Juventus Legends

Roberto Bettega

2009-04-14T01:46:00.003+07:00

Roberto Bettega (born 27 December 1950) is an Italian former footballer. Bettega was regarded as a player of noteworthy intelligence and became one of the world's most feared strikers. Bettega played mainly for the Juventus Football Club. His nickname was 'the white feather' (penna bianca). He was a manager of Juventus Football Club until the year 2007.

Early career

Born in Turin, Bettega joined the Primavera side of the Juventus F.C. in 1961 as a midfielder. Bettega spent the 1968-69 campaign on the bench for Juventus. At the age of 19 Bettega was loaned to the Varese F.C. in Serie B. Under Nils Liedholm, the coach of Varese, Bettega hit 13 goals to help the side finish top and gain promotion to Serie A.

Nils Liedholm said of Bettega, "He allies tremendous athletic strength with impressive technical skills. He is particularly strong in the air, and can kick the ball with either foot. All he needs is to build up experience, and then he will certainly be a force to be reckoned with."

Back at Juventus, Bettega made his Serie A debut away to Catania on 27 September 1970. He scored the winning goal. Bettega ended the season with 13 goals in 28 matches. The following season, he scored 10 goals in only 14 matches.

He scored a goal against Fiorentina on 16 January 1972, but this was to be his last for a while because he was forced out of the game with a lung infection and the initial stages of tuberculosis. However, he wasn't out for long, returning on 24 September of the same year. He led the team to their second successive league title that season. With the arrival of Giovanni Trapattoni in 1976 as coach, Bettega found himself becoming the main frontman of the bianconeri; the former player to take this position, Pietro Anastasi, moved to Internazionale in the summer of that year.

read more in wikipedia

Alen Boksic

2009-03-27T17:47:00.001+07:00

Alen Bokšić (pronounced [ˈalɛn ˈbɔkʃitɕ]; born January 21, 1970) is a former football attacker from Croatia. He was a renowned forward known for his technique.

Bokšić was born in Makarska and started his career in the club Zmaj from Makarska. As a young player he moved to Hajduk Split and was introduced into the first team (1987–91). With Hajduk, he won the Yugoslav League Cup in 1987 and 1991. In 174 games for Hajduk, he scored 60 goals.

Bokšić scored in the 1991 Yugoslavian Cup final against Red Star Belgrade for what proved to be the winning goal. He moved to AS Cannes in France (1991–92), but was plagued by injuries and played only one game the entire season. In his only full season with Olympique Marseille (1992–93), he led the Ligue 1 goal scoring charts with 23, won the French league title and the European Champions League. He was voted second for the 1993 European Footballer of the Year, behind winner Roberto Baggio.

Bokšić also played in Italy for Lazio (1993–96 and 1997–2000) and Juventus (1996–97). In 1997, he won the Italian league title with Juventus.

Lilian Thuram

2009-03-24T09:27:00.002+07:00

Lilian Thuram (born Ruddy Lilian Thuram-Ulien, January 1, 1972, in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, FWI) is a retired French professional football defender and is the most capped player in the history of the France national team. He has played at the top flight in France, Italy and Spain for over 15 seasons, including ten in the Serie A. With France, Thuram won the 1998 World Cup and the Euro 2000. Thuram holds the record for most appearances at the European Championship, with 16. He was expected to join Paris Saint-Germain on the June 27, 2008, having agreed a year contract. However, at the press conference he instead announced the discovery of a cardiac malformation, similar to the one that cost his brother's life. A month later Thuram announced his full retirement from football due to the cardiac condition.

In Juventus, along with former Parma teammate Buffon, they won the Scudetto twice with Juventus (it was originally four times, but the club was stripped of the 2004/05 and 2005/06 titles due to the Calciopoli)

During 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, Thuram, along with former Parma teammates, Gianlugi Buffon and Fabio Cannavaro formed one of the most expensive, but also most feared defences in world football.

Honours

* AS Monaco (1991–1996)
o Coupe de France: 1990/91
* Parma (1996–2001)
o UEFA Cup: 1998/99
o Coppa Italia: 1998/99
o Italian Super Cup: 1999
* Juventus (2001–2006)
o Serie A: 2001/02 2002/03 (2004/05 & 2005/06 titles stripped)
o Italian Super Cup: 2002, 2003
* FC Barcelona (2006–2008)
o Spanish Super Cup: 2006
* French national team (1994-2008 )
o FIFA World Cup: winner 1998, runner-up 2006
o European Championship: winner 2000, semi-finalist 1996

Thuram was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

In 2006, he was named a member of the FIFPro World XI team.

Following the 1998 World Cup, he was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur in 1998

Alessandro Del Piero

2009-03-20T13:56:00.001+07:00

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. Although he is not very tall, 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", approaching from the left flank and curling a precise lob into the far top corner of the goal.

In terms of goalscoring, Del Piero holds the all-time record at Juventus. On April 6th, 2008, Alessandro Del Piero became the all-time highest-capped Juventus player, ahead of Juve legend Gaetano Scirea. He is in sixth place in the UEFA Champions League all-time goalscorer records.Within the Italian national team, he is currently joint fourth with Roberto Baggio in the all-time scoring records.Read more in wikipedia....

Gianluca Pessotto

2009-01-29T13:05:00.000+07:00

Gianluca Pessotto (born August 11, 1970) is an Italian former footballer who played with Juventus for the majority of his career. A versatile player, Pessotto was able to play as a full back or midfielder, preferably on the left side.

