The legend of Italian football Fabio Cannavaro leaves us in tears by calling it a day
The Italian legend, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fabio-Cannavaro-c13164, has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 37.
Cannavaro joined Dubai based club, Al-Ahli, before the start of the 2010/11 campaign but spent most of his time on the benches due to a troublesome knee injury, which forced him to quit the game. The Italian had a fantastic career spread over 19 years and was unarguably the best defender in the game.
The former Italian national team skipper expressed his disappointment over the decision and added that he was very sad to leave the game.
Talking to the reporters Cannavaro said, “I am very sad. Football is everything for me in my life.”
Cannavaro was the most capped player for the Italian national team with 136 appearances to his name. He lead his side to 2006 FIFA World Cup victory, which remains the highlight of his career. The 37-year-old won the FIFA player of the year award in 2006, the only defender in the game to win the award.
The former skipper was well known for his sliding tackles, well timed interceptions and ability to read the games. These characteristics along with his excellent fitness and stamina levels have made him one of the best defenders in the world. Even though he stood at 176 cm tall, which is too short for a centre back in football, but his jumping ability allowed him to compete apparently unobstructed in the air.
Cannavaro started as a ball boy at http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Napoli-c40003’s Stadio San Paolo and soon became a first team member in 1993. Unfortunately for him, he had to be sold to Parma in 1995 when Napoli ran out of funds.
At Parma, the Italian began to win recognition and established himself as an extremely talented defender. Along with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Italy-c2926.
In 2002, the Naples born defender joined http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan for a hefty price tag of 23-million-Euros. It was not the best of the periods for Inter as they could not manage to win a trophy in the two years Cannavaro spent at the club. The player’s hunger for silverware forced him to join the then Italian Champions, Juventus, in 2004.
He re-united with his former Parma partners, Thuram and Buffon, to reform one of the most successful defensive setups in the world. He won his first Scudetto with the Turin giants in 2005, followed by another in 2006. He won Oscar del Calcio (the football Oscar) for his exceptional debut season at the Turin.
In 2006, due to Calciopoli scandal, Juventus were relegated to Serie B and their 2005 and 2006 titles were awarded to Inter Milan. Mindful of his age and of the fact that the club will not be playing Champions league for the next two seasons, he left Juventus for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Real-c30728 Madrid in 2006. He was handed the number 5 jersey which was previously worn by legends like Zinedine Zidane. Cannavaro spent three seasons at Real Madrid and helped them to win the La Liga title in 2006/07 and 2007/08.
Following the expiration of his contract at Madrid, he re-joined Juventus in 1999 and gelled in well with the young defenders, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dubai-Club-c38966.
The defender certainly deserves to be tagged as a legend of Italian and world football for whatever he has done for the game. He will always be remembered as the one who brought smiles on the faces of Italian football fans, after he lifted the 2006 FIFA World Cup trophy. A leader on the pitch, who led by example, will surely be missed not only in the Italian game but also the world football.
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