Juve renaissance man Del Piero emerges from the depths
Juve's record goalscorer will start on the bench - but Arsenal beware, that's when he's most dangerous. By Amy Lawrence
Sunday March 26, 2006
The Observer
The lowest of low points came in Glasgow last September. Midway through a training session in the colours of the national team, seasoned observers of the Azzurri shook their heads at the blindingly obvious evidence. Alessandro del Piero, once a golden child of Italian football and still only 30 years old, looked completely washed up. Finito.
As the session wore on it was painful to watch. He could not beat a single opponent. It had long been muttered that his legs were gone, but for his vision, technique and guile to be made so redundant was too much. Afterwards, a sorrowful Del Piero returned to Italy, not even staying to watch as the rest of the squad took on Scotland in a World Cup qualifier. The press were fed a line in vague terms about an injury. Nobody believed it.
Six months on, and the man teasing his merry way round a football field has come back from the edge. Del Piero's reputation is restored sufficiently for club and country to trust in his gifts once again. Enjoying his most productive form for years, the Del Piero of old has made a remarkable comeback. In January, he broke Giampiero Boniperti's long-standing goalscoring record. One Juventus legend overtook another with a flourish, as Del Piero finessed his achievement with a hat-trick against Fiorentina.
Typical of his career, this renaissance begs as many questions as it answers. His eloquent response to all those doubts about his capacity to play at the top level has put the Del Piero debate back on the national agenda. Should he start for Juve ahead of Zlatan Ibrahimovic while the Swede is struggling? Will he make Italy's first XI for the World Cup?
Del Piero has become used to the swirl of questions around his game. It is the price he pays for having to live up to arriving on the scene like a whirlwind (by the age of 21 he was an established international, a European Cup winner, and was affectionately nicknamed after a great artist, 'Pinturicchio'). Sustaining that level proved very difficult when his body shape changed. Juventus like their players to be muscular, and in Del Piero's case, they boosted his youthful physique to such an extent he looked burdened by the extra bulk he carried around.
As Italy's high priest of coaching, Giovanni Trapattoni, once said: 'All of us have developed exaggerated expectations of Del Piero. His first few seasons were exceptional and maybe unrepeatable.' Maturity, and the fact that he has grown into his body, has enabled him to express his graceful skills once again.
The faith shown in him by Italy coach Marcello Lippi - who never doubted him even after the travails of Glasgow - and the cameos granted him by Juventus's mastermind, Fabio Capello, were instrumental in Del Piero's second coming. Although he has struggled to penetrate Juve's first-choice front line of Ibrahimovic alongside David Trezeguet, a goal machine Capello considers undroppable, he has played a prominent role for the Serie A leaders this season, often as what Capello calls an 'immediate impact' player from the bench. Since claiming Boniperti's record, Del Piero has scored 10 times in the past couple of months - a ratio that far outstrips Ibrahimovic.
Juventus's general director Luciano Moggi sums up how pleased the club are to have him back on form. 'In these times we no longer have symbols or icons of the clubs. Everything is changing too quickly these days. Del Piero is the last bandiera [one-club icon], he is the symbol of Juventus. He always has been and always will be.' Signed from Serie B club Padova in 1993, he has only ever had eyes for the Old Lady at the top level.
Del Piero is the only survivor from the last Juventus team to win the Champions League, a decade ago. He was the prodigy of the era, adding nimble skills and vigour to a front line built upon the powerful presence and experience of Roberto Baggio, Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio Ravanelli.
Then he discovered that the life of a famous footballer is not always like boyhood fantasy. 'My career has been quite strange,' he explains. 'From 18 or 19, I started to win everything. I was beautiful, talented, all the rest of it. Then the opposite happened. I got injured, had defeats on the pitch, especially in finals, and they were difficult times.' Perhaps the most difficult came in the 2000 European Championship final, when Italy were gazumped by France. Del Piero is remembered for missing two sitters. 'I am not a saint,' Del Piero adds.