Career

Born in Latisana, in the province of Udine, Pessotto started his career in the A.C. Milan youth system. As a player, Pessotto spent time with Varese (1989-1991), Massese (1991-92), Bologna (1992-93), Hellas Verona (1993-94), Torino (1994-95) and Juventus (1995-2006). He is one of many experienced players who have been at Juventus for a lengthy period of time. Injuries and other issues in the closing stages of his career limited his first-team opportunities to mainly being used a substitute to Jonathan Zebina.

Pessotto retired at the end of the 2005-06 Serie A season, and was successively appointed as the new Juventus team manager.

Among his achievements as a football player, Pessotto won the UEFA Champions League in 1996 (played in 4 CL Finals), the UEFA Super Cup in 1996, the Intercontinental Cup in 1996, 1 UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2000, 6 Scudetti (1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006) and 4 Italian Super Cups (1997, 1998, 2002, 2003), 1 Coppa Italia in 1995, all with Juventus FC.

For Italy, Pessotto was capped 22 times. He played for his country at the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000. In Euro 2000, Pessotto scored a penalty in the shootout win over Holland which sent Italy into the final. However, he only picked up a runners-up medal, as Italy lost after conceding a last minute equaliser, and then conceded a David Trézéguet golden goal.

Career Honours

* Serie A 4 winners medals: 1996–97; 1997–98; 2001–02; 2002–03;
* Serie A 2 runner-up medals: 1999-00, 2000-01
* Coppa Italia 1 winners medal: 1995
* Supercoppa Italiana 4 winners medals: 1997; 1998; 2002; 2003
* Supercoppa Italiana 2 runner-up medals: 1998; 2005
* UEFA Champions League 1 winners medal: 1996
* Intercontinental Cup 1 winners medal: 1996
* European Super Cup 1 winners medal: 1996
* UEFA Intertoto Cup 1 winners medal: 2000
* UEFA Cup 1 runner-up medal: 1995
* UEFA Champions League 3 runner-up medals: 1997; 1998; 2003
* Euro 2000 1 runner-up medal: 2000

Antonio Conte

2009-01-20T15:25:00.000+07:00

As Gianfranco noted in his excellent post about Arrigo Sacchi, during the campionato with all the fixtures it is sometimes hard to write about topics unrelated to the season. I’ve never been a fan of the transfer period, 95% of news is bullshit (possibly more) and I’m more interested in preseason friendlies to see how the new team will gel. It’s nice to dream about all the players coming to Juve, but most do not happen. During the Moggi era, we moved swiftly and quietly, so the rumor mill wouldn’t even have time to start. Sadly now, it seems with dunce-in-chief Secco at the helm that any real transfer will be drawn-out and overpriced.

As such, this is profiling a Juventus legend, Antonio Conte. We have such legends playing for us now that sometimes we forget some of the older ones. The irony is not lost on me that when I was growing up and started following La Vecchia Signora in the late 90s we had the best midfield in the world, and now are struggling to fill it. There was Zinedine Zidane, Edgar Davids, my personal favorite Tacchinardi, Di Livio, Deschamps, and of course Antonio Conte. These were the legendary midfielders who led us to 3 consecutive Champion’s League finals in one of our glory eras. It seems that Del Piero has been “il Capitano” for us forever, but he was not our captain during this glory era, taking over in 2001 after recovering from his knee injury. That honor went to Antonio Conte.

Antonio Conte is like me, Pugliese. He grew up playing for his hometown club, US Lecce, making his Serie A debut at age 16 in 1985, going on to make 89 appearances for the club. His talent was obvious, and Juventus snapped him up at age 22. Conte slowly grew into the team under the coaching of Trappatoni, but it was under Lippi that he really grew into a world-class midfielder. Conte was generally a central midfielder, helping to direct play around the midfield. What I remember most about Conte was what we all love about Juventus: His tenacity and work ethic was up there along with Pavel Nedved, he was the engine in our midfield. He never stopped running for Juventus, never stopped fighting, and came up with some absolutely crucial goals when the chips were down.

Conte is without a doubt one of the greatest Juventini to step on the pitch. Among his trophies- 5 scudetti, 1 Champion’s League (3 runners up mdeals), a Uefa cup, an Intertoto Cup, an International Cup (now Fifa Club World Cup), a Coppa Italia, and numerous Supercoppas.

Paolo Montero

2009-01-19T11:46:00.000+07:00

Paolo Rónald Montero Iglesias (born September 3, 1971 in Montevideo) is a former Uruguayan footballer who played as a central defender or Left back. He is well known for his poor disciplinary record and rough tackles, which have earned him a reputation as "being something of an uncompromising hardman"; he currently holds the record for the greatest number of red cards received in Serie A. However, he has also been described as "skillful on the ball and calm under pressure", and a "wonderfully talented and intelligent footballer". His international reputation is one of a man who was "fearsome, immovable and essential, in a back line that conquered Italy and Europe."

Montero was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, into a footballing family; his father is former Uruguay international Julio Montero Castillo. As a child, Paolo had to maintain good grades at school, otherwise his father would not allow to him to attend football practice. As a professional, Montero played for Peñarol and Atalanta prior to joining Juventus in 1996. It was here that he achieved great success with the club, winning four scudetti with the Turin club, which he left in 2005; Montero was believed to have been Zinedine Zidane's best friend during the pair's time together at Juventus.

After his tenure at Juventus, he moved to Argentinian club San Lorenzo.

