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Alessandro Del Piero

Current club: Juventus
Number: 10
Personal website: www.alessandrodelpiero.com

Alessandro Del Piero, Cavaliere Ufficiale OMRI, (born November 9, 1974 in Conegliano) is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer. He is the captain of Juventus and a member of the Italian national team. He is regarded as one of the best Italian footballers of his generation.

Usually, Del Piero plays as a supporting-striker and occasionally between the midfield and the strikers (in the hole), known in Italy as the "Trequartista" position. He is not the tallest of forwards, but is certainly one of the more creative attacking players in the world, often choosing wit, finding another player, rather than playing as a traditional "goal poacher."

Del Piero is renowned for his deadly finishing, and the ease in which he dribbles past defenders. He is an expert in dead-ball situations as he is among the world's best freekick takers and is a penalty specialist (as evident in the 2006 world cup final shootout).

Biography

Alessandro was born in Conegliano, to Bruna, a housekeeper and Gino Del Piero, who was an electrician. Along with his brother Stefano (who also became a professional footballer briefly , the family lived at a rural home. He would often play football in the backyard with two friends, Nelso and Pierpaolo. The three of them wanted to become footballers, but only Alessandro would eventually manage to do so.

While growing up, Del Piero recalls that as a youngster there was never any money for travelling abroad and that he wanted to be a lorry driver so he could see places. Later, as a professional football player he was eventually able to travel all around the world.

Club football

Alessandro Del Piero is recognised as one of the greatest players ever to grace the game for decades. Del Piero was first spotted playing for hometown San Vendemiano - he left home at the age of 16 to start his professional career in 1991 with Padova of Italian Serie B. 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 UEFA Champions League with 10 goals, which included a peach of a freekick against Monaco in the semi finals.

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 Serie A. It is claimed by some that Del Piero has never fully recovered from this injury, and therefore never quite fulfilled the potential he had shown at a very young age.

His nickname is Pinturicchio, in reference to a joke by Gianni Agnelli when he compared the emerging Del Piero to Roberto Baggio in a parallel between the student Pinturicchio from Perugia and the teacher Caravaggio. He's also been nicknamed by the fans "Il Fenomeno Vero" meaning the real "Phenomenon".

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 a full-fledged striker, he settled into a deeper role as a support-striker. Because of his great technical ability, accurate passing skills and impressive vision, he has also been positioned as a playmaker; in the central slot behind the forwards. In any zone surrounding the penalty area, his prowess as a creator of goals came to the fore. Under Marcello Lippi's reign as Juventus coach, Del Piero's creative abilities were on display whatever the coach's formation was. Del Piero showed his class in the lethal "trident-attack" formation along with veterans Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio Ravanelli. After that, he took a leading role in a creative combination with Zinedine Zidane behind Filippo Inzaghi. As Juve's playing style changed in Lippi's second stint with Juventus starting 2001, Del Piero was still vital as his partnerships with Pavel Nedved in midfield and David Trézéguet upfront has contributed enormously to Juve's continued success in Italy and Europe.

Del Piero is currently the all-time top scorer for Juventus, in all competitions he has also made over 500 appearances in official matches for the club.