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Del Piero an ace at icing Juventus cake
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 Rob
Hughes International Herald Tribune
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2006
Alessandro Del Piero has been called many things in his long and
distinguished Juventus career. The romantics likened his early artistry
to that of the Renaissance painter Pinturicchio.
The late Gianni Agnelli, patron to the club that bought Del Piero
in his youth, renamed Del Piero "Godot" because he was
always waiting for the inspiration to reappear after midcareer injuries.
Del Piero passed through a phase of being known as the Boy Soldier
Millionaire because he was called up for military service when he
was Italy's highest-paid player.
And now, to borrow a term from baseball, Del Piero is suited to
being called the supreme pinch-hitter of his sport.
On Sunday, he came off the bench to score the decisive goal. It
was a masterstroke, a free kick that curled handsomely into the
top corner of the net. It atoned for a penalty he missed in the
final minute last Wednesday to cost Juventus victory against Parma
in Serie A.
The goal on Sunday won the Derby D'Italia. It put the game beyond
Internazionale in front of 79,000 mainly Milanese tifosi in the
San Siro. It gave first-place Juve a 12-point lead over second-place
Inter.
It was a touch of class that left the Inter goalkeeper, Julio César,
dumbstruck, and left little doubt that The Old Lady of Turin, as
Juventus is known, would retain her crown as champion of Italy.
Del Piero made it look as if he were shelling peas. Juventus - with
Lilian Thuram still immovable in defense, with Patrick Vieira and
Emerson the beasts of midfield, with Pavel Nedved still running
and with David Trezeguet and Zlatan Ibrahimovic lithe and athletic
in attack - has a consistency that nobody in Italy, and possibly
no one in Europe, can withstand.
The machine composed by Fabio Capello is stern and dependable, hardworking,
quick and experienced. Coach Capello is a quieter version of the
volcanic man who once breathed such touchline fire, possibly because
he is able to trust his men to come up with the result as they have
been doing, with 21 victories in 25 games in Serie A.
His serenity is massaged by the knowledge that when the contest
is tight, he has the match-winner on the bench behind him.
"Del Piero manages to have an immediate impact," Capello
said Sunday. "He doesn't need time to become an important factor
in the game. Not many players can do that so effectively, and I
am fortunate to have players who accept my decisions because they
know they are working for the team."
Managers make their own good fortune. The players are well-ordered,
and they know to a man that it is Capello's way, or not at all.
Even Del Piero - or, arguably, especially Del Piero - appreciates
that the coach is first and foremost a winner.
It was apposite of Del Piero, the club captain, who so regularly
gets a seat among the substitutes, to say after the victory on Sunday
that the squad's attitude now must be to keep the foot hard on the
pedal until the league championship title is mathematically out
of reach of both Inter and AC Milan.
He has scored at least five incontestably winning goals coming off
the bench when the pace and frenzy of a match has solidified into
stalemate. If he, at 31, lacks the stamina or the hunger for the
hour or so of buildup, he has an uncanny ability to end the contest.
He is by no means the daddy of the Juventus team, which on Sunday
fielded Thuram, 34, Nedved 33, Fabio Cannavaro 32, with Gianluca
Pessotto and Del Piero, both 31, among the subs.
But Del Piero's adolescence was stolen by his career. He was such
a prodigy that Padova took him away from his family home at Conelgiano,
near Venice, when he was 13. At the time, his mother was a housekeeper,
his father was an electrician and his older brother, Stefano, was
studying economics.
Alessandro was studious, too, but in Italy when a soccer player
is brushed with such obvious precocity, such movement and imagination,
the game consumes him.
Above all, Del Piero has the gift to shoot more quickly than other
men can
At 31, Del Piero has an uncanny ability to end the contest.
think. The sensitive side of him, the noncombatant, has been mistrusted
at times throughout the years, but his class has never been doubted.
There was such a calm about him at the San Siro on Sunday when he
lined up the free kick - such expectation, such knowledge that he
had been here before, done this so many times.
Yet there was no possible defense against it, partly because his
approach disguises any intent to strike the ball right, left or
center, partly because he needs so little back lift to generate
power and spin.