Honours

European Honours Award Club Year
Intercontinental Cup Juventus 1996
Champions League Juventus 1996
Italian Super Cup Juventus 1997
Serie A Scudetto Juventus 1997
Champions League
(Finalist) Juventus 1997
Champions League
(Finalist) Juventus 1998
Serie A Scudetto Juventus 1998
UEFA Intertoto Cup Juventus 1999
Serie A Scudetto
(Runners-up) Juventus 2000
Serie A Scudetto
(Runners-up) Juventus 2001
Serie A Scudetto Juventus 2002
European Super Cup Juventus 2002
Italian Cup
(Finalist) Juventus 2002
Serie A Scudetto Juventus 2003
European Super Cup Juventus 2003
Champions League
(Finalist) Juventus 2003

Ciro Ferrara

2009-01-15T20:09:00.000+07:00

In the modern game you always hear stories of players being prima donnas or trying to get a bigger contract or making a move to a big club just for the money, but Ciro Ferrara was a player who was none of those things. Ferrara was a model professional, a consistent performer, and even if he wasn’t world renowned during his playing career he is simply one of the best defenders Italy has ever produced.

Born in Napoli in 1967, Ferrara grew up in the youth system of his hometown team. A promising youngster, Ferrara made his first team debut at the age of 18 in May of 1985 vs. Juventus (the team he would play for later in his career). He was immediately a regular starter the following season and enjoyed the successes of the Maradona era in Napoli. Ferrara was in fact very good friends with El Pibe during his time in Napoli. Ferrara won his first Scudetto in the 1986/87 season, and then won the UEFA Cup in 1988/89. In the final second leg vs Stuttgart, Ferrara scored a memorable goal on a volley from a Maradona assist that helped Napoli win their first European trophy 5-4 on aggregate.

Ferrara won his second scudetto in 1989/1990 and then continued to lead the Napoli defense throughout the post-Maradona era. It was at Napoli where he first had Marcello Lippi as a manager and the duo instantly clicked. When Lippi left for Juventus in 1994, the first thing he did was bring Ferrara along with him. Ferrara ended his Napoli career with 323 games and 15 goals for the Partenopei. He left his spot in central defense for an up and coming youngster named Fabio Cannavaro (who’s idol happened to be Ciro Ferrara).

At Juventus Ferrara immediately became the leader of the defense and started to win many trophies as the Bianconeri won trophies in Italy, in Europe, and in the World (Intercontinental Cup). Upon his arrival at Juventus in 1994 he immediately won another scudetto. The following season, Juventus won the Champions League for the second time in their history, defeating Ajax on penalty kicks. Ferrara took a penalty in the shoot-out and scored. The following year Juventus bought Uruguayan harman Paolo Montero, who would form an excellent partnership with Ferrara and the duo led the Juventus backline for years. As he got older, Ferrara played less of a role and was on the bench most of the time, but any time he was called upon he put in a quality performance. Before retiring in 2005, Ferrara won another 4 scudetti with the Bianconeri, taking his tally to 7 scudetti in total as a professional player, one Coppa Italia, and four Italian SuperCups. He retired playing exactly 500 games in Serie A and scoring 15 goals. Upon retirement he went to get his coaching license.

The one thing we can say about Ciro Ferrara’s career is that he was unlucky with the national team. He made his debut for Italy in June of 1987, and was part of the squad in Euro ‘88 without playing a game and played in the Olympics that summer as well, finishing 4th place. He was part of Azeglio Vicini’s squad for the 1990 World Cup, but he only played one game: the 3rd place match where Italy triumphed over England. After the 1990 World Cup Sacchi didn’t take Ferrara into consideration (and there were so many options at the back) and so Ciro missed out on USA ‘94. After the World Cup Sacchi called up Ferrara on a regular basis for Euro ‘96 qualifying and Italy qualified for the tournament, but Ferrara was ruled out due to injury. After the Euro he was a starter on Cesare Maldini’s squad throughout World Cup ‘98 qualifying, and just as it seemed he would get his chance to shine in a major tournament, a leg injury ruled him out. After World Cup 1998 Dino Zoff also called up Ferrara on a regular basis and he was named to Italy’s Euro 2000 squad. He played only the final group game vs. Sweden as Italy were runners-up to France. After the Euro and with less and less playing time at Juve Giovanni Trapattoni didn’t call up Ferrara at all. The game vs. Sweden was his last in an Azzurri jersey. Ferrara ended his national team career with 49 caps and 0 goals.

Ferrara held a farewell game at the Stadio San Paolo in Napoli between former and present stars of Juventus and Napoli. Ferrara played for each team for a half, and Diego Maradona returned to Napoli after a 14 year absence just to see his good friend’s farewell game. Ferrara’s mentor Marcello Lippi was now the coach of the national team, and Lippi gave Ferrara a job on his coaching staff. Ferrara worked mainly with the defense and was excellent for the locker room atmosphere. Even though he didn’t get any success with the national team as a player, Ferrara had the satisfaction of winning the World Cup as being part of the coaching staff.

After the World Cup Lippi resigned and therefore Ferrara was not a part of the coaching staff anymore. He became the director of the youth program at Juventus in the summer of 2006 and held that job until this summer, when Marcello Lippi was appointed Italy manager for the second time and Ciro Ferrara was once again summoned to be a part of the staff, this time in the bigger role of assistant coach.

Giampiero Boniperti

2009-01-13T02:59:00.000+07:00

Giampiero Boniperti (born July 4, 1928 in Barengo, Piedmont) is an Italian former football player who played his entire career at Juventus between 1946 and 1961. He also played for the Italian national football team. After retirement from professional football, Boniperti has been a president of Juventus and a deputy to the European Parliament.

With 182 goals in all-competitions, he was the highest goalscorer in Juventus' history for more than 40 years, until his record was bested by Alessandro Del Piero on January 10, 2006. Notably, he is the ninth-highest goalscorer of all-time in Serie A and was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

Boniperti signed for Juventus at age 16, he had already built himself a reputation prior to this at youth level, as he scored 11 goals in one match. At a try-out in which he scored seven goals, journalist Carlin proclaimed; "A boy wonder is born to Juve".

