Alla Del Piero
On Saturday night yet another record tumbled at the feet of Alessandro Del Piero. In scoring during Juventus’ 2-1 victory at the San Siro against AC Milan, the 35 year-old surpassed 1950’s Bianconeri legend Giampiero Boniperti’s record of 179 league goals for Juventus.
In a time when the headlines surrounding footballers are becoming increasingly negative, fans need reminding of the players who make the sport great, the kind of players who can create moments of magic and divine inspiration out of nothing to turn a game on it head. Even as he reaches the twilight of his career, Del Piero continues to exemplify everything that is good about the sport both on and off the field.
The record-breaking goal aptly came against AC Milan and although in terms of quality it was not one of his best, the importance of the goal on a symbolic level should not be underestimated as Juventus continue to look to re-establish themselves to the level of their past echelons in the wake of the Calcipoli scandal.
Following the club’s enforced demotion, Del Piero as captain has guided Juventus through the toughest time in their history. While managers have come and gone, the evergreen striker has been a constant figurehead for the club, guiding the The Old Lady through a transitional period and back to the top of the Italian game. During the time, he has shown many valiant characteristics that are absent in most other contemporary footballers such as loyalty, modesty and a willingness to sacrifice himself for the good of the team.
Before Saturday night, Juventus had not won against Milan at the San Siro since the club’s demotion to Serie B. The result against AC Milan, many people’s title favourites at the beginning of the season, proved their readiness too finally re-emerge at the pinnacle of Italian football. Fittingly Del Piero was at the forefront of the Bianconeri’s victory, scoring the winning goal.
Another poetic mini-narrative was also weaved into the game, as at the other end Zlatan Ibrahimovic, one of the payers to jump off the Juventus ship in 2006, scored for Milan. If Del Piero personifies everything that is good about the modern footballer then Ibrahimovic, who has already played for six different clubs, represents his nemesis.
While Del Piero showed his loyalty by choosing to stay with Juventus in order help re-establish the club, Ibrahimovic behaved like a mercenary and chose to leave and joined arch-rivals Inter Milan to better his own career. With Saturday’s result it is nice to see Del Piero’s loyalty pay off and when reflecting on his decision to stay with Juventus he admitted, “I have experienced some difficult times here, but I have always been happy and proud of the path I have taken.”
Indeed so he should be, having been brought to the club for 5000 lire by Boniperti, ironically the man whose record Del Piero broke at the weekend, the Italian legend has gone on to perform for Juventus in over 17 seasons, breaking numerous records. He has played 647 games and score 278 goals for Juventus in all competitions, both statistics also sit on top of the club’s leaderboard.
Named ‘Il-Pinturicchio’ by Juventus President, Andre Agnelli, because he could create similar artistry on the pitch to Renaissance painter Pinturicchio, Del Piero is part of an elite group of players who have had a certain type of shot named after them – the “Alla Del Piero” is the looping, curling shot after cutting in from the left wing that has become his trademark and the title to some of his greatest goals throughout his career.
Del Piero, who turns 36 next week, is also regarded as one of the greatest dead-ball specialists of all time, but it is one stunning free-kick that he scored in the Champions League against Real Madrid in 2008 that he usually remembers with great fondness as he recently refered to it as “that great night at Bernabeu, when I scored two goals against Real Madrid”. Not many players, let alone opposition players, have been afforded the luxury of praise from the whole of the Bernabéu, a theatre to the greatest club in the world, but following a match-clinching brace against Los Merengues, the whole stadium rose to their feet and applauded in honour of one the greatest players the sport has ever produced.
Although his past is firmly written into the history books his future remains uncertain, he has yet to be offered a new contract at Juventus. Like all great champions though he has set his next target, “Now my aim is to arrive at 200 goals. Of course, I dream of scoring in the new Juventus stadium a year from now. There is one certainty though, and that is I want to carry on playing — with Juventus or abroad. I cannot see myself wearing another shirt in Italy.”