The Pinturicchio has metamorphosed into the pinch hitter.
Where beauty is concerned, perhaps we should shy away from statistics.
Yet they tell the story.
In 15 appearances in Serie A this season, 13 of them as a substitute,
Del Piero has scored eight times. He is one strike away from equaling
José Altafini's record of six goals as a substitute in the
1972-73 season.
Besides that, he has notched three goals in five games in the Champions
League, and five goals in the Italian Cup. His scoring rate works
out at a goal every 106 minutes.
None of this is a one-season wonder. In 12 seasons with Juventus,
Del Piero has scored a total of 190 goals, more than any man in
history. Although his creativity deserves more than statistics,
his Champions League record is 35 goals in 76 games and his strike
rate with the Italian national team is 24 goals from 71 caps.
Neither the career, nor the ambition is yet finished. Del Piero
has not clocked up the mileage that most players have done in Europe,
and he eyes a remarkable triple of titles this summer: Serie A,
Champions League and the World Cup.
"They are all achievable," he says. "I'm really delighted
at how I've been playing in the autumn of my career, as some people
define it."
Alessandro Del Piero has been called many things in his long and
distinguished Juventus career. The romantics likened his early artistry
to that of the Renaissance painter Pinturicchio.
The late Gianni Agnelli, patron to the club that bought Del Piero
in his youth, renamed Del Piero "Godot" because he was
always waiting for the inspiration to reappear after midcareer injuries.
Del Piero passed through a phase of being known as the Boy Soldier
Millionaire because he was called up for military service when he
was Italy's highest-paid player.
And now, to borrow a term from baseball, Del Piero is suited to
being called the supreme pinch-hitter of his sport.
On Sunday, he came off the bench to score the decisive goal. It
was a masterstroke, a free kick that curled handsomely into the
top corner of the net. It atoned for a penalty he missed in the
final minute last Wednesday to cost Juventus victory against Parma
in Serie A.
The goal on Sunday won the Derby D'Italia. It put the game beyond
Internazionale in front of 79,000 mainly Milanese tifosi in the
San Siro. It gave first-place Juve a 12-point lead over second-place
Inter.
It was a touch of class that left the Inter goalkeeper, Julio César,
dumbstruck, and left little doubt that The Old Lady of Turin, as
Juventus is known, would retain her crown as champion of Italy.
Del Piero made it look as if he were shelling peas. Juventus - with
Lilian Thuram still immovable in defense, with Patrick Vieira and
Emerson the beasts of midfield, with Pavel Nedved still running
and with David Trezeguet and Zlatan Ibrahimovic lithe and athletic
in attack - has a consistency that nobody in Italy, and possibly
no one in Europe, can withstand.
The machine composed by Fabio Capello is stern and dependable, hardworking,
quick and experienced. Coach Capello is a quieter version of the
volcanic man who once breathed such touchline fire, possibly because
he is able to trust his men to come up with the result as they have
been doing, with 21 victories in 25 games in Serie A.
His serenity is massaged by the knowledge that when the contest
is tight, he has the match-winner on the bench behind him.
"Del Piero manages to have an immediate impact," Capello
said Sunday. "He doesn't need time to become an important factor
in the game. Not many players can do that so effectively, and I
am fortunate to have players who accept my decisions because they
know they are working for the team."
Managers make their own good fortune. The players are well-ordered,
and they know to a man that it is Capello's way, or not at all.
Even Del Piero - or, arguably, especially Del Piero - appreciates
that the coach is first and foremost a winner.
It was apposite of Del Piero, the club captain, who so regularly
gets a seat among the substitutes, to say after the victory on Sunday
that the squad's attitude now must be to keep the foot hard on the
pedal until the league championship title is mathematically out
of reach of both Inter and AC Milan.
He has scored at least five incontestably winning goals coming off
the bench when the pace and frenzy of a match has solidified into
stalemate. If he, at 31, lacks the stamina or the hunger for the
hour or so of buildup, he has an uncanny ability to end the contest.
He is by no means the daddy of the Juventus team, which on Sunday
fielded Thuram, 34, Nedved 33, Fabio Cannavaro 32, with Gianluca
Pessotto and Del Piero, both 31, among the subs.
