Alessandro Del Piero

Alessandro Del Piero

Personal information
Full name	Alessandro Del Piero
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)	Second striker
Team information
Current team	Sydney FC
Number	10
Youth career
1982–1988	San Vendemiano
1988–1993	Padova
1993–1994	Juventus
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1991–1993	Padova	14	(1)
1993–2012	Juventus	513	(208)
2012–	Sydney FC	0	(0)
International career
1991	Italy U-17	3	(1)
1992–1993	Italy U-18	14	(12 )
1993–1996	Italy U-21	12	(3)
1995–2008	Italy	91	(27)
Medal record Football Representing Italy FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 UEFA European Football Championship Belgium-Netherlands 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship France 1994 Spain 1996 Representing Juventus UEFA Champions League Roma 1996 Munich 1997 Amsterdam 1998 Manchester 2003 UEFA Cup 1995 Intercontinental Cup Tokyo 1996
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15 May 2012

Alessandro Del Piero (Italian pronunciation: [alesˈsandro del ˈpjɛːro]) Ufficiale OMRI (born 9 November 1974) is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who plays for Sydney FC in the A-League. Del Piero 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. Del Piero was also voted in the list of best European players for the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. In the year 2000, Del Piero was the world's best-paid football player from salary, bonuses, and advertising revenue.

Along with three awards in Italy for gentlemanly conduct he has also won the Golden Foot award, which pertains to personality and playing ability. Del Piero usually plays as a supporting-striker and occasionally between the midfield and the strikers, known in Italy as the "trequartista" position. 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." His free-kick and penalty taking is also highly regarded. 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.

Del Piero holds the all-time goalscoring record at Juventus. On 6 April 2008, Alessandro Del Piero became the all-time highest-capped Juventus player, ahead of Juventus legend Gaetano Scirea. As of May 2012, he is in ninth place in the UEFA Champions League all-time goalscorer records and joint fourth with Roberto Baggio within the Italian national team records.

Childhood and early career

Born in Conegliano, Veneto, 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. Alessandro's older brother, Stefano, briefly played professional football for Sampdoria before 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, 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. One of Del Piero's inspirations as a youngster was Japanese football manga Captain Tsubasa.

It was while playing with his local side of San Vendemiano in 1988 that 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.

Juventus

European Success

File:Del Piero final.jpg

Del Piero celebrates the victory in the 1996 Champions League after defeating Ajax.

In 1993, he transferred to Juventus, and played for the Turin giants for 19 seasons until being released in the summer of 2012. 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. Juventus claimed their first Scudetto in eight years in his first season and success continued to follow. With the Turin club he went on to win the Serie A championship eight times, though his 2005 & 2006 Scudetti were revoked due to calciopoli, 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.

The following campaign of 1997–98 was personally his best season, as 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 and a hat-trick against AS Monaco in the semi-finals. Again Juventus lost in the final, falling 1-0 to Real Madrid from a strike by Predrag Mijatović on 20 May. Though domestic success was achieved that season as Juventus celebrated its 25th Serie A title.

Injury

Del Piero struggled for form at the beginning of the 1998–99 season as doping allegations were aimed at Juventus, but managing director, Antonio Giraudo, was later acquitted of all charges. 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 and the club struggled without him limping home to a lowly sixth place finish 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 as "Il Fenomeno Vero" meaning "The Real Phenomenon," in a sort of comparison with Ronaldo, who was nicknamed "Il Fenomeno" by rival supporters of Internazionale.

Lippi Second Era

Del Piero formed a formidable partnership with French striker David Trezeguet, who joined in 2000, and Czech playmaker Pavel Nedvěd, 2001, as Juventus was crowned Serie A champions for a 26th time in May 2002. 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 former champion Feyenoord. 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 on 24 September. 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. 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 La Coruña. Juventus saw off Barcelona in the quarter-finals because an extra time goal by Marcelo Zalayeta, 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. 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, Del Piero finished his spot-kick but it wasn't enough as Juventus fell 3-2 in the shoot-out.

