The former Argentinean international has stated his immense pleasure in being the record holder of the most number of appearances for his club and country.
Zanetti played in his first game for the San Siro outfit on 27th of August 1995, and has never looked back ever since. He has been the most consistent player in the Nerazzurri ranks throughout the years, and he is still a regular fixture in the
Beneamata senior team, despite being 38-years-old. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Zanetti-c18096 took over the captaincy from the former Internazionale defender, Giuseppe Bergomi.
Bergomi is considered to be one of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan’s legendary defender and stepping into his shoes was going to be an uphill task. Bergomi retired at the age of 35, and had 758 appearances to his name; and Javier Zanetti was given the captaincy armband after
he retired.
The former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Banfield-c38595 full-back overtook the club legend, Giuseppe Bergomi, for the most number of appearances in the Beneamata colours on 20th September, 2011; the match was against Attilio Tesser’s Novara.
The hard working player also holds the record for the most number of appearances for his country, with 145 appearances in his 8 year career with the Argentinean national team. Zanetti scored five times for his country. Zanetti has often been criticised for
the soft image he has within football, however, the defender has garnered respect through his consistent and high quality performances throughout his career.
Zanetti has often stated that he values team accolades more than individual ones, but he went on to state, that he is proud of the fact that he has been able to hold the record for the most number of appearances in such competitive teams.
With respect to his national team achievements, he went on to state:
"All records are special, but I have two favourites. One is my caps record for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Argentina-c2841, considering that in my country it is very difficult to play [for the national team] because there are so many great players.”
He went on to state that the fact that he overtook Bergomi’s record was even more significant, given the fact that he was not Italian.
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