The youngster played his first match for the Old Lady in Serie A on March 2, 1947 against A.C. Milan, unfortunately for Boniperti it ended in a 2-1 defeat. His first goal for them in the league was three months later, against Sampdoria. Juventus ended the Serie A 1946-47 season as runners-up to local rivals Torino, Giampiero ended the season with 5 goals in 6 games to his name.

Although he began as a centre forward he was a flexible player, and could play also as an inside forward or on the right wing. His second season with Juventus really put him on the map, he was only just 20 years old, but scored 27 goals during that season, he finished above Valentino Mazzola as the league's topscorer.

Boniperti's first league championship with Juventus was during the 1949-50 season. His scoring rate remained prolific and by his 24th birthday he had scored 100 goals for the Turin giants, adding a second scudetto title to his name in 1951-52. For much of the 1950s Juve and Boniperti struggled to put the club back to the top of the Italian championship.

However, in 1957 La Vecchia Signora signed two forwards; John Charles and Omar Sivori, along with them Boniperti would be a part of what was referred to as "the Magical Trio". The three players excelled impeccably together, during last four seasons at the club Juventus dominated and won Serie A three times (1957-58, 1959-60 and 1960-61) and the Coppa Italia twice (1958-59 and 1959-60).

Retirement

By the time he retired Boniperti was Juventus' all-time top goalscorer with 182 in all competitions, this record would stand for over 40 years before Alessandro Del Piero broke it in the 2000s. Currently, Giampiero Boniperti is the second top goalscorer of all-time at Juventus and is sixth on the list of all-time top appearances for the club. He holds the record for most Serie A appearances at Juventus with 444 games.

A short while after his retirment, the Agnelli family gave him a managing role inside of the society, where he was President for many years; to this day he still has a role at the club as honorary president. From 1994 until 1999, Boniperti was elected as a deputy in the European Parliament with Forza Italia

International

After playing only 14 games in the Serie A league, Boniperti was called up to play for the Italian national football team, for a game against Austria, the match ended in a humiliating 5-1 drubbing to the Austrian side.

He got even with Austria a couple of years later, when in May 1949 he scored his first international goal for Italy, with a 3-1 victory. Although Boniperti's international career was not particularly great he did manage to achieve 38 caps (24 of which he played as captain) and scored 8 goals for the azzurri.

Honours

All with Juventus.

* 1949-50 Serie A
* 1951-52 Serie A
* 1957-58 Serie A
* 1958-59 Coppa Italia
* 1959-60 Serie A
* 1959-60 Coppa Italia
* 1960-61 Serie A

Edgar Davids

2009-01-09T04:30:00.000+07:00

Edgar Steven Davids (born 13 March 1973 in Paramaribo, Suriname) is a Dutch professional football player. He plays as a defensive midfielder and is known for his hard work ethic. During his career he has played for AFC Ajax, Milan, Juventus, Barcelona, Internazionale, and Tottenham Hotspur. Davids suffers from glaucoma, which requires him to wear protective goggles during football matches. His dreadlocked hair and distinctive goggles make Davids one of the most recognisable footballers of his generation. Davids was one of the players chosen by Pelé to be featured in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living footballers.

He is a cousin of current NEC Nijmegen midfielder Lorenzo Davids.

Honours

Domestic

* Dutch Cup : 1993, 2007
* Dutch Supercup : 1993, 1994, 1995, 2007
* Dutch Eredivisie : 1994, 1995, 1996
* Italian Serie A : 1998, 2002, 2003 Runner-up: 2000, 2001
* Italian Super Cup : 2002, 2003 Runner-up: 1998
* Italian Cup : 2005

European

* UEFA Cup : 1992*
* Champions League : 1995 Runner-up : 1996, 1998, 2003
* Intercontinental Cup : 1995
* European Supercup : 1995

Angelo Peruzzi

2008-12-17T14:57:00.000+07:00

La Vecchia Signora has always been blessed with good keepers, in the last 25 years or so, you can count the number of starting keepers on one hand. Tacconi, Peruzzi, Van Der Sar, and Buffon. They seem to stretch out by decade, as Tacconi was our starting keeper for most of the 80s, before being replaced by Peruzzi, who would lead us throughout the 90s until leaving for Inter for a season, then finishing his solid career out at Lazio.

Nicknamed Orsone, or “Big Bear” for his built/large frame, Peruzzi was a mainstay of the the golden age of the 90s. Originally from Viterbo, a city about an hour north of Rome, he played in the AS Roma youth team, even being a ballboy at the European Cup final between Roma and Liverpool. After signing professional terms, he spent 3 seasons at Roma, then was sent on loan to Hellas Verona where he performed outstandingly to save the club from relegation. This season earned him a return to Roma, where he did not stay long. Roma’s coach publically called him a fatass in front of all his teammates. In tears, he went to the drugstore to get diet pills/appetite-suppresants which ended up earning him a 12-month ban as it contained a banned substance. (You can learn more about Peruzzi’s weight problems here) Unhappy with Roma’s handling of the situation, he demanded to leave and Juve swooped in to sign him at age 21 as a back-up keeper for the fiery and aging Tacconi. (34) Peruzzi’s start at Juve was not without controversy, Trappatoni made a stunning announcement just one year into his contract that Peruzzi would be Juve’s #1, Tacconi had officially been dumped. Tacconi was furious, and while he stayed until 1994 before transferring to Genoa, Tacconi refused to speak with Peruzzi. Peruzzi would stay with us until 1999.

