Alessandro Del Piero
Alessandro Del Piero
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Age: 18
Position: Forward
Country: Argentina
Caps: 6
Goals: 1
Club: Barcelona
Former clubs: Gr |  |
Wednesday, 24, May 2006 12:14
Age: 31
Position: Forward
Country: Italy
Caps: 72
Goals: 25
Club: Juventus
Previous clubs: none, an old-fashioned one club man
Estimated Chelsea-target value: £4 million
His own words: I don't understand why I'm always put into competition with someone. I don't like this game. It doesn't exist for the other players.
On the face of things, Alessandro Del Piero appears to have done it all. He is among the leading goalscorers of all time and currently captain at Juventus - arguably Italy's biggest club - has won the Scudetto seven times and has appeared in four Champions League finals.
However, all is not right with Del Piero, who despite a glittering career has never quite hit the absolute world-beating heights that his early performances indicated he would achieve.
In his first seasons as a professional at Juventus, Del Piero faced the unenviable task of displacing one of Gianluca Vialli, Fabrizio Ravanelli or Roberto Baggio in a fearsome three-pronged Juventus attack. Surprisingly it was Baggio that eventually lost out to the elegant Del Piero, with Giovanni Trapattoni deciding the two of them could not play together.
Del Piero obviously benefited from playing under the tutelage of the world's greatest support striker, but even when Baggio was transferred to AC Milan, the two remained in direct competition for a starting place in the national team.
The Juventus forward, was scored a career-best 21 league goals in 1998, guiding Turin's Old Lady to the Scudetto in the process. But at the World Cup of the same year fan-favourite Baggio got coach Cesare Maldini's vote - the Italians promptly crashed out in the quarterfinals disappointingly to France. By the time of Euro 2004, Baggio's star had waned, but his reputation with the fans remained undiminished. Resisting intense media and supporter pressure, Del Piero was selected by Dino Zoff ahead of his mentor, but injury restricted him to only cameo appearances.
Despite Del Piero's absence a defensively perfect Italy team reached the final, going 1-0 up against old foes France. In the second half Del Piero came on as a substitute and wasted two sublime chances to put the game to rest. Future Juve striker partner David Trezeguet eventually scored the golden goal that would break Italian hearts.
Again at the 2004 World Cup, the Baggio question remained, and the player he forced out of Turin came back to haunt him once more. The Divine Ponytail was on the brink of retirement and the Italian public demanded he be given a final swansong on the world's biggest stage. However, Trapattoni (remember him?) was having none of it and Baggio did not make the squad, Italy subsequently suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of a plucky South Korean side.
So Del Piero's international career has been chequered by selection clashes with Baggio, with the latter somehow being installed in the pantheon of Italian footballers despite both being villains in major finals.
This summer's World Cup is the first international tournament Del Piero has been available for since Baggio retired, but by a cruel twist of fate he is far from assured a place in the starting line-up. But given the fact that Italian strikers have a habit of coming back from the dead when the Azzuri do well, the sorcerer's apprentice may yet be given his chance to lay his intentional ghosts to rest.
Matt Champion.