Alessandro Del Piero Storms The Offside

By: Marco P. | May 9th, 2008

Greetings Offside community! Less than one month after the introduction of the “Players” section on The Offside, one of the greatest legends of Italian soccer arrives in the blogging world! I am talking of course about Juventus captain Alessandro Del Piero!

Alessandro Del Piero wallpaper, courtesy of www.football-wallpapers.com

Believe or not, the birth of an Alessandro Del Piero blog could not arrive at a better time. The 2007-08 season has been somewhat special for our nº10 hero (and all Juventini in general), as it marked the return of the Bianconeri to top-flight Italian football (after the year of purgatory in Serie B), and also the continuation of Juve’s rebuilding campaign after the shameful Calciopoli scandal of 2006. This year more than ever, players from La Vecchia Signora were asked to step up to the plate and bring added quality to a team which, after the Summer of 2006, was virtually plundered of some of its best elements (Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Vieira, and Ibrahimovic to name a few). Alessandro Del Piero raises the World Cup in Germany 2006 As a result, players like Gianluigi Buffon, Mauro Camoranesi, Pavel Nedved, and David Trezeguet all remained at the club and helped their team rise from its Serie B ashes, becoming true heroes among Juventini supporters for their testament of faith and devotion to the club.

Above all however, the player who after the Calciopoli scandal displayed the biggest amount of dedication to the Bianconeri jersey, was without a doubt their captain Alessandro Del Piero. Albeit over 30 years of age by then, Juve’s nº10 was a freshly-decorated World Cup Champion with the Azzurri, and could have virtually written his own ticket on several big European clubs. A Bianconero at heart and a true leader on and off the field, Del Piero chose however to stay and guide his team out of hell. And so he did.

Del Piero with the special ‘Promotion to Serie A’ jersey made by Juventus at the end of the 2006-07 season (Bast…A) The 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons were, arguably, among the best of Alessandro Del Piero’s entire career. There is no doubt the Juventus captain was never quite the same after his injury vs. Udinese in November 1998, and the first few years following that unfortunate accident were very difficult for him. Having seemingly lost “his touch”, a shadow of his former self, some even maintained that Del Piero was “un giocatore finito” (a finished player). Oh what little did they know this “finished player” would, among other things, become World Cup champion with Italy, scoring one of the deciding penalty kicks in the final match vs. France. Yes France, the very same team that had been haunting Del Piero (and all Azzurri fans) ever since that bloody Euro 2000 final and those two missed chances in front of Fabien Barthez…

This season, at 33 years of age Alessandro Del Piero is currently ranked 3^rd of the Serie A topscorer standings, with a total of 18 goals (1 goal behind Marco Borriello and teammate David Trezeguet) and only 3 goals away from his best Serie A season yet (1997-98, 21 goals). These numbers don’t lie people: ADP has been one of Serie A’s best players these past 3 months, and is just on the verge of being called up to Roberto Donadoni’s Azzurri once again (fingers crossed!), because leaving a player in such stunning form home for Euro 2008 would be absolute heresy. And what better way to cap such a great season for Del Piero, than return to the Italian national team as a hero and win Euro 2008?

…….. Del Piero Italy