During the early-mid 80s Juventus were at the top of their game. They were led by the legend, the one and only, Platini. He scored more than 100 goals with Juventus and he is till now the top midfielder ever to score for Juve. After Platini left, Juventus went into a very bad phase. They could not show themselves properly and compete strongly in both Italy and Europe. The Juventini hope was brought back again with the transfer of Roberto Baggio from Fiorentina. Baggio started scoring for Juventus. Leading Juventus to win the Scudetto and then the UEFA cup in the early 90s.
In 1993, Boniperti, a well known name in Italy, and especially at Juventus (top scorer in Juve history with 182 goals in 462 matches), brought an Italian teenager called Alessandro Del Piero to Juventus from Padova. Noone knew him, no know expected anything from him. Everyone thought that he will be just another youngster that is tried at the great Old Lady just for the sake of experiments. Less did people know.
In 1994-1995, Marcello Lippi took over Juventus. Lippi, or as I like to call him Sir Lippi, sold Roberto Baggio to the all time rivals AC Milan. A move that was criticized so much by both the press and Juve fans themselves. His reason that Juventus was very dependant on Robby, and in his opinion Juventus could do well without him.
Sir Lippi did not off load Baggio without knowing that the replacement was available. The replacement was the Padova youngster, Alessandro Del Piero. A player that was soon after known by Juventini as "Ale".
He was unstoppable. And so was Juve. In 1995-1996, with his help, Juventus won everything that is possible to win including Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup which they faced River Plates in a match that ended 1-0 in favour of the Bianconeri. A single goal was enough to end that match. A single goal scored by Ale. The last time Juve won the tornament was with Platini, they won with a single goal, from Platini.
In 1998 Ale led Juve to win their 25th Scudetti. Which was another record braking for Juve. He also managed to score 21 goals putting him as one of the world's top scorers though he was an assistant striker.
On the 20th May 1998, Juve faced Real in the CL final. Ale got injured in that game after a tackle from both Hiero and Roberto Carlos. He forced himself to finish the game.
The season after Ale was damned by his all time worse injury ever. He injured his knee ligaments trying to score a goal for Juve against Udinese. People all around the world though he was over. Juve's performance decreased. And in that season to be precise (where Del Piero only played few matches before he gets injured) they finished 8th. Everyone started to give away their condolences. BUT we Juventini, and Ale fans, always believed that our #10 would return. People called us names, they called us crazy. We were considered to sappy. We did not listen. We supported.
1999-2000, Del Piero was back after recovering from a knee ligaments repair surgery. At that time the bianconeri were managed by Carlo Ancelotti. Ale did not run like he used to. He did not shoot like he used to. He did not pass like he used to. Critics got up the sky, even some Juventini started to believe otherwise in their golden boy. Never the less we believed that he would recover and that he only needed time, we cheered, we supported.
Del Piero started slowly get his acts together, unfortunately that was not enough to notch Juve over Lazio and Roma who managed to leave Juve second in both 99-00 and 00-01 seasons.
2001-2002, saw the return of Sir Lippi. Everyone was optimistic. They had all the rights to. He is a coach who's name is synonym to success. Under his supervision, Ale returned again. Ale returned, but this time he was even more mature. Critics did not stop trying to put him down but he did not listen. In two season with Sir Lippi (between 01-03) he scored over 40 goals for Juve. In addition to that, Trezeguet managed to be the Serie A top scorer thanks to Ale's assists. He led Juve to two Scudetti, 26 and 27. Ale was 100% back this time he was back with experience, Ale shut all his critics up.
In 2004 he suffered from another injury that put him away for the majority of the season. Juve ended up 3rd in the Serie A.
2004-2005, on a shocking move, Fabio Capello took over Juventus after Sir Lippi was assigned to the Italian NT. A new talent was brought to juve as well, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Del Piero got another injury in that season which gave Zlatan the green light to play as a starter in every match. He proved himself worthy of every penny Juve have invested in him. Critics took that as a chance (as always, they've been trying to put Ale down ever since he replaced Baggio) and started making up stories about Zlatan and Capello being against Del Piero. Stories that were all based on lies. Junveitni knew that. They knew that their Capitano would never behave in such away. Del Piero shut everyone yet again by ending top scorer of Juventus for the season (17 goals) and he distroyed all rumours about problems between him and the coach by raising Capello's hand in front of everyone after Juve captured their 28th League title.