Capello Era

After UEFA 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 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 spectacular overhead assist to teammate David Trezeguet which proved decisive in a crucial match against Milan at the San Siro.

Del Piero playing for Juventus in September 2006 against Rimini, during the 2006–07 Serie B season

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. Del Piero never had a calm relation with Fabio Capello though.

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

After Juventus were demoted to Serie B and their last two Scudetti were revoked (see 2006 Italian football scandal), 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 Viera, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Lilian Thuram left Turin, Del Piero chose to stay and help the club gain promotion.

Del Piero's first appearance after the 2006 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 scored the winning goal for Juventus.

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.

Although Juventus started off with a nine point penalty from the match-fixing scandal, the Old Lady gained promotion to Serie A as champions. Del Piero finished the league campaign with 20 goals as he finished as the top scorer of the Serie B.

Return to Serie A

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.

Del Piero during the 2007–08 season against Fiorentina

In February 2008, he scored the winning goal for Juventus in a Serie A victory at home to A.S. Roma, which finished 1–0. He scored two goals away at Lazio and was named to two consecutive Serie A teams of the week. On 6 April 2008, he set a new appearance record for Juventus, overtaking Gaetano Scirea's previous tally of 552 matches in all competitions. In April, he registered seven goals in five Serie A matches, including a hat-trick in a 4–0 away win over Atalanta.

On the final weekend of the 2007–08 season, Del Piero scored a brace against Sampdoria in a 3–3 draw. These two goals were crucial as it took him to 21 goals for the season, thus winning him the Capocannonieri prize in Serie A for the first time in his illustrious career, beating the likes of David Trezeguet (20 goals) and Marco Borriello (19 goals) and matching his highest tally for a top-flight season since 1997–98. He became only the second Italian ever to win consecutive Capocannoniere titles in two different leagues — former Juventus and 1982 World Cup hero Paolo Rossi being the other (coincidentally, Rossi also won the Capocannoniere titles like Del Piero: first in Serie B and then in Serie A). On 26 July, Del Piero was awarded the Scirea Award.

Before the season Juventus manager, Claudio Ranieri, remarked that Del Piero would have as good a season, or an even better one, than the previous term. In August 2008, Del Piero announced that he would try to keep playing professional football with Juventus until he is 40 years old. With Juventus back in the Champions League, they were drawn into the same group as former winners Real Madrid and UEFA Cup winners Zenit Saint Petersburg. Del Piero marked their return with a brilliant match-winning free kick to seal a home win against Zenit. On 21 October, he scored a wonderful first-time strike from distance as Juve defeated Real Madrid, 2-1, in Turin. In the fifth minute, from open play, Del Piero swerved the ball into the far corner of the goal with a freekick-like shot, giving goalkeeper Iker Casillas no chance.

Del Piero before a match in April 2012

On 5 November 2008, Juventus and Real Madrid squared off at Santiago Bernabéu in the Champions League. The Italians won 2–0, their first away win against Madrid since 1962, and Del Piero was a key performer, scoring both the goals and being praised by both Claudio Ranieri and Madrid coach Bernd Schuster. As he left the pitch after being substituted, "fans from both sides gave him a standing ovation." Juventus' 2009 Champions League campaign ended in disappointment, however, as they were eliminated by Chelsea in the second round. Despite converting a penalty in the second leg in Turin, Del Piero was unable to prevent Juventus from losing 3–2 on aggregate.

In the league, Juventus were mostly challenging Milan for second place and an automatic Champions League place. Most notably, Del Piero inspired the Bianconeri to a 3–0 win over Siena in their penultimate game of the season, scoring a brace and setting up Claudio Marchisio for the youngster's third goal of the season to end their run of seven winless matches in Serie A. Juventus then went on to defeat Lazio 2-0 and pip Milan to second place,based on their head-to-head record.

