Along with three awards in Italy for gentlemanly conduct[6][7] he has also won the Golden Foot award, which pertains to personality and playing ability.[8]
Del Piero usually plays as a supporting-striker and occasionally between the midfield and the strikers, known in Italy as the "trequartista" position. Although he is not very tall, 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."[9] His free-kick and penalty taking is also highly regarded.[10] 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.[11]
Del Piero holds the all-time goalscoring record at Juventus.[12] On April 6, 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[13] and joint fourth with Roberto Baggio within the Italian national team records.[14]
In 1993, he transferred to Juventus, and has been there ever since.[19] 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[20]), 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 with Udinese. 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"[21] 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.
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.
Childhood and early career
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.[15] 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 didn't have much money for travelling abroad, so he was considering being a lorry driver in order to see the world.[16]
While playing for the local youth team of San Vendemiano since the age of 7,[17] 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 wouldn't 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.[18]
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
alessandro del piero super star picturesExperts agree that Del Piero was back to his best in the 2005-06 season[22] 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.[23] 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 January 10, 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.[24] Del Piero scored the last goal for Juventus the 2005-06 season before Juve were forcibly relegated due to the infamous Calciopoli scandal.
[edit] 2006-07 season in the Serie B
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".[25] 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 August 23, 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.[26]
Del Piero then came in as a substitute at the 61st minute for Juve's next Coppa Italia match on August 27 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.[27]
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.
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