as a substitute after scoring in the final minute of Juventus' 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 in the 2005–06 season before Juve were forcibly relegated due to the infamous Calciopoli scandal. Serie B[edit] See also: 2006 Italian football scandal After Juventus were demoted to Serie B and their last two Scudetti were revoked, Del Piero pledged 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 Fabio Cannavaro, Emerson, Gianluca Zambrotta, Patrick Vieira, Zlatan Ibrahimović, and Lilian Thuram left Turin, Del Piero chose to stay and help the club with Pavel Nedved, David Trezequet, Mauro Cammoranesi, Buffon gain promotion. A true gentleman never leaves his lady.[47] “” Alessandro Del Piero (about the "Old Lady", Juventus, during Calciopoli) Del Piero playing for Juventus in September 2006 against Rimini during the 2006–07 Serie B season. Del Piero's first appearance after the 2006 FIFA World Cup triumph was in a Coppa Italia match against Cesena on 23 August 2006. Since Juventus played in the 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 nine seconds, he scored the winning goal for Juventus.[48] Del Piero then came in as a substitute at the 61st minute for Juve's next Coppa Italia match on 27 August against 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 penalty shoot-out.[49] Although Juventus started off with a nine-point penalty from the match-fixing scandal,[50] the Old Lady gained promotion to Serie A as league champions.[51] Del Piero finished the league campaign with 20 goals as he finished as the top scorer of the Serie B.[52] Return to Serie A[edit] Following this, Del Piero 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, he 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 Fiorentina and was then axed from Roberto Donadoni's Italy squad for the games with Georgia and South Africa.