But Del Piero's adolescence was stolen by his career. He was such
a prodigy that Padova took him away from his family home at Conelgiano,
near Venice, when he was 13. At the time, his mother was a housekeeper,
his father was an electrician and his older brother, Stefano, was
studying economics.
Alessandro was studious, too, but in Italy when a soccer player
is brushed with such obvious precocity, such movement and imagination,
the game consumes him.
Above all, Del Piero has the gift to shoot more quickly than other
men can
At 31, Del Piero has an uncanny ability to end the contest.
think. The sensitive side of him, the noncombatant, has been mistrusted
at times throughout the years, but his class has never been doubted.
There was such a calm about him at the San Siro on Sunday when he
lined up the free kick - such expectation, such knowledge that he
had been here before, done this so many times.
Yet there was no possible defense against it, partly because his
approach disguises any intent to strike the ball right, left or
center, partly because he needs so little back lift to generate
power and spin.
The Pinturicchio has metamorphosed into the pinch hitter.
Where beauty is concerned, perhaps we should shy away from statistics.
Yet they tell the story.
In 15 appearances in Serie A this season, 13 of them as a substitute,
Del Piero has scored eight times. He is one strike away from equaling
José Altafini's record of six goals as a substitute in the
1972-73 season.
Besides that, he has notched three goals in five games in the Champions
League, and five goals in the Italian Cup. His scoring rate works
out at a goal every 106 minutes.
None of this is a one-season wonder. In 12 seasons with Juventus,
Del Piero has scored a total of 190 goals, more than any man in
history. Although his creativity deserves more than statistics,
his Champions League record is 35 goals in 76 games and his strike
rate with the Italian national team is 24 goals from 71 caps.
Neither the career, nor the ambition is yet finished. Del Piero
has not clocked up the mileage that most players have done in Europe,
and he eyes a remarkable triple of titles this summer: Serie A,
Champions League and the World Cup.
"They are all achievable," he says. "I'm really delighted
at how I've been playing in the autumn of my career, as some people
define it."
Alessandro Del Piero has been called many things in his long and
distinguished Juventus career. The romantics likened his early artistry
to that of the Renaissance painter Pinturicchio.
The late Gianni Agnelli, patron to the club that bought Del Piero
in his youth, renamed Del Piero "Godot" because he was
always waiting for the inspiration to reappear after midcareer injuries.
Del Piero passed through a phase of being known as the Boy Soldier
Millionaire because he was called up for military service when he
was Italy's highest-paid player.
And now, to borrow a term from baseball, Del Piero is suited to
being called the supreme pinch-hitter of his sport.
On Sunday, he came off the bench to score the decisive goal. It
was a masterstroke, a free kick that curled handsomely into the
top corner of the net. It atoned for a penalty he missed in the
final minute last Wednesday to cost Juventus victory against Parma
in Serie A.
The goal on Sunday won the Derby D'Italia. It put the game beyond
Internazionale in front of 79,000 mainly Milanese tifosi in the
San Siro. It gave first-place Juve a 12-point lead over second-place
Inter.
It was a touch of class that left the Inter goalkeeper, Julio César,
dumbstruck, and left little doubt that The Old Lady of Turin, as
Juventus is known, would retain her crown as champion of Italy.
Del Piero made it look as if he were shelling peas. Juventus - with
Lilian Thuram still immovable in defense, with Patrick Vieira and
Emerson the beasts of midfield, with Pavel Nedved still running
and with David Trezeguet and Zlatan Ibrahimovic lithe and athletic
in attack - has a consistency that nobody in Italy, and possibly
no one in Europe, can withstand.
The machine composed by Fabio Capello is stern and dependable, hardworking,
quick and experienced. Coach Capello is a quieter version of the
volcanic man who once breathed such touchline fire, possibly because
he is able to trust his men to come up with the result as they have
been doing, with 21 victories in 25 games in Serie A.
His serenity is massaged by the knowledge that when the contest
is tight, he has the match-winner on the bench behind him.
