Happy Birthday Del Piero!

37 glorious years of a great man that is Alessandro Del Piero, 18 of which he has spent at Juventus. And now with his place firmly cemented in Juve history, he must depart, as his contract is coming to an end he may be saying goodbye to The Grand Old Lady, but not from the sport he has spent a large portion of his life playing. Speculation are running wild as to where he will be playing his football next year, but I say stop looking to the future without Del Piero in our beloved Italy, and look at what he has done and is still doing after all this season has a long way to go!
Coming from a modest background, Del Piero had big dreams of one day becoming a footballer, at the tender age of 7 he began to play for San Vendemiano as a goal keeper, his mother didn’t want to see him get hurt, as in this position it was unlikely to get seriously injured. His older brother, Stefano later convince their mother to let Alex play in attack, a role that he would make his own. Soon after switching positions he was spotted by a scout and at the age of 13 he left home to play for youth side Padova Calcio.
Grander things were on the horizon for young Alex as he was snapped up by Italian giants Juventus in 1993. He made his Serie A debut in September of that year against Foggia and scored his first ever Serie A goal in the next game against Reggiana. Throughout his tremendous season with Juve he won five Serie A titles, The Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup, But disaster struck when in October of the 1998/9 season he picked up a serious knee injury that ended his season and saw Juve hobble on and finish in a lowly six position in the league. In my humble opinion that injury not only made him a better player but also a better person, as he was increasingly hungry and grateful for the time he gets on the field.

Throughout his illustrious career he has also amassed a number of individual awards including:
• Best Loved Player- 2001,2008
• UEFA Champions League top scorer- 1997/8
• Most Valuable Player- Intercontinental Cup 1996
• Oscar AIC Italian Footballer of the Year- 1998, 2008
• Oscar AIC Top Scorer- 2008
• Serie B Top scorer- 2007
• 3 awards in Italy for gentlemanly conduct
• Golden Foot Award- 2007

And the greatest award was of course the World Cup in 2006. Which I admit is a collective award and is really about the entire team, but he can truly say that he went out at the top of his game, that is when he does retire! At the age of 37 he still wants to play on, and he still could as he is like a fine wine and gets better with age. Here’s to the great man who would put the needs of his team ahead of his own. I’ll miss seeing your cheeky celebration in Serie A!