Antonio Di Natale

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Antonio Di Natale
Antonio di natale.JPG
Antonio Di Natale, 2012
Personnel
birthday October 13, 1977
place of birth Naples ,  Italy
size 170 cm
position Storm
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1996-2004 FC Empoli 159 0(49)
1997-1998 → Iperzola (loan) 33 00(6)
1998 →  AS Varese 1910  (loan) 4 00(0)
1998-1999 →  FC Esperia Viareggio  (loan) 25 0(12)
2004-2016 Udinese Calcio 385 (191)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
2002–2012 Italy 42 0(11)
1 Only league games are given.
Status: end of season 2015/16

Antonio Di Natale (born October 13, 1977 in Naples ) is a former Italian soccer player who played for Udinese Calcio for twelve years . He is one of the most successful Serie A goal scorers .

Club career

The striker Di Natale, nicknamed Totó , began his career in the second Italian division at FC Empoli , but celebrated his breakthrough as a regular in the 1997/98 season in the fourth division at Iperzola . After the stations in Varese and Viareggio , he came back to Empoli in 1999. With the club from Tuscany he went after the season 2001/02 in the Serie A on. Di Natale contributed 16 goals. In Empoli's first season in the top division, Di Natale scored 13 goals and became a national player.

After two seasons in Serie A, Empoli had to return to Serie B in 2004 and Di Natale moved to Udinese Calcio , where he formed successful storm duos with players such as Vincenzo Iaquinta , Fabio Quagliarella and Antonio Floro Flores and became known as a reliable goalscorer since the season In 2004/05 he always scored over ten competitive goals per season. He also played with Udinese Calcio in the UEFA Cup and the Champions League .

However, he only became known throughout Europe at the age of 32 during the 2009/10 season , when he became the top scorer in Serie A with 29 goals and practically single-handedly saved Udinese Calcio from relegation. He also broke the club record of Oliver Bierhoff , who scored 28 goals for Udinese in the 1997/98 season .

That Di Natales goal hunger was not yet satisfied, however, he proved in the following season : With 28 goals he was again the Italian top scorer. He also formed the most successful striker duo in the league this season with Alexis Sánchez and led Udinese Calcio to fourth place in the table and thus into the Champions League qualification, where Udinese, however, failed at Arsenal London .

Before the 2011/12 season , Juventus wanted to sign Di Natale. A move was out of the question for the striker: "I swore to the president that I would end my career at Udinese. And my word is worth more than any signature on a contract." At the end of this season Di Natale could not defend the title of top scorer, but was the best Italian scorer of the season with 23 league goals. With his goals and numerous assists, he ensured that Udinese Calcio finished the season in third place and once again participated in the qualification for the Champions League.

In July 2012, Di Natale extended his contract with Udinese until June 30, 2014. He ended the 2012/13 season with another 23 league goals again as the most successful Italian and behind Edinson Cavani as second on the scorers list. Between 2009 and 2013 alone, Di Natale, 35 at the end of the season, had played 139 league games and scored 103 goals in four seasons. On July 9, 2013, Di Natale extended his contract with Udinese prematurely until June 30, 2015. In January 2014, Di Natale announced his retirement after the end of the 2013/14 season . However, after he had scored another 17 goals in 32 league games and a hat trick on the last day of the season, he declared after the end of the game that he wanted to continue his career. In the 2014/15 season , he played his 400th game in Serie A on November 23, 2014 , scoring his 200th goal. In total, he scored a further 14 league goals in 33 appearances and reconsidered his career end at the end of the season. After the 2015/16 season was less successful for him - he scored two goals in 23 games - Di Natale ended his career in summer 2016.

National team

Di Natale made his debut for the Italian national team while at Empoli, on November 20, 2002 in a game against Turkey . He scored his first goal for the Azzurri during his fourth international match, on February 18, 2004 against the Czech Republic .

With Italy Di Natale took part in the 2008 European Championship and the World Cup 2010 in part, both tournaments for Di Natale and his team were disappointing: The penalty shootout in the quarterfinals of Euro 2008 against Spain he scored the winning penalty, which the Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas kept has been. At the 2010 World Cup he was able to score a goal in the final and decisive group game against Slovakia , but since the game was lost 3-2, he could not prevent his team from being eliminated in the group stage.

Di Natale was in Cesare Prandelli's Italian squad for the 2012 European Championship . In the 1-1 draw in the first group match against Spain on June 10, 2012, he came on for Mario Balotelli and scored the opening goal for his team with his first touch in the 60th minute. It should remain the only hit that Iker Casillas had to accept in the course of the tournament. The Italians reached the final, but had to admit defeat to the Spaniards in the last international game Di Natales. Di Natale played all games except for the quarter-finals.

A nomination by Di Natales for the national team, in particular for the Confed Cup 2013 , was always in the room after that, but was no longer made.

successes

In the national team

Personal awards

Web links

Commons : Antonio Di Natale  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ weltfussball.de: Serie A 2009/10: list of goalscorers. Retrieved May 27, 2010
  2. ↑ weltfussball.de: Serie A 2010/11: list of goalscorers. Retrieved May 22, 2011
  3. ↑ SportWoche : A provincial club flying high, November 2, 2011 (No. 44/2011)
  4. ↑ udinese.it: Eternal captain: Di Natale renews until 2014!  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.udinese.it   Retrieved July 10, 2012
  5. ↑ espn.com: Di Natale signs on with Udinese.Retrieved July 16, 2013
  6. ↑ kicker.de: Di Natale announces the end of his career. Retrieved on May 18, 2014
  7. ↑ Di Natale is considering his resignation after a three-pack. Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 18, 2014, accessed on August 27, 2020 .
  8. ^ ESPN.com: Udinese forward Antonio Di Natale plans to keep playing.Retrieved June 11, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Di Natale, Antonio
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1977
PLACE OF BIRTH Naples