On 17 July 2009, Del Piero extended his contract with Juventus by one more year until 30 June 2011 in Pinzolo while training for pre-season, thus practically ensuring that he would retire at the club with which he started his professional career. During his renewal, he said, “I am happy at Juventus and we are competitive. I want to keep playing for as long as I can and I’m certain that for at least two more years I will be at the top level.” He marked his 445th Serie A appearance, breaking the all-time club record, with a brace against Genoa on 14 February 2010. He is also currently the all-time top scorer for Juventus, having scored more than 250 goals in all competitions. He has also made over 600 appearances in official matches for the club, breaking the record of Gaetano Scirea who had 552 appearances for Juventus.

On 14 March 2010, Del Piero recorded his 300th and 301st career goal during a 3–3 draw with Siena with the first two goals at the second and seventh minute. On 30 October 2010, he recorded his 179th Serie A goal, helping his side to a 2-1 win at AC Milan, breaking the record of club legend Giampiero Boniperti as Juventus' top scorer in Serie A and further cementing his status as the most prolific goalscorer in Juventus history.

Champion again

On 5 February 2011, with his substitution against Cagliari, Alessandro Del Piero became the most capped Juventus player, edging out former Juventus legend Giampiero Boniperti. Del Piero remains the third most capped player in the Serie A, behind Javier Zanetti and Francesco Totti, respectively. On 5 May 2011, he signed a new one-year contract to stay at the Juventus Arena. His previous deal was due to expire on 30 June 2011.

On 24 May 2011, Del Piero and Juventus played against Manchester United at Old Trafford in a friendly match being former England defender Gary Neville's testimonial match. Del Piero was substituted after 65 minutes to a standing ovation from the United supporters. Juventus confirmed on 18 October 2011 that the 2011–12 season would be Del Piero's last with the club. The 2011–12 season under new manager Antonio Conte, his former teammate at Juve, saw Del Piero being used sparingly because of the summer arrival of Mirko Vučinić from A.S. Roma. He scored his first goal in the new Juventus Stadium on 24 January 2012 in the 3–0 win over Roma in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia. Later in the season, Del Piero stated that he was surprised at Juventus president Andrea Agnelli's announcement regarding the club's decision to not offer the striker a new contract.

In the second leg of Juventus's clash with Milan in the Coppa Italia semi-finals, Del Piero finished off a brilliant move by Juventus as they secured a 2–2 draw on the night and progressed to the final with a 4–3 aggregate win. On 25 March, Del Piero helped Juventus defeat Internazionale by scoring the second goal in a 2–0 victory, his first goal of the Serie A season. In Juventus's match against Lazio on 11 April, Del Piero replaced strike partner Mirko Vučinić in the second half, making his 700th appearance for the Old Lady, and then went on to score a fantastic free kick to earn his side a 2–1 victory and return the Old Lady to the top of the Serie A table.

On 13 May, Del Piero started Juventus's final league game of the season against Atalanta, marking the occasion by scoring a goal. Twenty-seven minutes into the match, del Piero picked the ball up on the edge of the penalty box and placed a shot past Giorgio Frezzolini to make the score 2–0 and help Juventus clinch an undefeated Serie A season. He would be substituted off after 59 minutes to an emotional response from both sets of players and supporters. This would be Alessandro Del Piero's final Serie A appearance for Juventus. Following his departure, the Juventus board were understood to be keen to retire Del Piero's number 10 jersey as a tribute to his efforts and accomplishments during a decorated nineteen-year career. However, Del Piero, did not want to see his number withdrawn from service.

Del Piero's final match for the Bianconeri was in the Coppa Italia Final on 20 May against Napoli, Del Piero was subbed off in the 67th minute for Mirko Vučinić as his Juventus career came to an end. Following the game, he confirmed that after his 19 year spell with Juventus that he did not plan to retire, he then left the club and turned into a free agent. On 30 June Del Piero wrote an open letter to the Juventus fans thanking them for almost two decades of support, stating, "Above all what remains is the fans, you who are Juventus. That jersey that I loved and will always love, that I desired and respected... From tomorrow I will no longer be a Juventus player, but I will always be one of you. Now a new adventure begins and I am as fired up as I was 19 summers ago."