"Del Piero manages to have an immediate impact," Capello
said Sunday. "He doesn't need time to become an important factor
in the game. Not many players can do that so effectively, and I
am fortunate to have players who accept my decisions because they
know they are working for the team."
Managers make their own good fortune. The players are well-ordered,
and they know to a man that it is Capello's way, or not at all.
Even Del Piero - or, arguably, especially Del Piero - appreciates
that the coach is first and foremost a winner.
It was apposite of Del Piero, the club captain, who so regularly
gets a seat among the substitutes, to say after the victory on Sunday
that the squad's attitude now must be to keep the foot hard on the
pedal until the league championship title is mathematically out
of reach of both Inter and AC Milan.
He has scored at least five incontestably winning goals coming off
the bench when the pace and frenzy of a match has solidified into
stalemate. If he, at 31, lacks the stamina or the hunger for the
hour or so of buildup, he has an uncanny ability to end the contest.
He is by no means the daddy of the Juventus team, which on Sunday
fielded Thuram, 34, Nedved 33, Fabio Cannavaro 32, with Gianluca
Pessotto and Del Piero, both 31, among the subs.
But Del Piero's adolescence was stolen by his career. He was such
a prodigy that Padova took him away from his family home at Conelgiano,
near Venice, when he was 13. At the time, his mother was a housekeeper,
his father was an electrician and his older brother, Stefano, was
studying economics.
Alessandro was studious, too, but in Italy when a soccer player
is brushed with such obvious precocity, such movement and imagination,
the game consumes him.
Above all, Del Piero has the gift to shoot more quickly than other
men can
At 31, Del Piero has an uncanny ability to end the contest.
think. The sensitive side of him, the noncombatant, has been mistrusted
at times throughout the years, but his class has never been doubted.
There was such a calm about him at the San Siro on Sunday when he
lined up the free kick - such expectation, such knowledge that he
had been here before, done this so many times.
Yet there was no possible defense against it, partly because his
approach disguises any intent to strike the ball right, left or
center, partly because he needs so little back lift to generate
power and spin.
The Pinturicchio has metamorphosed into the pinch hitter.
Where beauty is concerned, perhaps we should shy away from statistics.
Yet they tell the story.
In 15 appearances in Serie A this season, 13 of them as a substitute,
Del Piero has scored eight times. He is one strike away from equaling
José Altafini's record of six goals as a substitute in the
1972-73 season.
Besides that, he has notched three goals in five games in the Champions
League, and five goals in the Italian Cup. His scoring rate works
out at a goal every 106 minutes.
None of this is a one-season wonder. In 12 seasons with Juventus,
Del Piero has scored a total of 190 goals, more than any man in
history. Although his creativity deserves more than statistics,
his Champions League record is 35 goals in 76 games and his strike
rate with the Italian national team is 24 goals from 71 caps.
Neither the career, nor the ambition is yet finished. Del Piero
has not clocked up the mileage that most players have done in Europe,
and he eyes a remarkable triple of titles this summer: Serie A,
Champions League and the World Cup.
"They are all achievable," he says. "I'm really delighted
at how I've been playing in the autumn of my career, as some people
define it."
Alessandro Del Piero has been called many things in his long and
distinguished Juventus career. The romantics likened his early artistry
to that of the Renaissance painter Pinturicchio.
The late Gianni Agnelli, patron to the club that bought Del Piero
in his youth, renamed Del Piero "Godot" because he was
always waiting for the inspiration to reappear after midcareer injuries.
Del Piero passed through a phase of being known as the Boy Soldier
Millionaire because he was called up for military service when he
was Italy's highest-paid player.
And now, to borrow a term from baseball, Del Piero is suited to
being called the supreme pinch-hitter of his sport.
On Sunday, he came off the bench to score the decisive goal. It
was a masterstroke, a free kick that curled handsomely into the
top corner of the net. It atoned for a penalty he missed in the
final minute last Wednesday to cost Juventus victory against Parma
in Serie A.
The goal on Sunday won the Derby D'Italia. It put the game beyond
Internazionale in front of 79,000 mainly Milanese tifosi in the
San Siro. It gave first-place Juve a 12-point lead over second-place
Inter.