Italy has a proud heritage of producing of the finest keepers in the world, and Peruzzi was no exception. Despite being a stocky man, (5′11″ ~210 lbs, Francesco Statuto said in the Roma youth team he used to constantly have candy, salami, and sandwiches hidden in his drawers) Peruzzi was one of the best keepers in the world. His reactions were incredible, and he never hesitated to come flying out to collect the ball. This guy was a brick wall, at his peak he was probably the best keeper in the world. I remember header after header where somehow Peruzzi would instantly react and deflect the shot past the post. Not only was he tremendous at reaction-saves, he was a decent penalty-saver too. With Verona, he saved a spotkick from Roberto Mancini which would have condemned the team to relegation. Lastly, his positioning was damn near perfect. I can’t recall a single game where he was ever caught badly out of position.

Early in his Juventus career, Peruzzi picked up his first European trophy, in the 1992-1993 UEFA Cup. In the two legged final against our former European archrivals Borussia Dortmund, Peruzzi conceded only one goal, keeping Borussia goalless for 178minutes after conceding an early goal. The final, pitting supercoaches Trappatoni against Hitzfeld, finished in a lopsided 6-1, with Dino Baggio hitting 3 goals and Roberto Baggio hitting two past the Germans.

This was not to be his only European trophy, as his greatest year at Juventus was the year of the Champion’s League triumph in 1996, back when it was actually difficult to get into the competition. Despite finishing runner-up to Milan in the Scudetto race, Peruzzi took us all the way back to his home, the Stadio Olimpico, to face European giants Ajax in the Champion’s League final. After 120 minutes finished drawn at 1-1, it was Peruzzi against his eventual successor, Van der Sar in penalties. The first penalty was taken by a young Edgar Davids, who would also join us 2 years later. Peruzzi saved it, as well as Ajax’s 4th penalty. Van der Sar guessed right every single Juventus penalty, but could not save them. Juventus claimed our 2nd European Cup trophy thanks to Peruzzi. He also played in the subsequent 1996 UEFA Supercup where we hammered PSG 9-2 over two legs (1 of the goals was a penalty), setting another record.

With the introduction of the Oscar del Calcio, Peruzzi easily claimed the first two years of title “Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year.” The next years award was won by a young Parma keeper, Gigi Buffon, after Parma finished in 4th, ahead of Juventus, Inter, and Roma. Lippi said farewell to the Bianconeri, and Parma coach Carlo Ancelotti joined the Bianconeri. This was the end of Peruzzi’s long and successful stint with Juventus, as Lippi was hired by Inter after a horrible season for the Nerazzurri. Peruzzi chose to follow Lippi to Inter, and Juventus brought in Edwin Van der Sar as his replacement.

While his Juventus career ended in 1999, it wouldn’t be right to end the posting with it, because his time at Lazio proved him to be just as good of a keeper. Inter had another lackluster year, and trigger-happy President Moratti fired Lippi, which meant Peruzzi had no reason to stay. He chose to move back home, but not to his childhood club Roma, but to their archrivals Lazio. Before anyone should think this was a step down from the likes of Juventus and Inter, Lazio payed a then-world record fee for Peruzzi. These were the Laziale days of Crespo, Veron, Nedved, Nesta, where they won both domestic and European titles under Sven-Goran Eriksson. Peruzzi played a vital role, but Cragnotti soon bankrupted and the team declined under Lotito.

He hung up his gloves last summer at the age of 37, having won every award short of a European Championship. A strong tribute to his longevity was the fact that he won the Oscar del Calcio for best keeper (Buffon was in Serie B) in his last professional season, beating out Frey and the impressive Julio Cesar. Many say Lazio’s inability to replace him was the reason for their disastrous 2007-2008 season

Unfortunately, like Conte and Tacchinardi, Peruzzi didn’t have the best of luck with the Azzurri as well. In 1998, he was undoubtedly the best keeper in Italy and was the Azzurri’s #1 for the World Cup in France, but suffered an injury that pushed Pagiluca to the fore. He was again supposed to start at Euro2000 ahead of Francesco Toldo but once again was unfortunately injured just before the tournament. Doctors constantly had told him if he lost weight that the injuries would disappear. Unfortunately for him, despite intense pre-season training he would show up overweight, unable to keep it off. Trappatoni, the coach who brought him to Juventus, later called him to WC 2002 but Peruzzi famously refused. Lippi, another Italy coach who previously led him at Juventus called him up for WC 2006 as the 2nd keeper. He did not play, but all the Azzurri teammates praised him as one of the “secrets to their success.”

The reason I write about Peruzzi is he was a very interesting player, and during the time I grew up he was the Juventus and Italy #1. Angelo was not a bomb-thrower nor a boring interviewer, he would tell the truth about situations as he saw them. By all accounts he’s always been a very friendly guy, nearly the opposite of Tacconi. But because of his unfortunate experiences with the Azzurri, we don’t usually remember him as the great keeper that he was.

Alessio Tacchinardi

2008-12-15T10:32:00.000+07:00

Where does Alessio come from? Not Del Piero, although I love and respect that man, but Alessio Tacchinardi, a longtime Juventus midfielder.

There are many similarities between Conte and Tacchinardi, but unlike Conte, he is from northern Italy, from Lombardy. Born and raised about an hour southeast of Milan, he first played in the Atalanta youth team (Bergamo is very close to Milan), making his senior debut in 1992 having just turned 17. Like Conte and many of Juve’s legends, Tacchinardi was snapped up by Juventus at a young age, only two years later in 1994. He was on-contract with Juventus for 13 seasons, although the last two were spent on loan at Villarreal.

Conte was like Salihamidzic of 10 years ago, a utility player. Just as Brazzo won my affection, Tacchinardi gave every moment his all, no matter what position he played. He was primarily a defensive midfielder, but he played central midfield, right-midfield, and even in defense sometimes as a fullback or a center back. His versatility was invaluable to his success and Juve’s, during a time when our midfield was the greatest in the world. His tackles were uncompromising, his shots were fierce. He may not have the greatest vision or technique, but he battled it out, making up for it in his work-rate and endurance. (Have you ever seen a man run so much? Well, maybe Pavel) He didn’t score all that often, but whenever he did they were usually terrific volleys or long range blasts.