Sydney FC

On Wednesday 5 September, 2012, Alessandro Del Piero signed a two-year deal with Sydney FC for approximately $2 million (AUD) a year.

International career

Del Piero with Francesco Totti

Del Piero is currently Italy's fourth all-time leading scorer. His tournament debut was UEFA Euro 1996, making his only appearance in the first half of a match against Russia before being substituted at half-time.

Del Piero competed with fan favourite Roberto Baggio for a spot in the starting 11 during the World Cup, while struggling to recover from injury suffered during the 1998 Champions League final with Juventus. He made his first World Cup appearance in the second match of the group stage, a 3-0 defeat of Cameroon. In the final group game against Austria, Del Piero won his first start as Italy won 2-1 to seal a passage into the next round, avoiding reigning champions Brazil. Italy reached the quarter-finals after defeating Norway 1-0, falling to hosts and eventual champions France in penalty kicks.

He was part of Italy's squad that made it to the final of the European Championships in 2000. In the final group game, Del Piero scored the winning goal against Sweden eliminating their opposition. In the final itself, he missed two gilt-edged chances in Italy's 2–1 loss to France in extra time.

He returned to the international scene in the 2002 World Cup after a season in Serie A in which Juventus won the Scudetto. Del Piero scored the decisive goal against Hungary, which sealed the Azzurri's qualification for the finals. He instantly scored with a header against Mexico after coming on as a substitute, a goal which saved Italy from the ignominy of a first round exit. The goal sent Italy through to the second round, where they were eliminated by a golden goal in a controversial match against South Korea.

Del Piero after the semi-final against Germany.

Del Piero began the 2006 World Cup on the bench, appearing in two out of three group stage matches, and made his first start of the competition in a 1–0 round of 16 win over Australia on 26 June. On 4 July, Del Piero entered as a substitute near the end of regulation and scored Italy's second goal in a 2–0 semi-final win over host Germany. In the final against France, which ended 1–1 after extra time, Del Piero scored a penalty in the shootout as Italy won the tournament for the fourth time. He admitted afterwards that winning the World Cup was his childhood dream.

As of 2008, Del Piero has captained Italy seven times (including during UEFA Euro 2008). He also regularly wore the #10 shirt, but later gave it to Francesco Totti and switched to #7, as it was the first number he wore at the start of his career. Even though the #10 shirt was vacated after Totti retired from the national team in July 2007, Del Piero denied any interest in taking back the number, saying he was satisfied with #7. In May, he was recalled by popular demand to Italy's UEFA Euro 2008 squad after a nine-month absence from international duty, and thus became the second Italian player to participate in seven major international tournaments (Euro 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008; World Cup 1998, 2002, 2006).

Del Piero was called up to Italy's squad for the Euro 2008 championship in Austria and Switzerland. He was mostly on the substitutes' bench but started against Romania as the squad's captain. In the group match against the Dutch, he came on for the under-performing Antonio Di Natale and made an immediate impact, including several efforts on goal. He could not prevent the Azzurri, however, from a 3–0 loss. Italy qualified through the group stage in second-place behind the Netherlands, eliminating Romania and France. In the quarter-final against Spain, Del Piero made a substitute appearance during extra-time, and with the game ending in a 0–0 draw, it was decided by a penalty shootout in which Spain won 4–2. On 20 August 2008, he won his 90th cap for Italy in friendly against Austria, only the fifth Azzurri player to reach this landmark. Despite announcing that he will carry on playing until he is 40 years old, he has not been called up since Italy's qualifier against Georgia on 10 September 2008.

