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| years3 = 2009–
| years3 = 2009–
| clubs1 = [[A.S. Roma|Roma]]
| clubs1 = [[A.S. Roma|Roma]]
| caps1 = 102
| caps1 = 245
| goals1 = 9
| goals1 = 9
| clubs2 = → [[U.S. Triestina Calcio|Triestina]] (loan)
| clubs2 = → [[U.S. Triestina Calcio|Triestina]] (loan)

Revision as of 10:50, 11 August 2010

Alberto Aquilani
File:Aquaman.jpg
Personal information
Full name Alberto Aquilani
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Central Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Liverpool
Number 4
Youth career
1999–2003 Roma
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2009 Roma 245 (9)
2003–2004 → Triestina (loan) 41 (4)
2009– Liverpool 26 (2)
International career‡
2000 Italy U-15 8 (0)
2000–2001 Italy U-16 13 (0)
2001 Italy U-17 2 (0)
2002 Italy U-18 6 (0)
2001–2003 Italy U-19 18 (3)
2003 Italy U-20 2 (1)
2004–2007 Italy U-21 19 (5)
2006– Italy 11 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18:23, 14 May 2010 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of February 10, 2009

Alberto Aquilani (born 7 July 1984) is an Italian footballer who plays for Premier League club Liverpool and the Italian national team. He is a central midfielder, who can operate in a holding position or attacking position i.e. in the hole.

Aquilani began his career at Roma and, after a brief loan spell at Triestina, returned to the Serie A club where he became a regular in the Roma side during the 2005–06 season. Unfortunately in the following season, he suffered a thigh injury and was ruled out for several months. He moved to Liverpool for the start of the 2009–10 season, in a deal that cost £4 million and add ons which could potentially be worth £20m in total.

Internationally, Aquilani has represented Italy at international level youth level and at the Euro 2008. He made his full international debut in November 2006 in a 1–1 draw against Turkey.

Club career

Roma

In 2001, at the age of sixteen, Chelsea and Arsenal offered him contracts, but he declined the offers to continue playing for his youth club Roma.[1]

He made his debut in Serie A at the age of eighteen on 10 May 2003 under then manager Fabio Capello against Torino. He was loaned to Serie B club Triestina for the 2003–04 season to gain first team experience.

Returning to Roma in the 2004–05 season, he broke into the starting XI. In the 2005–06 season, he scored the second goal in the derby victory on 26 February 2006, a victory in which Roma broke the record for the most consecutive wins in Serie A,[2] a record later broken by Inter Milan in the 2006–07 season.

In the following season, Aquilani was expected to be one of Roma's best players. He was given the number 8 shirt previously worn by Matteo Ferrari. Unfortunately, an injury forced him out of the game for several months.[3][4] Aquilani returned to the field in May 2007 and featured in three games towards the end of the season, including the last two.

He also played in the Champions League against Real Madrid, where he had an excellent game.[citation needed] He scored two long range goals in the first two matches of the 2007–08 season against Palermo and Siena.[citation needed] Although he was injured in October 2007,[5] he returned to squad in January 2008.

Aquilani was injured again on 22 October 2008 against Chelsea.[6] He returned to action on 11 January 2009 against Milan but picked up another injury in February.[7] Although he played against Arsenal as a last minute substitute on 11 March 2009,[8] he did not play in the rest of the season.

On 26 May 2009, Aquilani signed a new contract with Roma until 2013, adding three more years to previous deal.

[9][10]

He was nicknamed "Il Principe" (Italian for "The Prince") by the Roma faithful.

Liverpool

On 5 August 2009, Liverpool announced that they had agreed a deal with Roma for the transfer of Aquilani, subject to a medical.[11][12] The club subsequently announced that the player had passed the medical and signed a 5 year contract on 7 August 2009.[13] Roma revealed that the fee was 20 million euro (£17 Million) plus sporting bonus.[14] Aquilani was handed the number 4 shirt, last worn by Sami Hyypiä, who joined Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the 2008–09 season. Although it was initially thought that he was recruited as a replacement for holding midfielder Xabi Alonso who had left the same summer to join Real Madrid, Aquilani actually prefers to play further up the pitch and is considered to be more of a dynamic attacking midfielder than a holding playmaker.