As a child in San Vendemiano, in the region of Veneto that is a particularly fertile breeding ground for footballers, he dreamt of seeing the world. 'I grew up in a little place in the north. My mother was at home and my father an electrician. There was never any money for travelling abroad and I wanted to be a lorry driver so that I could see places,' he recalls.
He did see plenty of the footballing places, as his father Gino packed him into the family's Fiat 127 and drove him to watch all sorts of matches. Gino was a huge, if quiet, influence. 'He wasn't one of those obsessed fathers who were standing behind the goal shouting in their sons' ears,' Del Piero recalls. 'He never talked to me or my brother about our successes, not even when I signed my first professional contract with Juventus. He didn't want success to go to our heads. To have arrogant sons would be the worst thing for him. But I felt, when he was sitting there puffing on his cigarette, that he was proud of us.'
Deeply affected by Gino's death in 2001, Del Piero signalled to the heavens with a serene smile on his face when he broke Boniperti's record. He is five goals short of 200 for Juventus, but Capello's conservatism means he is not guaranteed to start at Highbury, even though Pavel Nedved's suspension robs Juve of a trusted source of instinctive creativity. Capello is no tinkerer.
Since he arrived in Turin at the beginning of last season, the coach has known no other feeling than having his team at the top of the pile. The fusion of Capello and Juventus has led the league from day one. The run has lasted for 69 consecutive matches.
If you have ever wondered about the significance of the gold stars that adorn the jerseys of certain clubs in Italy, the explanation is one Juventus never tire of offering. Each star represents 10 Serie A titles.
Juve have two stars, and they are tantalisingly close to an unprecedented third. Scudetto number 29 will be secured shortly and such is their domestic dominance, Juventus cannot help but eye up number 30 already.
But Juventus, comfortably the most decorated of all Italian clubs, must live with their long-running European sob story. They suffer the dubious record of being the biggest losers of all on the continent's grandest stage. No club has lost as many European Cup finals. Of their seven appearances, five ended in tears.
Juve's players are often stopped in the street by fans who beg them to win the Champions League. Del Piero, having won it in 1996 before going on to lose three more finals, knows exactly how they feel.
............shame we're not going to see him play in highbury now
Juve's record goalscorer will start on the bench - but Arsenal beware, that's when he's most dangerous. By Amy Lawrence
Sunday March 26, 2006
The Observer
The lowest of low points came in Glasgow last September. Midway through a training session in the colours of the national team, seasoned observers of the Azzurri shook their heads at the blindingly obvious evidence. Alessandro del Piero, once a golden child of Italian football and still only 30 years old, looked completely washed up. Finito.
As the session wore on it was painful to watch. He could not beat a single opponent. It had long been muttered that his legs were gone, but for his vision, technique and guile to be made so redundant was too much. Afterwards, a sorrowful Del Piero returned to Italy, not even staying to watch as the rest of the squad took on Scotland in a World Cup qualifier. The press were fed a line in vague terms about an injury. Nobody believed it.
Six months on, and the man teasing his merry way round a football field has come back from the edge. Del Piero's reputation is restored sufficiently for club and country to trust in his gifts once again. Enjoying his most productive form for years, the Del Piero of old has made a remarkable comeback. In January, he broke Giampiero Boniperti's long-standing goalscoring record. One Juventus legend overtook another with a flourish, as Del Piero finessed his achievement with a hat-trick against Fiorentina.
Typical of his career, this renaissance begs as many questions as it answers. His eloquent response to all those doubts about his capacity to play at the top level has put the Del Piero debate back on the national agenda. Should he start for Juve ahead of Zlatan Ibrahimovic while the Swede is struggling? Will he make Italy's first XI for the World Cup?
Del Piero has become used to the swirl of questions around his game. It is the price he pays for having to live up to arriving on the scene like a whirlwind (by the age of 21 he was an established international, a European Cup winner, and was affectionately nicknamed after a great artist, 'Pinturicchio'). Sustaining that level proved very difficult when his body shape changed. Juventus like their players to be muscular, and in Del Piero's case, they boosted his youthful physique to such an extent he looked burdened by the extra bulk he carried around.