Like Conte, Tacchinardi did not have great luck with the Azzurri. In all honesty, Tacchinardi was never a world-class player, he was often overshadowed by the likes of Conte, Davids, and Zidane. He was a starter for most, but not all of his years at Juve, and he was switched in position often depending on the rest of the squad. He was called up for 13 appearances for the Nazionale, never for a major tournament.

I grew up watching Tacchinardi, and the 2003 Champion’s League final, however disappointing, remains firmly in my memory. That season began scarily, after pipping Inter to the Scudetto we had a very slow start to Serie A. We cruised through the first group stage of the Champion’s League (I don’t remember who was in the group other than Newcastle, how the hell did they get in there) but struggled badly in the second group stage, getting whomped by ManUtd and barely squeaking through against a Swiss team, and Deportivo. (who would knock us out of the CL the next year) Tacchinardi played in almost all the matches up to and including the final, playing all 120 minutes.

Alessio had had some minor injuries frustrating him throughout the years, but he really struggled in Lippi’s last season and was never really favored by Capello. It was very obvious that Capello, a Juventus legend himself (who I nonetheless despise) did not think highly of Alessio and after one season with him (where he never started and only played 8 games), he was shipped out to Villarreal on loan for two years, only at the age of 30. Last summer, Juventus let his contract expire.

Very much like Alessandro Birindelli, I was furious with the way Juventus treated him towards the end. Here is a man who had given everything to the club, despite not being a starter in the beginning or latter years. In his last 5 years at Juventus, Tacchinardi never started more than 20-25 games a season. Here is a man who was our vice-captain for years, who could have walked onto the starting XI of almost any team across the world and we dropped him, without a sendoff or a goodbye. Tacchinardi gave everything to the Juve cause, but we tifosi never got the chance to give him a proper thank-you.

Gianluca Vialli

2008-11-26T13:00:00.000+07:00

Gianluca Vialli at Juventus 1992 - 1996

Vialli's career started in 1980 when, signing for local club Cremonese. After scoring ten goals for the club in the 1983-84 season, he was transferred to Sampdoria. At Sampdoria he formed a prolific strike partnership with team mate and childhood friend Roberto Mancini, earning the nickname The Goal Twins. With Vialli at his best, Sampdoria had the most successful era in its history. They won their first ever Serie A championship in the 1990-91 season, in which Vialli was league top scorer with 19 goals, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1990) - where he scored both goals in the 2-0 win over Anderlecht in the final - and three Italian Cups (in 1985, 1988 and 1989). They also reached the European Cup final in 1992, losing to Spain's F.C. Barcelona.

While at Sampdoria, Vialli made his debut for Italy in a friendly match against Poland in 1985. He scored his first ever national goal in a Euro 88 qualification match against Malta in 1986. He was included in the squad for the 1986 World Cup. He also played at Euro 88 (scoring the winner in Italy's 1-0 win over Spain) and was part of the squad which finished 3rd at Italia '90. Vialli was largely expected to have a huge impact on the tournament and started Italy's first two games.[citation needed] He set up a goal in Italy's opening game with Austria and in the following game he hit the post from a penalty against the USA. His poor form and injury saw him dropped in favour of Roberto Baggio and Toto Schillaci, but he did make a surprise return in the semi-final in place of Baggio. He was substituted in favour of Baggio during the match. In a recent interview with Irish radio station Newstalk Vialli claimed he had also been suffering with a chest infection in the early part of the tournament.[citation needed] He moved to Juventus shortly after the European Cup final loss for a world record fee of £12.5million. Vialli won the UEFA Cup in his first season with Juventus. Coincidentally, he had his last international cap in 1992 also against Malta in a 1994 World Cup qualification match where he also scored, but was left out of the squad for the World Cup finals following a dispute with coach Arrigo Sacchi, after which Vialli declared he would be supporting Brazil. He won another Scudetto and Italian Cup with Juve in 1995, scoring 16 goals during the season, but Juve were denied a treble after defeat in the UEFA Cup final to Parma, despite Vialli scoring a spectacular second leg goal. He ended his time in Turin by captaining the side to a Champions League final win over Ajax Amsterdam in 1996.

Vialli joined Chelsea in the summer of 1996 for $1million a year (after rejecting an offer from Rangers) as part of manager Ruud Gullit's cosmopolitan rebuilding of the side, and won the FA Cup in his first season, including two goals in a spectacular 4-2 comeback over Liverpool in the fourth round, but a feud with Gullit saw him regularly left out of the starting line-up; in the final itself he was limited to a five-minute cameo appearance as a late substitute. During the 1997-98 season, he scored four goals in a win over Barnsley and a hat-trick against Norwegian side Tromsø in the Cup Winners' Cup, but still couldn't cement his place in the side.

Honour

* Serie A: 1994-95
* Coppa Italia: 1995
* UEFA Champions League: 1996
* UEFA Cup: 1993 (runner-up):1995

Roberto Baggio

2008-11-26T12:49:00.000+07:00

Roberto Baggio at Juventus 1990-1995

Baggio began his professional career at native club Vicenza in Serie C1 during 1982. Fiorentina snapped him up in 1985, and during his years there, he rose to cult status among the team's fans who consider him to be one of their best ever players. He made his Serie A debut on 21 September 1986 against Sampdoria. He scored his first league goal on 10 May 1987 against Napoli in a match best remembered for Napoli winning the Scudetto for the first time in their history.

