Alessandro Nesta

Alessandro Nesta, Cavaliere (born March 19, 1976 in Rome), is an Italian footballer. He plays centre back for AC Milan in Serie A. He has previously played for S.S. Lazio,and is widely considered one of the best defenders in the world. Nesta transferred to A.C. Milan from Lazio in 2002 for approximately €30 million paid over three years, after being valued at over £50 million by Lazio a year earlier.

Playing career

Nesta had a happy childhood growing up in the Cinecittà area of Rome. He attended "Margherita Bosco" primary school where he first started playing football. Fernando, Alessandro's older brother, was advised to play a sport because of a back problem, and enrolled at the local football club. Young Alessandro threw a tantrum till his father gave in and he was enrolled as well, thus marking the beginning of his career. Alessandro Nesta was first discovered by Francesco Rocca (Currently U-17 coach for Italy) a scout for A.S. Roma, but Nesta's father, a Lazio fan turned down the offer

In 1985, he joined Lazio's youth academy, where he rose through the ranks playing in various positions, including striker and midfielder before settling in defence. His international career first showed signs of growth when he played for the Italian national Under-15 and Under-16 sides. In 1993, he joined Lazio's first-team squad.

In 1996, Nesta was a member of the Italian Under-21 team that defeated Spain to win the European Under-21 Championship, picking up the award for best defender in the tournament along the way. He made his full international debut for Italy against Moldova on October 5, 1996. In 1997, he was given the captaincy of Lazio. It was in the 1997-98 season that Lazio won the Coppa Italia (Italian Cup), beating A.C. Milan in the final, with Nesta amongst the goal-scorers. In May 1998 he lost the UEFA Cup final with Lazio against Inter. This was followed however by a series of trophy wins including a Cup Winners' Cup and European Super Cup in 1999 and a rare Championship and Italian Cup double in 2000, not to mention two Italian Super Cup victories.

Just before the 2002-03 season Lazio was forced to sell Nesta because of serious financial problems to A.C. Milan. His sale didn't stop Lazio from going bankrupt. With Milan, Nesta has won the Scudetto (Italian Championship), Coppa Italia, Champions League and the European Super Cup.

Nesta has appeared over 70 times for the Italian national team and has been a mainstay in it since the late 1990s. He played for his country in Euro 96, the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2000, the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2004 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

He was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004. On the June 7, 2006, edition of Pardon the Interruption, ESPN analyst Tommy Smyth proclaimed Nesta as the top defender and one of the top five players for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Other players in Smith's top five included Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi, Petr Cech, and Thierry Henry.

He was injured early on in the 2006 World Cup, in the group match against the Czech Republic, and played no further part in Italy's eventual triumph. This made it three times unlucky for Nesta, since he ruptured a knee ligament against Austria during France 1998 and had to sit out Italy's final game in Japan/Korea 2002 with an injured foot. Fortunately, he can now add the World Cup to his list of titles.

Also Unoficially Nicknamed "Birds Nest"

Personal

• Nesta's fiancée is Gabriela Pagnozzi (daughter of Raffaelle Pagnozzi, General Secretary of CONI).

• She is a specialist in economics and was working for "Casa Italia", the headquarters of the Azzurri, during the 1998 World Cup at France.

• He was injured after the World Cup game against Austria, Gabriela took care of him, and this is how this love story began. "I can say, I got the injury and her in France then. And the injury has gone, she has stayed with me." The two of them live together in Milan. Their daughter, Sofia, was born on October 19, 2006.

Francesco Totti

Francesco Totti, Cavaliere (September 27, 1976, Rome) is an Italian football player, who currently plays for A.S. Roma in Serie A and for the Italian national team.

Francesco Totti's position is that of a striker or an attacking midfielder, though he is best known for playing as the trequartista (or second striker), a compromise between the two positions where the player acts as a link between midfield and attack. He is also Roma's first choice to take free kicks, having scored a number of goals from dead-ball situations.

Totti is widely recognised as the symbol of Roma, having never left the team despite the possibility of playing in stronger and richer clubs, and being the number one goalscorer and the most capped player in the club's history

Childhood

Totti was born and raised in Rome, in the Porta Metronia city neighborhood. His parents are Enzo and Fiorella Totti. Unlike other children his age who preferred to watch cartoons, Totti was always more interested in watching football matches instead. Totti constantly played football with older boys. His mother refused a big deal for her son from A.C. Milan while waiting for a deal from his favourite club A.S. Roma. His mother intended to never let her son step foot out of the "Eternal City". Totti finally joined the A.S. Roma junior team in 1989.

