On Wednesday, Juventus icon Alessandro Del Piero turns 48. The Italian legend is widely considered the best player to wear the famous black and white jersey.
To this day, the retired striker still holds the record for most games played for the club with 705, and is also the Bianconeri’s all-time top scorer with 290 goals.
But arguably his greatest trait is his determined loyalty to the club. Following Juve’s relegation to Serie B in 2006, the World Cup winner received a variety of offers from top European clubs, including Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.
However, he was determined to stay and help Juventus return to their rightful place.
“Why?” one might wonder. Because “a true gentleman gentleman never leaves his lady”, was his simple but iconic response.
At the end of the day, their loyalty paid dividends, as the final act at the Allianz Stadium was lifting the Scudetto title, an achievement that turned out to be the cornerstone that started the longest winning dynasty in Italian football history.
By the time he left Turin in 2012, Alex was already one of the club’s lowest earners and was happy to stay on for years to come. But sadly, management had other plans and decided to take up the ax in an unprecedented 19-year period.
For us Juventus fans who grew up watching Del Piero, it’s hard to find words that truly describe what he means to us.
So, in his special, let’s look back at 10 reasons why we absolutely adore the iconic striker in a video uploaded by the club’s official YouTube channel.