International goals

Del Piero – goals for Italy U-17
Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	20 August 1991	Viareggio, Italy	China	1–1	2–2	1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship Del Piero – goals for Italy Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 15 November 1995 Stadio Giglio, Reggio Emilia, Italy Lithuania 1–0 4–0 Euro 1996 qualifying 2 24 January 1996 Stadio Libero Liberati, Terni, Italy Wales 1–0 3–0 Friendly 3 29 May 1996 Stadio Giovanni Zini, Cremona, Italy Belgium 1–2 2–2 Friendly 4 22 January 1997 Stadio Renzo Barbera, Palermo, Italy Northern Ireland 2–0 2–0 Friendly 5 8 June 1997 Stade Gerland, Lyon, France Brazil 1–0 3–3 1997 Tournoi de France 6 8 June 1997 Stade Gerland, Lyon, France Brazil 3–1 3–3 1997 Tournoi de France 7 11 June 1997 Parc des Princes, Paris, France France 2–2 2–2 1997 Tournoi de France 8 28 January 1998 Stadio Angelo Massimino, Catania, Italy Slovakia 2–0 3–0 Friendly 9 10 October 1998 Stadio Friuli, Udinese, Italy Switzerland 1–0 2–0 Euro 2000 qualifying 10 10 October 1998 Stadio Friuli, Udinese, Italy Switzerland 2–0 2–0 Euro 2000 qualifying 11 23 February 2000 Stadio Renzo Barbera, Palermo, Italy Sweden 1–0 1–0 Friendly 12 19 June 2000 Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands Sweden 2–1 2–1 Euro 2000 13 11 October 2000 Stadio del Conero, Ancona, Italy Georgia 1–0 2–0 2002 World Cup qualification 14 11 October 2000 Stadio del Conero, Ancona, Italy Georgia 2–0 2–0 2002 World Cup qualification 15 28 March 2001 Stadio Nereo Rocco, Trieste, Italy Lithuania 2–0 4–0 2002 World Cup qualification 16 28 March 2001 Stadio Nereo Rocco, Trieste, Italy Lithuania 4–0 4–0 2002 World Cup qualification 17 6 October 2001 Stadio Ennio Tardini, Parma, Italy Hungary 1–0 1–0 2002 World Cup qualification 18 13 February 2002 Stadio Angelo Massimino, Catania, Italy United States 1–0 1–0 Friendly 19 13 June 2002 Ōita Stadium, Ōita Stadium, Japan Mexico 1–1 1–1 2002 World Cup 20 7 September 2002 Tofik Bakhramov Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan Azerbaijan 0–2 0–2 Euro 2004 qualifying 21 12 October 2002 Stadio San Paolo, Naples, Italy Yugoslavia 1–1 1–1 Euro 2004 qualifying 22 16 October 2002 Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales Wales 1–1 2–1 Euro 2004 qualifying 23 11 June 2003 Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland Finland 0–2 0–2 Euro 2004 qualifying 24 6 September 2003 San Siro, Milan, Italy Wales 4–0 4–0 Euro 2004 qualifying 25 8 September 2004 Stadionul Republican, Chişinău, Moldova Moldova 0–1 0–1 2006 World Cup qualification 26 1 March 2006 Artemio Franchi, Florence, Italy Germany 4–1 4–1 Friendly 27 4 July 2006 Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany Germany 0–2 0–2 2006 World Cup Style of Play One of Del Piero's greatest strengths as a footballer is his versatility, which allows him to play in a variety of attacking positions, providing assists as well as scoring goals. While he started his club career playing as an out-and-out striker, he settled into a deeper role as a support-striker, or rifinitore in Italian, due to his vision, dribbling ability and creativity. He has also been positioned as a playmaker (or fantasista in Italian) in the central slot behind the forwards on occasion (known as an attacking midfielder, or trequartista in Italian), although this was not his preferred playing position. 