National team

Totti scored in Italy's 4-1 defeat by Spain in the final of the UEFA European Under-18 Championship in July 1995. In the final of the Under-21 competition in 1996, Totti opened the scoring in a 1-1 draw against the Spanish before triumphing on penalties.

Totti made his senior Azzurri debut in the Euro 2000 qualifying victory against Switzerland on 10 October 1998. He played in the finals tournament and scored against Romania and Belgium and played in the final; losing to the France. Although he was on the losing side, Totti was named Man of the Match in the final and described by many footballing legends, including Michael Platini (France), as the best player of the tournament.

Disappointment followed at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, with Totti failing to make a significant impact and then being sent off as Italy lost to the South Korea in the second round, when he controversially received a second yellow card for alleged diving in the penalty area by referee Byron Moreno.

At Euro 2004, Totti garnered negative media attention when he spat at Christian Poulsen, a midfielder for the Denmark. Totti was subsequently banned until the semi-finals, but did not play in the tournament again, as Italy failed to qualify for the next round. In Totti's defence, Poulsen has developed a reputation for being a dirty player. The Danish defender was described as "a coward" by A.C. Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti during the 05-06 season, for his continuous provocation of Kakà with the ball far away. [1], Sporting Life.

Personal life
Totti is married to Ilary Blasi, a former showgirl, who currently works as commentator and host on several RAI TV programs. The couple had their first baby, named Christian, on November 6, 2005. Ilary is pregnant again with their second child.

Totti also runs a football school, named Number Ten, and owns a motorcycle racing team called "Totti Top Sport".

His best friend is his brother, Riccardo. However, Totti always says that his brother was the better player when they were kids, but he was unlucky on his way. Totti had a strong bond with Riccardo so today, Riccardo is Totti's agent.

He also had a bad relationship with his previous coach Fabio Capello, who is currently coach of Real Madrid. Totti accused Capello of being a traitor for leaving Roma suddenly without a warning, and left the Roman team in a very bad shape which had them almost relegated to the second division in 2004-05 season. This rift started on Capello's last days with Roma: according to Totti, his behaviour to most of the players changed, and once advised the younger players not take Totti as their role model player, but to take Brazilian Emerson as an idol for his hard work. Several months later, Capello, Emerson and Frenchman Jonathan Zebina all left AS Roma for rivals Juventus suddenly.

His close friendship with former teammate Antonio Cassano was ended as well when Cassano created a ton of problems for AS Roma before moving off to join Real Madrid where he was later joined by Capello and Emerson. Currently Totti and Cassano are not on talking terms. In a public bust up with Capello, Cassano claimed that he was wrong to leave Roma and he hopes that Roma and Totti will forgive him.

Íker Casillas Fernández (born May 20, 1981 in Móstoles, Madrid) is a Spanish football goalkeeper. He is currently the first choice goalkeeper for Real Madrid and the Spanish national team. He is also the first vice-captain of Spain, as well as one of the vice-captains of Real Madrid.

National team

Casillas was a member of the Spanish teams which won the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup and FIFA World Youth Championship in 1999. Following his full international debut against Sweden, Casillas was an unused substitute at Euro 2000.

2002 World Cup He was the first choice goalkeeper at the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in South Korea and Japan later that year, and enjoyed hero status after Spain knocked out the Republic of Ireland in a penalty shoot-out to advance to the quarter-finals. After the FIFA World Cup and his performances against the Republic of Ireland and South Korea, he was finally the leading goal keeper in the national team.

Euro 2004 Casillas played in all eight Group 6 fixtures during Euro 2004 qualifying, conceding just four goals. He then kept goal in both legs of the play-off victory against Norway, keeping a clean sheet in Oslo. He then backstopped his country at the Euro 2004 finals.

2006 World Cup Casillas was his country's first-choice goalkeeper during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Spain was beaten by France 3-1 which marked the end of the 2006 campaign.

Trivia

• Because he was too young to have a driver's license, Casillas was the only Madrid player to use public transport to get to training sessions in the 1999/00 season.

• He was previously dating Spanish Miss Spain 2003 and model Eva González. She came from Seville and has appeared in TV programmes and done numerous photo shoots for magazines. She was recently voted the prettiest footballers' partner in Spain. They split up in November 2006.

