Juventus Supporters Will Never Stop Loving Alessandro Del Piero

When looking back at the long and successful history of Juventus, it ought to be extremely difficult to identify the club’s greatest player. Names like Gianpiero Combi, Giuseppe Furino, Gaetano Scirea and Michel Platini stand out as iconic captains who led the Bianconeri to some truly memorable achievements.

Yet to almost every supporter of Italian football’s grand Old Lady, one man stands head and shoulders above the rest: Alessandro Del Piero. He made his debut as a fresh-faced 19-year-old back in 1993, a game away at Foggia marking the first of what would eventually become a staggering 705 appearances for the club.

That total remains a record, although current skipper Gigi Buffon is quickly closing in on it. Yet the retired No. 10 is also Juve’s all-time leading goalscorer with 289, an incredible 110 more than the total scored by Giampiero Boniperti who ranks second on that list.

November 9 marks Del Piero’s birthday, so there is no better time to remember his accomplishments and what he represents to Juventus fans across the world. In addition to those two aforementioned records, he helped the club to win eight league titles (as well as one in Serie B), a Coppa Italia, four Italian Super Cups, a UEFA Champions League, an Intercontinental Cup and the European Super Cup.

He will always be remembered as one of the best to ever take to the field for Juventus, but his contribution can never be discussed in terms of mere statistics and trophies. Ever since his first appearance, the player and club became intertwined.

It was a romance that simply never ended, a love that has endured the passing of time and new, exciting alternatives. Many great players have worn the famous black and white stripes alongside Del Piero and after he left, but none has ever come close to surpassing the faith and love he inspired.

He began his career vying for playing time in an attack that already boasted Roberto Baggio, Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio Ravanelli, with the four men helping Juventus to win a league-and-cup double in 1995.

Del Piero’s performances in that side prompted Marcello Lippi to push Baggio out, the “Divine Ponytail” sold to AC Milan in order to give the younger man more space. It was a bold move, but one that reaped instant dividends as the Bianconeri clinched the Champions League crown just 12 months later.

They would lose in the final in each of the following two seasons, yet Del Piero’s personal impact continued to strengthen as his importance to the team and stature as a player constantly increased.

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However, 1999 would see him suffer a serious knee injury against Udinese and be ruled out for the remainder of the season. Juventus, even with the likes of Zinedine Zidane in the team, simply could not survive the loss of their most important player. Having won back-to-back league titles, they would slump to a sixth-placed finish with their captain on the sidelines.

It would take him almost two full years to recover. By then, Carlo Ancelotti had been hired and fired as coach. The return of Lippi once again bringing the best from Del Piero, after Zidane was sold to improve the team, was immeasurable.

Playing alongside Buffon, Lilian Thuram and Pavel Nedved, they would win four Scudetti in five years and lose the 2003 Champions League final in a penalty shootout with Milan.

In 2006 he would surpass Boniperti as Juve’s all-time leading goalscorer, win the Serie A title and the FIFA World Cup, only to find that the Calciopoli scandal would tear apart the team and club he loved so dearly.

Yet he would change nothing about what followed, explaining in a 2014 interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport that the Bianconeri deserved every accolade no matter what the outside world believes.

“It was also the year I stayed at Juventus in Serie B and I would change nothing about Calciopoli, because we proved that we were there,” he said (h/t Football Italia). “We got back on our feet. I know what we won and how we won. We did it with sweat, and it was fully deserved: from the first to the last point, from the first to the last trophy.”

A man who had scored a penalty to help the Azzurri win the game’s ultimate prize chose to spend a year in Serie B. Juventus may have been relegated as punishment for their role in the scandal, but unlike Thuram, Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Del Piero chose to stay and fight.

The Bianconeri won the division at a canter, and he was the leading scorer, a feat he would repeat in the top flight just 12 months later. Like Nedved and Buffon, his decision to stay only served to endear him even more with the club’s supporters, many of whom had watched his entire tenure with the club.

"We are basically the same age,” a Juve fan and Turin native named Maurizio told Bleacher Report. “I grew up with him, with his goals, his injuries, his trophies and his class. I was at the stadium when he played the last game. While I was crying like many other fans around me, I also realised how blessed I was to have seen such a great player for so many years."

Unsurprisingly, Del Piero’s final Serie A match saw all those emotions. Playing against Atalanta in May 2012, he scored and Juventus were once again champions of Italy. But the tears Maurizio mentioned were not just in the stands, the video below showing that Del Piero was equally emotional as he bid his final farewell.

The match became a sideshow, supporters ignoring the game as their beloved skipper took a lap of honour. He cried too as he collected scarves and other mementos thrown to him, but it was not just in Turin where the iconic star became so synonymous with the club, as Farah—president of the official supporter’s club in Singapore—explained to Bleacher Report:

"While Baggio was the one who ignited my passion, it was Del Piero who kept it burning. That makes me exactly like most Juventini of many ages, in many parts of the world. Del Piero is the start of conversation and the end of banter.

"He is hope and faith; respect and pride; love and loyalty. He is everything we believe Juventus to be, and everything we do our utmost to be ourselves. To love Juventus is to love Del Piero. Our love for Del Piero not only makes us fans and friends; it makes us family. Even from 10,000 kilometres away."

Seen as more than a player, more than a captain, Del Piero is the physical embodiment of the style and spirit Juventus supporters believe separates their club from the others. His name will never be seen as just one among a list of legends, it will be forever above those others, the very best of the best.

Happy birthday to Alessandro Del Piero, and thank you for the countless wonderful memories you left behind.