Aquilani made his Liverpool reserves debut with a 15 minutes substitute appearance in a 2–0 win against Sunderland reserves on 21 October 2009.[15]

Aquilani's first game for Liverpool was a 2–1 4th round Carling Cup defeat to Arsenal, coming on in the 77th minute for Damien Plessis.[16] He made his long awaited Premier league debut on 9 November 2009, as a late substitute against Birmingham City in a 2–2 draw.[17] He then made a 30 second appearance against Hungarian club Debrecen on 24 November which Liverpool won 1–0 courtesy of a goal from David Ngog. Aquilani made his first start against Fiorentina in an Champions League match on 9 December 2009, where Liverpool lost 2–1.[18] Aquilani made his first Premier League start against Wolves on 26 December 2009 and received a standing ovation from the Kop when he was substituted in the 84th minute for Daniel Pacheco.[19]

Aquilani next started for Liverpool in their 2–0 win over Bolton Wanderers, where he got his second assist for Liverpool, again setting up Dirk Kuyt. He scored his first goal for Liverpool on 15 March 2010 against Portsmouth and he also assisted Fernando Torres for the fourth Liverpool goal. He was voted man of the match by the fans on Liverpool's official website. Aquilani also gained the man of the match award in his next Liverpool league start, against Fulham FC in a goalless draw at Anfield. In his next start for Liverpool he finished the match with three assists during a 4–0 away win against Burnley F.C. On 29 April 2010 he scored a goal against Atletico Madrid in the Europa League, cancelling out Atletico's first leg goal from Diego Forlan by scoring moments before half-time. Despite a great performance from Aquilani on the night, Liverpool eventually went out of the semi-finals on the away goal rule after Benayoun had put Liverpool 2–0 up, as Diego Forlan scored his second of the tie in exta-time to take the aggregate score to 2–2.[20] Aquilani won the LFC Man Of The Match award again after his performance.[21] Aquilani also played in Liverpool's last 2 games of the season, a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Chelsea at Anfield[22] and a goalless draw away to Hull City at the KC Stadium.[23] In total, Aquilani played 26 times in his debut season for the reds, scoring twice but rarely playing the full 90 minutes. New Liverpool FC manager Roy Hodgson has clearly stated his intent on keeping the skillful Italian at the club by saying that he has full confidence that Aquilani can be the best long passer in the Premier League.

International career

At youth level, Aquilani was capped for Italy at 2001 European Under-21 Football Championship qualifying. He won 2003 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship with Italy and scored one goal. He was then promoted to the U21 team and took part in 2006 European Under-21 Football Championship qualifying, but missed out on the final tournament due to injury.[24]

Aquilani made his senior debut on 15 November 2006 in a 1–1 friendly against Turkey.[25] He played as a regular during the 2007 U-21 Championship held in the Netherlands, scoring two goals, and being named in the "UEFA Team of the Tournament". Italy finished 5th and qualified for the 2008 Olympics. He was named to the 23-man roster for Euro 2008, his first major international tournament. He came on as a sub in Italy's third game of the tournament, which was a 2–0 victory over France. He started Italy's quarter-final match against Spain due to the suspensions to Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso. Italy lost 4–2 in a shootout after a 0–0 tie through 120 minutes.[26]

Aquilani scored his first goal for the Italy during the 2010 World Cup qualification match against Montenegro on 15 October 2008, a tally he doubled later in the same match.[27] In spite of this, national team manager Marcelo Lippi opted not to include him in the 23-man Italian squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Honours