Iker Casillas Video Compilation

Del Piero

Alessandro Del Piero, Cavaliere (born November 9, 1974 in Conegliano) is an Italian football player. He is the captain of Juventus and a member of the Italian national side. He was a part of the 2006 FIFA World Cup winning side. Usually, Del Piero plays as a support-striker and occasionally between the midfield and the strikers (in the hole), known in Italy as the "Trequartista" position. He is not the tallest of forwards, but is certainly one of the most creative forwards in the world, rather than being a "goal poacher."

Del Piero is renowned for his deadly finishing, and the ease in which he dribbles past defenders. He is an expert in dead-ball situations as he is among the world's best in taking freekicks and penalty kicks. Particularly famous for inside-curling, dipping shot that he takes in the area that is up to 10 yards outside the penalty box, which is known as "La Zona Del Piero" meaning "The Del Piero Zone."

Biography

Alessandro was born in Conegliano, to Bruna, a housekeeper and Gino Del Piero, who was an electrician. Along with his brother Stefano, the family lived at a rural home. He would often play football in the backyard with two friends, Nelso and Pierpaolo. The three of them wanted to become footballers, but only Alessandro would eventually manage to do so.

While growing up, Del Piero recalls that as a youngster there was never any money for travelling abroad and that he wanted to be a lorry driver so he could see places. Later, as a professional football player he was eventually able to travel all around the world.

Club Football

Del Piero was first spotted playing for hometown San Vendemiano — he left home at the age of 16 to start his professional career in 1991 with Padova of Italian Serie B. In 1993, he transferred to Juventus, and has been there ever since.

Del Piero made his Serie A debut against Foggia in September 1993, scored his first goal in his next game against Reggiana after appearing as a substitute, and then grabbed a hat-trick against Parma on his first start. Juventus claimed their first Scudetto in eight years in his first season and success continued to follow. With the Turin club, he won the Serie A championship six times (1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005), the Champions League (1996), and the Intercontinental Cup (1996). His best season was in 1997-98, when he scored 21 goals in Serie A and finished top scorer in the UEFA Champions League with 10 goals, which included a peach of a freekick against Monaco in the semi finals.

Del Piero struggled for form at the beginning of the 1998-99 season, whilst doping allegations were aimed at Juventus (they were later found innocent). In October he picked up a serious knee injury in the 2-2 draw with Udinese. This kept him out of action for the remainder of the season. Juventus struggled without him and limped home to a lowly 6th place in Serie A. It is claimed by some that Del Piero has never fully recovered from this injury, and therefore never quite fulfilled the potential he had shown at a very young age.

His nickname is Pinturicchio, in reference to a joke by Gianni Agnelli when he compared the emerging Del Piero to Roberto Baggio in a parallel between the student Pinturicchio from Perugia and the teacher Caravaggio. He's also been nicknamed by the fans "Il Fenomeno Vero" meaning the true, the real "Phenomenon". One of Del Piero's greatest strengths as a footballer is his versatility, which allows him to play in a variety of attacking positions. While he started his club career playing as a full-fledged striker, he settled into a more deeper role as a support-striker. Because of his great technical ability, accurate passing skills and impressive vision, he has also been positioned as a playmaker; in the central slot behind the forwards.

In any zone surrounding the penalty area, his prowess as a creator of goals came to the fore. Under Marcello Lippi's reign as Juventus coach, Del Piero's creative abilities were on display whatever the coach's formation was. Del Piero showed his class in the lethal "trident-attack" formation along with veterans Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio Ravanelli. After that, he took a leading role in a creative combination with Zinedine Zidane behind Filippo Inzaghi.

As Juve's playing style changed in Lippi's second stint with Juventus starting 2001, Del Piero was still vital as his partnerships with Pavel Nedvěd in midfield and David Trézéguet upfront has contributed enormously to Juve's continued success in Italy and Europe. Del Piero is currently the all-time top scorer for Juventus F.C. Del Piero also made is 500th appearance with Juventus in January '07. International: World Cup Winner Despite huge success on the club level, Del Piero in the past has somewhat disappointed playing for the Italian national team, although he is currently the national teams all-time 4th topscorer. Coming into the 1998 FIFA World Cup with huge expectations, he competed with fan favorite Roberto Baggio for a spot, and had some troubles because of a recent injury he picked up during the Champions' League final whilst playing for Juventus.

Two years later Del Piero became one of the culprits for Italy's last minute loss in Euro 2000 final, missing 2 chances, which could have killed France off. However, he returned to the international scene in the 2002 FIFA World Cup on the back of a very impressive season in Serie A, in which he led Juventus to the title. Del Piero scored the decisive goal against Hungary which qualified the Azzurri to the World Cup. In the tournament he scored a goal against Mexico with his first touch of the game seconds within coming on as a substitute to send Italy through to the second round, but they would get no further.