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 Zinedine Zidane behind Filippo Inzaghi. As Juve's playing style changed in Lippi's second stint with Juventus starting in 2001, Del Piero partnered with Zidane's replacement, Pavel Nedvěd, in midfield with David Trezeguet upfront. He has also been employed occasionally as a winger for Italy, whilst playing under Arrigo Sacchi. Del Piero is also a free kick and penalty kick specialist. He also been known for scoring several curled lobs placed in the top right corner from the left flank after dribbling runs throughout his career, which were later described as "gol alla Del Piero". Argentine legend Diego Maradona said of Del Piero's attitude and style of play, "He is different to Zinedine Zidane. He likes to play, he feels it in his soul. Between him and the Frenchman, I choose him." His good friend and number 10 predecessor at Juventus, Roberto Baggio, stated in an interview for Gazzetta dello Sport that he has the utmost respect for Del Piero, his leadership at Juventus and his timeless talent, which have often allowed him to silence his critics even later on in his career. At the beginning of his Juventus career, Giovanni Agnelli had compared Del Piero to Baggio, by describing Baggio as the painter Raphael and Del Piero as his student, Pinturicchio. After scoring a goal, Del Piero usually celebrates by running to the touchline in front of the Juve fans and sticking his tongue out; he has also performed a back-flip goal celebration on a number of occasions. He has also memorably pointed up at the sky on several occasions after scoring, dedicating these goals to his late father. Personal life Del Piero is married to Sonia Amoruso, and the two have been together since 1999 and married in 2005. They have three children, son Tobias (born 2007) daughter Dorotea (born 2009) and son Sasha (born 2010). Del Piero has used his fame and money to promote and support cancer research; in recognition of this, he has received from the Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro a prize of "Believe in Research" in November 2006. When the Olympic Flame for the 2006 Winter Olympics passed through Turin, Del Piero was a torchbearer. He has an interest in sports outside of football, particularly basketball, and in turn has gained fans outside of just football, sport icons such as National Basketball Association (NBA) star Steve Nash and cycling legend Eddy Merckx have stated that they are fans of Del Piero. As well as an interest in other sports, Del Piero also has a keen interest in music. He has even recorded some albums of his own. Along with Marco Materazzi, Del Piero appeared on stage at a Rolling Stones show in Milan shortly after Italy's World Cup win. He is a good friend of musician and singer Noel Gallagher and a fan of his former band Oasis. Del Piero appears in the Oasis video "Lord Don't Slow Me Down". On 9 February 2009, it was reported that Del Piero was suing the social networking site Facebook over a fake profile bearing his name that links to Nazi propaganda sites. He was said to be aggrieved that the bogus account, which carries his picture, implies neo-Nazi sympathies as he did not have a Facebook profile at that time. Besides scoring goals, Del Piero is also known for his sense of humour and is a popular guest at Italian comedy shows such as Paperissima and Striscia la notizia. He featured in the show La sai l'ultima di Totti, a comedy sketch created by his good friend and Roma captain Francesco Totti where the two of them and national teammates Milan defender Alessandro Nesta and Juve teammate Gianluigi Buffon would tell jokes about one another. Del Piero is not just famous for his football skills but has also been used in many advertising broadcasts. He is under contract with German sports equipment manufacturer Adidas, with Uliveto water, Italian car manufacturer Fiat, and Japanese motorbike company Suzuki. In 2006, he appeared in a television commercial for the Japanese motor scooter Suzuki Burgman together with the sports agent Andreas Goller. Del Piero was also featured on the cover of EA Sports' FIFA Football 2004 video game alongside Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho. He was one of the two stars featured on the cover of the Italian version of PES 2010 video game, the other being FC Barcelona and Argentina star Lionel Messi. In February 2012, it was reported that a 12-year old girl had awakened from a 15-day coma by the soothing voice of her idol, Del Piero. Career statistics A commemorative shirt, celebrating Del Piero's 500th Juventus appearance As of 20 May 2012. 