He was sold to Juventus amid outcry from Fiorentina fans in 1990 for €12 million (US$19 million),the world record transfer for a football player at the time. Following the transfer, there were full scale riots on the streets of Florence where fifty people were injured.[1] Baggio replied to his fans saying: "I was compelled to accept the transfer".

In 1993 he won his lone European club trophy, helping Juventus to the UEFA Cup. His performances earned him both the European Footballer of the Year and the FIFA World Player of the Year titles.

Baggio won his first Scudetto with Juventus in 1995. This was the first of many league titles to come for Juventus in the 1990s.

After strong pressure from AC Milan chairman Silvio Berlusconi, he was sold to the Milanese club. At this time, he had been linked with Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League, but no firm offers were made from either of these clubs.

He helped the club win the Serie A title, becoming the first player to win the scudetto in consecutive years with different teams[citation needed]. Baggio really joined Juventus in a bad period in their history, and it was revealed years later, in 2005, that he was all set to join Milan when his agent done a deal with Juventus instead, without Baggio knowing about it.

In 1997, when he was thought to be on the downside, Baggio transferred to Bologna in order to resuscitate his career, and after scoring a personal best 22 goals that year, was included in Italy's starting eleven for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in place of the younger and favoured Del Piero. Cesare Maldini has since been severely criticised for starting Del Piero ahead of Baggio, who was clearly in the better form, for the quarter-final match against France. When Baggio did come on for Del Piero, Italy seemed to play a lot better. Cesare Maldini later apologized to Baggio for not giving him the playing time he deserved.

After the 1998 World Cup, Baggio signed with Inter Milan. This proved to be an unfortunate move, as the then coach Marcello Lippi did not favour Baggio and hardly played him. This caused Baggio to lose his place in the national team. In his autobiography, Baggio later declared that Lippi had effectively dumped him after Baggio had refused to point out which Inter's players had expressed negative opinions about the coach. His last contribution to Inter Milan was two goals against Parma in the playoff for the last remaining UEFA Champions League place.

After two years with Inter, in order to be called up for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he transferred to previously unfashionable Brescia. At the start of 2001-02 season, he appeared in great shape, in fact he scored eight goals in the first nine games. Unfortunately, during that season, he tore anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee; despite this severe injury, he came back three games before the end of the season, making an incredible 76 days only recovery. In his first game after comeback, he scored two goals against his former team Fiorentina, the first of them after only two minutes from the start of the match. Then he scored again against another team he played for, Bologna. However, Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni did not take Baggio to Korea and Japan, considering him not fully recovered from injury. Fans and pundits criticised the omission of Baggio, and Italy without the inspiration of Baggio was eliminated before reaching the quarter-finals, failing to reach expectations.

Baggio continued playing at Brescia until his retirement in 2004. He played his last game on May 16, 2004 at the San Siro against Milan. In the 88th minute, Brescia coach Gianni De Biasi subbed Baggio off so he could get his curtain call. The 80,000 present at the San Siro gave him a standing ovation. He ended his career with 205 goals in Serie A, making him the fifth-highest scorer of all time behind Silvio Piola, Gunnar Nordahl, Giuseppe Meazza and José Altafini. His number 10 jersey was retired by Brescia. He scored his 300th career goal on 16 December 2002 in Brescia's 3-1 home victory over Piacenza. He is the first player in over 50 years to reach this milestone, behind only Piola (364) and Meazza (338).

Honours

* Coppa Italia: 1995
* UEFA Cup: 1993
* Serie A: 1994-95

Michel Platini

2008-11-26T12:35:00.001+07:00

Platini at Juventus (1982-1987)

At Juventus, in a team featuring numerous members of Italy's victorious World Cup squad, Platini had a difficult introduction to Italian football. He was a target in the demanding Italian sports media, and even came close to leaving Italy in the winter of his first season. Platini and team-mate Zbigniew Boniek successfully called for a change in tactics, and in the second half of the season Juventus saw an upturn in their fortunes. They reached the European Cup final, losing to Hamburg, and won the Italian Cup, the first of many club honours to follow for Platini in the coming seasons. He won the Italian championship with Juventus in 1984 and 1986, the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1984, the 1984 European Super Cup, the European Cup in 1985 (in a controversial game against Liverpool), and the 1985 World Club Championship. He finished top scorer in Serie A for three consecutive seasons (1982-83, 1983-84 and 1984-85), and won a hat-trick of European Footballer of the Year awards (1983 through 1985). Platini was also voted Player of the Year by World Soccer magazine in 1984 and 1985.

The 1985 European Cup final against Liverpool at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels should have been the crowning moment of Platini's Juventus career. The stadium was not fit to stage a match of such importance, and before the teams had kicked off, a wall collapsed under the weight of Juventus fans rushing to avoid a group of Liverpool fans who had made their way into section Z of the ground. 39 people died, and 600 more were injured. It was decided to proceed with the match in order to avoid inciting any further trouble, and after both captains had appealed for calm, the match began just under an hour and a half beyond schedule, with riot police still engaged in a pitched battle with Juventus fans enraged by the lack of organization that had led to the bloodshed in the stadium. (See Heysel Stadium disaster.) Platini scored the only goal of the match from a penalty kick awarded for a foul on Zbigniew Boniek. In the days following the final, Platini was criticised in some quarters for his lack of restraint in celebrating Juventus' win. In his own defence, Platini maintained that like every other player on the field, he had not been made fully aware of the scale of the disaster.

Following the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Platini spent another season at Juventus before retiring from football in June 1987.