After Euro 2004, Del Piero faced another tough moment after Juventus replaced their Coach Marcello Lippi with Fabio Capello. Capello was not convinced of Del Piero's abilities and favoured the new signing from Ajax, Zlatan Ibrahimović. However, the Juve captain fought back and scored 14 goals in Serie A that season helping Juventus to their 28th Scudetto. Most memorable perhaps was his bicycle-kick assist against AC Milan. Although a strong fan favourite, the Juventus captain found himself starting on the bench for most of Italy’s matches in the World Cup 2006. During all of the group stage matches, Del Piero started on the bench, coming on twice; first as a substitute late in game in the first match with Ghana.

Then in the following match he came on as a substitute at the 54th minute in the match against the United States. Del Piero was more active for Italy during the knockout stages; starting in the last sixteen clash with Australia. On July 4, 2006 while facing host nation Germany in the semifinals of the competition, Del Piero, after coming on as a substitute towards the end of the game, scored Italy's second goal. On a fast break while Germany were on the ascendancy, Alessandro Del Piero scored that goal for Italy with Alberto Gilardino perfectly backheeling the ball into Del Piero's path. Del Piero confidently stroked the ball over Jens Lehmann. In doing so, he ended hopes of a last minute comeback by Germany. This goal was chosen as one of the best in the tournament.

In the final, Del Piero scored the fourth penalty kick of the World Cup 2006, helping Italy to win the World Championship for the 4th time in its history. Italy managed to score all five penalties. Del Piero admitted subsequently that winning the World Cup was his childhood dream.

Apart from being Juventus' captain, Del Piero occasionally captained Italy in the absence of the current captain at that time. As of 2006, Del Piero has captained Italy 5 times. He also had the honour of wearing the number ten for the Italian National Team. He later gave the jersey to Francesco Totti, who is still using that number although recently under manager Roberto Donadoni it's been used by other players including Antonio Cassano and Daniele De Rossi. Del Piero switched to the Azzurri shirt number of 7 for sentimental reasons since this was the first number in which he ever played professional football.

Trivia

* His brother Stefano, who is nine years older and briefly played football for Sampdoria before injury struck him. Alessandro's father Gino, died in February 2001.

* He once said that he used to play as a goalkeeper because he could play a lot more football that way. His mother thought it would be better for him if he played as a goalkeeper, since he wouldn't sweat and the possibility of him getting injured was smaller. But one day, Stefano told their mother: "Don't you see that Alex is good in the attack?"

* Sonia Amoruso is Del Piero's wife. Alex and Sonia have been together since 1999 and eventually married in 2005.

* Del Piero was once the world's best paid player from salary, bonuses and advertising revenue. [25]

* Del Piero is into other sports and also into music. He has even released some music CDs himself.

* Del Piero is regarded also for his character off and on the pitch. He has won several awards such as the "'Coppa d'Argento' Premio Speciale Gentleman" , the "San Siro Gentleman Serie A TIM". and the Associazione Soomaaliya Special Award for Fairness which is assigned to the persons who with their silence have not been arrogant, aggressive or violent

* Del Piero is known for his sense of humour. He once joked that if Lippi does not convoke him to the World Cup in Germany, he will "run him over with his car and sink his damn boat".

* Pelé named Del Piero in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé as a part of FIFA's centenary celebrations. He was also voted in the list of best European players for the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll.

* Del Piero was rated 10/10 in 1996 after leading Juventus to the championship title UEFA Champions League and the Italian Championship title.

* Del Piero was a 2006 Winter Olympics Torchbearer in Turin.

* He is considered to have a strong bond with the fans; "I'm proud to be a Juventino, to be a "bandiera", like you define me to be often, in reality I'm just a small part of a big black & white "bandiera" (flag) that grows with the years and if you look closely your name is part of it... To continue making this "bandiera" grow we need everybody: let's stay united."

* Del Piero is an Oasis fan and has a good relationship with Noel Gallagher. In fact, Del Piero claimed Gallagher was Italy's lucky mascot in their 2006 World Cup success and invited him to the final and the team hotel after victory.

* He appeared in a Rolling Stones Concert in Milan in 2006 together with Marco Materazzi, following Italy's World Cup victory.

* Famous sport icons such as NBA star Steve Nash and cycling legend Eddy Merckx stated that they are fans of Del Piero.

* In November 2006 Del Piero received the Airc prize "Believe in Research" for having done a great deal to promote and support the research in the cure for cancer.