His impressive come back during last season and his ability to score from minimal time play made journalists and fans wake to an important issue. A question arose immediately, how many goals did Ale score for Juve in history? We all knew that Boniperti scored 182 and that he is the all time Juve top scorer, followed by Bettega with 179 goals. By the end of the last season Del Piero has collected 174 goals. He was 8 goals away from Boniperti's recored and only 5 goals away from overtaking Bettega.
The season started everyone was anxious to see how long will it take Ale the great to score 8 goals. Capello did not play Ale in the first matches. Again (oh my god enough with that already) press wanted to cause problems between Ale and Capello because he wasn't fielding. Least did they know that it was all part of a great Turn-over plan to keep everyone with best of fitness. As soon as it was Del Piero's turn he was firing, he scored 2 goals in his first appearance. He assisted... He continued scoring.
On Wednesday the 7th December 2005, Ale scored a brace for Juve which lead them to win over Rapid Vienna and to announce them as Group A #1 rank in the CL. Those two goals were also important for Ale himself. Those two goals got him up from 180 to 182.
Now Ale is tied at the top of Juve's chart with Boniperti as Juve all time top scorer.
Ale is a player that has been criticized alot by many. He is a player the does not go crying to the press. He is a player that showed his worth on the pitch. He is a player that showed his class of the pitch.
For this great moment in history, Sky Sport arranged a program to celebrate his achievement.
This program brought back some nice memories. I remembered what I said about Alex after Parma's match (3 goals). I said that this player will be big.
Del Piero is one of the most sensational players ever. And in my opinion, during my history with football, which started just before 1990 (88~89), he is the most sensational player I have ever seen (during this period).
I know that there are many of you that will disagree, its your opinion. Del Piero will always have a special spot in my life. And for me, Del Piero has engraved his name with the #10 Jersey forever.
Forza Ale Del Piero..
By: ZAF
NOTE: The reason I did not put this in the Official DP thread is because its an article I wrote and felt it needed a thread by its own.
In 1993, Boniperti, a well known name in Italy, and especially at Juventus (top scorer in Juve history with 182 goals in 462 matches), brought an Italian teenager called Alessandro Del Piero to Juventus from Padova. Noone knew him, no know expected anything from him. Everyone thought that he will be just another youngster that is tried at the great Old Lady just for the sake of experiments. Less did people know.
In 1994-1995, Marcello Lippi took over Juventus. Lippi, or as I like to call him Sir Lippi, sold Roberto Baggio to the all time rivals AC Milan. A move that was criticized so much by both the press and Juve fans themselves. His reason that Juventus was very dependant on Robby, and in his opinion Juventus could do well without him.
Sir Lippi did not off load Baggio without knowing that the replacement was available. The replacement was the Padova youngster, Alessandro Del Piero. A player that was soon after known by Juventini as "Ale".
He was unstoppable. And so was Juve. In 1995-1996, with his help, Juventus won everything that is possible to win including Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup which they faced River Plates in a match that ended 1-0 in favour of the Bianconeri. A single goal was enough to end that match. A single goal scored by Ale. The last time Juve won the tornament was with Platini, they won with a single goal, from Platini.
In 1998 Ale led Juve to win their 25th Scudetti. Which was another record braking for Juve. He also managed to score 21 goals putting him as one of the world's top scorers though he was an assistant striker.
On the 20th May 1998, Juve faced Real in the CL final. Ale got injured in that game after a tackle from both Hiero and Roberto Carlos. He forced himself to finish the game.
The season after Ale was damned by his all time worse injury ever. He injured his knee ligaments trying to score a goal for Juve against Udinese. People all around the world though he was over. Juve's performance decreased. And in that season to be precise (where Del Piero only played few matches before he gets injured) they finished 8th. Everyone started to give away their condolences. BUT we Juventini, and Ale fans, always believed that our #10 would return. People called us names, they called us crazy. We were considered to sappy. We did not listen. We supported.