As Italy's high priest of coaching, Giovanni Trapattoni, once said: 'All of us have developed exaggerated expectations of Del Piero. His first few seasons were exceptional and maybe unrepeatable.' Maturity, and the fact that he has grown into his body, has enabled him to express his graceful skills once again.
The faith shown in him by Italy coach Marcello Lippi - who never doubted him even after the travails of Glasgow - and the cameos granted him by Juventus's mastermind, Fabio Capello, were instrumental in Del Piero's second coming. Although he has struggled to penetrate Juve's first-choice front line of Ibrahimovic alongside David Trezeguet, a goal machine Capello considers undroppable, he has played a prominent role for the Serie A leaders this season, often as what Capello calls an 'immediate impact' player from the bench. Since claiming Boniperti's record, Del Piero has scored 10 times in the past couple of months - a ratio that far outstrips Ibrahimovic.
Juventus's general director Luciano Moggi sums up how pleased the club are to have him back on form. 'In these times we no longer have symbols or icons of the clubs. Everything is changing too quickly these days. Del Piero is the last bandiera [one-club icon], he is the symbol of Juventus. He always has been and always will be.' Signed from Serie B club Padova in 1993, he has only ever had eyes for the Old Lady at the top level.
Del Piero is the only survivor from the last Juventus team to win the Champions League, a decade ago. He was the prodigy of the era, adding nimble skills and vigour to a front line built upon the powerful presence and experience of Roberto Baggio, Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio Ravanelli.
Then he discovered that the life of a famous footballer is not always like boyhood fantasy. 'My career has been quite strange,' he explains. 'From 18 or 19, I started to win everything. I was beautiful, talented, all the rest of it. Then the opposite happened. I got injured, had defeats on the pitch, especially in finals, and they were difficult times.' Perhaps the most difficult came in the 2000 European Championship final, when Italy were gazumped by France. Del Piero is remembered for missing two sitters. 'I am not a saint,' Del Piero adds.
As a child in San Vendemiano, in the region of Veneto that is a particularly fertile breeding ground for footballers, he dreamt of seeing the world. 'I grew up in a little place in the north. My mother was at home and my father an electrician. There was never any money for travelling abroad and I wanted to be a lorry driver so that I could see places,' he recalls.
He did see plenty of the footballing places, as his father Gino packed him into the family's Fiat 127 and drove him to watch all sorts of matches. Gino was a huge, if quiet, influence. 'He wasn't one of those obsessed fathers who were standing behind the goal shouting in their sons' ears,' Del Piero recalls. 'He never talked to me or my brother about our successes, not even when I signed my first professional contract with Juventus. He didn't want success to go to our heads. To have arrogant sons would be the worst thing for him. But I felt, when he was sitting there puffing on his cigarette, that he was proud of us.'
Deeply affected by Gino's death in 2001, Del Piero signalled to the heavens with a serene smile on his face when he broke Boniperti's record. He is five goals short of 200 for Juventus, but Capello's conservatism means he is not guaranteed to start at Highbury, even though Pavel Nedved's suspension robs Juve of a trusted source of instinctive creativity. Capello is no tinkerer.
Since he arrived in Turin at the beginning of last season, the coach has known no other feeling than having his team at the top of the pile. The fusion of Capello and Juventus has led the league from day one. The run has lasted for 69 consecutive matches.
If you have ever wondered about the significance of the gold stars that adorn the jerseys of certain clubs in Italy, the explanation is one Juventus never tire of offering. Each star represents 10 Serie A titles.
Juve have two stars, and they are tantalisingly close to an unprecedented third. Scudetto number 29 will be secured shortly and such is their domestic dominance, Juventus cannot help but eye up number 30 already.
But Juventus, comfortably the most decorated of all Italian clubs, must live with their long-running European sob story. They suffer the dubious record of being the biggest losers of all on the continent's grandest stage. No club has lost as many European Cup finals. Of their seven appearances, five ended in tears.
Juve's players are often stopped in the street by fans who beg them to win the Champions League. Del Piero, having won it in 1996 before going on to lose three more finals, knows exactly how they feel.
............shame we're not going to see him play in highbury now
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