It was a touch of class that left the Inter goalkeeper, Julio César,
dumbstruck, and left little doubt that The Old Lady of Turin, as
Juventus is known, would retain her crown as champion of Italy.
Del Piero made it look as if he were shelling peas. Juventus - with
Lilian Thuram still immovable in defense, with Patrick Vieira and
Emerson the beasts of midfield, with Pavel Nedved still running
and with David Trezeguet and Zlatan Ibrahimovic lithe and athletic
in attack - has a consistency that nobody in Italy, and possibly
no one in Europe, can withstand.
The machine composed by Fabio Capello is stern and dependable, hardworking,
quick and experienced. Coach Capello is a quieter version of the
volcanic man who once breathed such touchline fire, possibly because
he is able to trust his men to come up with the result as they have
been doing, with 21 victories in 25 games in Serie A.
His serenity is massaged by the knowledge that when the contest
is tight, he has the match-winner on the bench behind him.
"Del Piero manages to have an immediate impact," Capello
said Sunday. "He doesn't need time to become an important factor
in the game. Not many players can do that so effectively, and I
am fortunate to have players who accept my decisions because they
know they are working for the team."
Managers make their own good fortune. The players are well-ordered,
and they know to a man that it is Capello's way, or not at all.
Even Del Piero - or, arguably, especially Del Piero - appreciates
that the coach is first and foremost a winner.
It was apposite of Del Piero, the club captain, who so regularly
gets a seat among the substitutes, to say after the victory on Sunday
that the squad's attitude now must be to keep the foot hard on the
pedal until the league championship title is mathematically out
of reach of both Inter and AC Milan.
He has scored at least five incontestably winning goals coming off
the bench when the pace and frenzy of a match has solidified into
stalemate. If he, at 31, lacks the stamina or the hunger for the
hour or so of buildup, he has an uncanny ability to end the contest.
He is by no means the daddy of the Juventus team, which on Sunday
fielded Thuram, 34, Nedved 33, Fabio Cannavaro 32, with Gianluca
Pessotto and Del Piero, both 31, among the subs.
But Del Piero's adolescence was stolen by his career. He was such
a prodigy that Padova took him away from his family home at Conelgiano,
near Venice, when he was 13. At the time, his mother was a housekeeper,
his father was an electrician and his older brother, Stefano, was
studying economics.
Alessandro was studious, too, but in Italy when a soccer player
is brushed with such obvious precocity, such movement and imagination,
the game consumes him.
Above all, Del Piero has the gift to shoot more quickly than other
men can
At 31, Del Piero has an uncanny ability to end the contest.
think. The sensitive side of him, the noncombatant, has been mistrusted
at times throughout the years, but his class has never been doubted.
There was such a calm about him at the San Siro on Sunday when he
lined up the free kick - such expectation, such knowledge that he
had been here before, done this so many times.
Yet there was no possible defense against it, partly because his
approach disguises any intent to strike the ball right, left or
center, partly because he needs so little back lift to generate
power and spin.
The Pinturicchio has metamorphosed into the pinch hitter.
Where beauty is concerned, perhaps we should shy away from statistics.
Yet they tell the story.
In 15 appearances in Serie A this season, 13 of them as a substitute,
Del Piero has scored eight times. He is one strike away from equaling
José Altafini's record of six goals as a substitute in the
1972-73 season.
Besides that, he has notched three goals in five games in the Champions
League, and five goals in the Italian Cup. His scoring rate works
out at a goal every 106 minutes.
None of this is a one-season wonder. In 12 seasons with Juventus,
Del Piero has scored a total of 190 goals, more than any man in
history. Although his creativity deserves more than statistics,
his Champions League record is 35 goals in 76 games and his strike
rate with the Italian national team is 24 goals from 71 caps.
Neither the career, nor the ambition is yet finished. Del Piero
has not clocked up the mileage that most players have done in Europe,
and he eyes a remarkable triple of titles this summer: Serie A,
Champions League and the World Cup.
"They are all achievable," he says. "I'm really delighted
at how I've been playing in the autumn of my career, as some people
define it."
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