Alessandro Del Piero - Style of Play

Style of Play

He (Del Piero) is different to Zinedine Zidane. He likes to play, he feels it in his soul. Between him and the Frenchman, I choose him.

One of Del Piero's greatest strengths as a footballer is his versatility, which allows him to play in a variety of attacking positions. Del Piero usually plays as a supporting-striker and occasionally between the midfield and the strikers, known in Italy as the trequartista position, due to his vision, dribbling ability and creativity. Del Piero's playing style is regarded by critics as creative in attacking, assisting many goals as well as scoring himself, as opposed to just "goal poaching".

Under Marcello Lippi's reign as Juventus coach, Del Piero played in the "trident-attack" formation along with veterans Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio Ravanelli. After that, he took a role in a combination with Zinedine Zidane behind Filippo Inzaghi. As Juventus playing style changed in Lippi's second stint with Juventus starting in 2001, Del Piero partnered with Zidane's replacement, Pavel Nedvěd, in midfield with David Trezeguet upfront. He has also been employed occasionally as a winger for Italy, whilst playing under Arrigo Sacchi.

Del Piero is a free kick and penalty kick (62 goals with penalties) specialist: he's the Italian free kicks all-time top scorer (49 goals: 43 goals in clubs, 6 goals in Italy national team).

After scoring a goal, Del Piero often celebrates by running to the touchline in front of the Juventus fans and sticking his tongue out; he has also performed a back-flip goal celebration, or pointed up at the sky, dedicating the goal to his late father.