Roberto Bettega

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.

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