Roma

Career statistics

As of 9 April 2010[28]
Team Season Domestic
League 		Domestic
Cup 		European
Competitions1 		Other Tournaments2 Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Roma 2002–03 1 0 1 0 — — — — 2 0
Triestina 2003–04 41 4 — — — — — — 41 4
Roma 2004–05 29 0 4 0 5 0 — — 38 0
2005–06 24 3 2 2 8 1 — — 34 6
2006–07 13 1 3 0 5 0 1 2 23 3
2007–08 21 3 4 1 5 0 1 0 31 4
2008–09 14 2 1 0 4 0 1 0 20 2
Liverpool 2009–10 18 1 — — 6 1 1 0 25 2
2010–11 0 0 — — 1 0 0 0 1 0
Roma Career 102 9 15 3 27 1 3 2 147 16
Liverpool Career 18 1 0 0 7 1 1 0 26 2
Career Total 155 14 15 3 30 1 5 2 206 19

1European competitions include the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup
2Other tournaments include the Supercoppa Italiana and Carling Cup

International goals

Updated to games played 15 October 2008

Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 15 October 2008 Lecce, Italy  Montenegro 1–0 2–1 2010 WCQ
2. 2–1

References

  1. ^ Alberto Aquilani
  2. ^ "Aquilani blossoming at Roma". UEFA.com. 21 March 2006. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  3. ^ "Aquilani blow for Roma and Italy". UEFA.com. 26 November 2006. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  4. ^ "Roma postpone Aquilani return". UEFA.com. 19 February 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  5. ^ "Roma facing Aquilani absence". UEFA.com. 3 October 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  6. ^ "Aquilani to miss Roma's Chelsea rematch". UEFA.com. 22 October 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  7. ^ "Roma lose Perrotta to hip injury". UEFA.com. 27 February 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  8. ^ "Arsenal advance after epic Rome shoot-out". UEFA.com. 11 March 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  9. ^ "Prolungato il contratto economico per il diritto alla prestazioni sportive del calciatore Alberto Aquilani" (in Italian). AS Roma. 26 May 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  10. ^ "Aquilani extends Roma contract". football.co.uk. 26 May 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
  11. ^ "Reds agree Aquilani deal". Liverpool F.C. Official website. 5 August 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2009. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "Liverpool agree fee for Aquilani". BBCSport. 5 August 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
  13. ^ "Aquilani agrees contract". Liverpool F.C. Official website. 7 August 2009. Retrieved 7 August 2009. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ "Raggiunto l'accordo per la cessione a titolo definitivo del diritto alle prestazioni sportive del calciatore Alberto Aquilani" (in Italian). AS Roma. 8 August 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  15. ^ "Aquilani gives Reds timely boost. He was nominated for the 'best Italian player to move to the English premier league award' in November 2009". BBC Sport. 21 October 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  16. ^ "Arsenal 2 – 1 Liverpool". BBC Sport. 28 October 2009. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
  17. ^ "Liverpool 2 – 2 Birmingham". BBC Sport. 2009-11-09. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  18. ^ "Liverpool 1 – 2 Fiorentina". BBC Sport. 2009-12-09. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
  19. ^ Chase, Graham (2009-12-27). "Liverpool 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0". Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
  20. ^ "Liverpool's hopes of silverware ended by Atlético Madrid's Diego Forlán". Guardian. 2010-04-30. Retrieved 2010-05-29.
  21. ^ "Liverpool 2 Atletico Madrid 1". Liverpoolfc.tv. 2010-04-30. Retrieved 2010-05-29.
  22. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8648924.stm
  23. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8660536.stm
  24. ^ "Italy turn to Biondini". UEFA.com. 23 May 2006. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  25. ^ "Italy 1–1 Turkey: Materazzi mistake". ESPN.com. 15 November 2006. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
  26. ^ "Spain 0–0 Italy (4–2 pens)". BBC Sport. 22 June 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
  27. ^ "Aquilani's crucial brace". ESPN.com. 15 October 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
  28. ^ Alberto Aquilani

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