Alessandro Del Piero started
playing football at the tender age of 8 and grew up playing for
Padova's youth team and that's where his career started. Later
on he went into the second division playing with Padova's first
team. He joined Juventus when they snapped him up in 1993 to
take over from Roberto Baggio.
At age 20, Del Piero impressed the Juventus management so much
that former World Player of the Year - Roberto Baggio was let go
to make room for the budding attacker. Two years on from that
decision, the Juve directors must be very satisfied: Del Piero
helped the team to the Serie A and European Cup titles, and was
fourth in the balloting for 1997 Ballon d'Or, awarded annually
to the European Player of the Year.
With 19 goals in the UEFA Champion's League [April 3, 98 after
game vs. AS Monaco] Del Piero is the all-time top-scorer in
Europe's most important cup. He is also a vital component of one
of the top club sides in the world [Juventus] and a regular
fixture in the Italian National Team but had a disastrous France
'98.
Del Piero possesses great ball
control and also succeeds in Set Piece situations.
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