1999-2000, Del Piero was back after recovering from a knee ligaments repair surgery. At that time the bianconeri were managed by Carlo Ancelotti. Ale did not run like he used to. He did not shoot like he used to. He did not pass like he used to. Critics got up the sky, even some Juventini started to believe otherwise in their golden boy. Never the less we believed that he would recover and that he only needed time, we cheered, we supported.
Del Piero started slowly get his acts together, unfortunately that was not enough to notch Juve over Lazio and Roma who managed to leave Juve second in both 99-00 and 00-01 seasons.
2001-2002, saw the return of Sir Lippi. Everyone was optimistic. They had all the rights to. He is a coach who's name is synonym to success. Under his supervision, Ale returned again. Ale returned, but this time he was even more mature. Critics did not stop trying to put him down but he did not listen. In two season with Sir Lippi (between 01-03) he scored over 40 goals for Juve. In addition to that, Trezeguet managed to be the Serie A top scorer thanks to Ale's assists. He led Juve to two Scudetti, 26 and 27. Ale was 100% back this time he was back with experience, Ale shut all his critics up.
In 2004 he suffered from another injury that put him away for the majority of the season. Juve ended up 3rd in the Serie A.
2004-2005, on a shocking move, Fabio Capello took over Juventus after Sir Lippi was assigned to the Italian NT. A new talent was brought to juve as well, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Del Piero got another injury in that season which gave Zlatan the green light to play as a starter in every match. He proved himself worthy of every penny Juve have invested in him. Critics took that as a chance (as always, they've been trying to put Ale down ever since he replaced Baggio) and started making up stories about Zlatan and Capello being against Del Piero. Stories that were all based on lies. Junveitni knew that. They knew that their Capitano would never behave in such away. Del Piero shut everyone yet again by ending top scorer of Juventus for the season (17 goals) and he distroyed all rumours about problems between him and the coach by raising Capello's hand in front of everyone after Juve captured their 28th League title.
His impressive come back during last season and his ability to score from minimal time play made journalists and fans wake to an important issue. A question arose immediately, how many goals did Ale score for Juve in history? We all knew that Boniperti scored 182 and that he is the all time Juve top scorer, followed by Bettega with 179 goals. By the end of the last season Del Piero has collected 174 goals. He was 8 goals away from Boniperti's recored and only 5 goals away from overtaking Bettega.
The season started everyone was anxious to see how long will it take Ale the great to score 8 goals. Capello did not play Ale in the first matches. Again (oh my god enough with that already) press wanted to cause problems between Ale and Capello because he wasn't fielding. Least did they know that it was all part of a great Turn-over plan to keep everyone with best of fitness. As soon as it was Del Piero's turn he was firing, he scored 2 goals in his first appearance. He assisted... He continued scoring.
On Wednesday the 7th December 2005, Ale scored a brace for Juve which lead them to win over Rapid Vienna and to announce them as Group A #1 rank in the CL. Those two goals were also important for Ale himself. Those two goals got him up from 180 to 182.
Now Ale is tied at the top of Juve's chart with Boniperti as Juve all time top scorer.
Ale is a player that has been criticized alot by many. He is a player the does not go crying to the press. He is a player that showed his worth on the pitch. He is a player that showed his class of the pitch.
For this great moment in history, Sky Sport arranged a program to celebrate his achievement.
This program brought back some nice memories. I remembered what I said about Alex after Parma's match (3 goals). I said that this player will be big.
Del Piero is one of the most sensational players ever. And in my opinion, during my history with football, which started just before 1990 (88~89), he is the most sensational player I have ever seen (during this period).
I know that there are many of you that will disagree, its your opinion. Del Piero will always have a special spot in my life. And for me, Del Piero has engraved his name with the #10 Jersey forever.
Forza Ale Del Piero..
By: ZAF
NOTE: The reason I did not put this in the Official DP thread is because its an article I wrote and felt it needed a thread by its own.
Buy on AliExpress.com