1991–92 Padova Serie B 4 0 – – 4 0 1992–93 10 1 – – 10 1 1993–94 Juventus Serie A 11 5 1 0 2 0 14 5 1994–95 29 8 10 1 11 2 50 11 1995–96 29 6 2 1 11 6 42 13 1996–97 22 8 4 0 8 6 34 14 1997–98 32 21 4 1 10 10 46 32 1998–99 8 2 1 0 4 0 13 2 1999–00 34 9 2 1 9 2 45 12 2000–01 25 9 2 0 6 0 33 9 2001–02 32 16 4 1 10 4 46 21 2002–03 24 16 0 0 13 5 37 21 2003–04 22 8 4 3 4 3 30 14 2004–05 30 14 1 0 10 3 41 17 2005–06 33 12 4 5 7 3 44 20 2006–07 Serie B 35 20 2 3 – 37 23 2007–08 Serie A 37 21 4 3 – 41 24 2008–09 31 13 3 2 9 6 43 21 2009–10 23 9 1 2 5 0 29 11 2010–11 33 8 2 0 10 3 45 11 2011–12 23 3 5 2 – 28 5 Template:Football player statistics 3513||208||56||25||129||53||698||286 Template:Football player statistics 5527||209||56||25||129||53||712||287 Template:Football player statistics end Also played 6 (1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005) Supercoppa Italiana games where he has scored 3 goals (1998, 2x 2002). Also played 1 Intercontinental Cup game where he has scored 2 goals (1996–97). International statistics 1995 7 1 1996 4 2 1997 6 4 1998 8 3 1999 2 0 2000 13 4 2001 6 3 2002 11 5 2003 4 2 2004 6 1 2005 4 0 2006 9 2 2007 5 0 2008 6 0 Total 91 27 Career totals Professional career totals Teams Appearances Goals Goals per game Clubs 719 291 0.4 Italy U-21 012 03 0.25 National team 091 027 0.3 Total 822 321 0.4 Honours Juventus Serie A (6): 1994–95, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2011–12 (also won two more: 2004-05, 2005–06 removed from Juventus in calciopoli) Serie B (1): 2006–07 Coppa Italia (1): 1994–95 Supercoppa Italiana (4): 1995, 1997, 2002, 2003 UEFA Champions League (1): 1995–96 UEFA Super Cup (1): 1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup (1): 1999 Intercontinental Cup (1): 1996 Italy FIFA World Cup (1): 2006 UEFA Under-21 European Championship (2): 1994, 1996 Individual ESM Team of the Year (3): 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98 Most Valuable Player Intercontinental Cup: 1996 European Footballer of the Year Under-21: 1996 UEFA Champions League Topscorer: 1997–98 FIFA 100 Golden Foot to career: 2007 Serie B Topscorer: 2007 (20 goals) Scirea Award to career: 2008 Oscar AIC – Italian Footballer ot the Year(2): 1998, 2008 Serie A – Top Scorer: 2008 (21 goals) USSI Silver Ball: 2008 Globe Soccer Award: 2011 Oscar AIC – Award to Career: 2011 Records Juventus All-Time Leading Scorer (289 goals) Juventus All-Time Leading Scorer Champions League (44) Juventus All-Time Leading Scorer UEFA Competitions (52) Juventus All-Time Leading Scorer International competitions (53) Juventus All-Time Leading Scorer in the Italian championships (208) Juventus All-Time Leading Scorer Italian Super Cup (3) Juventus All-Time appearances holder Serie A: (478) Juventus All-Time appearances holder in the UEFA club competitions: (129) Juventus All-Time appearances holder in international competitions: (130) Juventus All-Time appearances leader (705) Latest goal from kickoff in a FIFA World Cup match (121st minute) Most Participations in UEFA European Championships (4) (Tied with 5 others) Orders 5th Class / Knight: Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: 2000 Collar of Merit Sports: 2006 4th Class / Officer: Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: 2006 References External links Official site Template:It icon Template:En icon Alessandro Del Piero – FIFA competition record (archived) Alessandro Del Piero at Goal.com