Zinedine Zidane

2008-11-25T12:40:00.000+07:00

* Nicknamed "Zizou"
* Born in Marseilles, France, of Algerian parents
* Scored his first goal professionally in 1991; the president of the Cannes football club gifted him with a car.
* In his first international game (playing for France against the Czech Republic) in 1994, he scored two goals in 17 minutes
* Won Golden Ball — European MVP award for leading France to victory in 1998 World Cup

* FIFA Player of the Year in 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006
* Became football's most expensive player in 2001, when Real Madrid acquired him for £46 million (roughly $66 million)
* Christian Dior's first male model
* After being sidelined several times with injuries, he announced he would retire after 2006 World Cup games in Germany
* Captained the French team in World Cup 2006 games; they lost to Italy
* Headbutted opponent Marco Materazzi after a brief altercation in the 100th minute of the World Cup Final game. Zidane was red-carded, banished from the field.
* Still won 2006 FIFA Golden Ball
* Is featured as a LEGO minifigure, included in some of the soccer playsets

In the meantime, I wrote up a profile on Zizou, who I personally believe to be the greatest player of all time. Not Maradona, not Pele, who certainly were tremendous players, but Zinedine Yazid Zidane. He’s mostly known for his days with Les Bleus and the Galacticos at Madrid, but I believe his greatest years were at La Vecchia Signora. Among the silverware he picked up in Turin were two Scudetti, an International Cup, and unfortunately, two Uefa Champion’s League runners-up medals. Personally, he earned Uefa’s Club Best Midfielder, FIFA World Player of the Year (twice), and of course, the Ballon d’Or. He also was in the top 3 shortlist for the Ballon d’Or twice, aside from his victory in 1998. Interesting fact about his European Footballer of the Year award, his landslide victory is the most lopsided of the last 17 years.

Zinedine Zidane was born in Marseille, France in 1972. He started playing for AS Cannes in the French league after which at age 20 he transferred to Bordeaux, where he lead the team to an Intertoto cup win as well as finishing runners-up in the Uefa cup. According to a bio over at a Blackburn Rovers fan page, team owner Jack Walker declined to sign Zidane, saying “Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?” (I have never heard of Sherwood. That either speaks massively of Walker’s error or just of my sheer ignorance of the Premiership) In the end, Juventus signed him for £3 million at the age of 24.

In the all-conquering Lippi side of the late-90s, Zidane was without a doubt the most outstanding member of the midfield, which is impressive when you consider he played alongside Di Livio, Deschamps, Conte, Tacchinardi, and Davids, who are all terrific footballers in their own right. Del Piero had started out originally as a left-winger with Juventus and progressively moved to a playmaker, eventually striker. It was Zidane’s arrival that cemented Del Piero’s status as a forward. Our attack usually consisted of Del Piero+Inzaghi playing ahead of Zidane for the years he was here at Juventus.

What can you say about Zizou’s technical quality? He’s probably the best all-around footballer in history. His dribbling and tricks were second-to-no-one, his first touch is one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen, Zidane had fantastic vision in threading passes around the field. He also had a keen eye for goal, banging in 42 goals out of 249 total appearances for La Vecchia Signora. The absolute essence of a #10, it’s perhaps a bit ironic that he never wore #10 for club, but only for country. At Juventus he wore #21, Madrid he would later wear #5. Zidane was the ultimate playmaker, able to do absolutely anything. In his second year at Juventus, he finished 3rd in the voting for the Ballon d’Or while collecting Serie A Foreigner of the Year, (he would collect this again in 2001 as well as Serie A Footballer of the Year) an impressive feat considering how little time he had been at Juventus. He won it in 1998, following a terrific season with Juventus as well as a World Cup win for France.

The next year would not be so great for Zidane or Juventus, as a catastrophic injury to Del Piero ruled him out for the season. Injuries and suspensions accumulated and we slumped to a 6th place finish. Lippi left for Inter, and the superstar team began to fall apart. Ancelotti took the helm and did mediocre with Juventus, finishing behind Lazio and Roma for the Scudetto successively as well as crashing out early in our European seasons. Zidane clearly started to become unsettled as Juve was falling short of silverware on all fronts. He made it quite vocal his desire to win the Champion’s League, having finished runners-up twice with the Bianconeri. (we won it one year before he arrived) Real Madrid was in their Galacticos era, having signed Luis Figo for a record fee in 2000. The Blancos began to court Zidane as early as 2000.

The summer of 2001 was a tumultous one for Juventus. Two mediocre seasons saw the city of Turin and all Juventini in outright hostility towards Ancelotti; everyone knew the sack was looming. There were widespread calls throughout the media for a revamped squad. Zidane made his intentions to leave clear, though the club refused to sell him. Real Madrid continued courting him, and while Moggi continued to insist that Zizou would finish out his contract, in typical Moggi-style he was already scouting out replacements. A week before he signed with Madrid, Juventus acknowledged that they were in negotiations with los Blancos. He signed for a still-world record fee of £47m. Zidane went on to have a very successful 5 years with Real Madrid. He won the Champion’s League the year of his transfer, scoring what ITV named the best goal ever in the Champion’s League.

Zizou wasn’t exactly a legend for Juventus, only spending a (relatively) short 5 years at the club, but I thought he deserved a spot on this list because as a Juventino, he also happened to be my pick for the best football player ever. Oh, and with his sale, we bought Buffon, Nedved, and Thuram. ‘Nuff said. With Real Madrid he picked up a few Liga titles and the trophy with the big ears. He was without a doubt the essence of France’s 1998 World Cup win, he led them to the European Championship 2 years later. His absence in the initial rounds due to injury in FIFA World Cup 2002 was primarily the reason for France’s woeful early departure. But a few years later, in Germany, he captained the team back to the final. Despite losing and of course, as everyone knows, headbutting Materazzi, he picked up the Adidas Golden Ball for best player of the tournament.