Will the real Del Piero please stand up
Wednesday 21 May 2008 11:36
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton could learn aplenty from Alessandro Del Piero when it comes to persuading floating voters that the hopes of a nation rely on them.
The Juventus man has been campaigning hard and long to win over Roberto Donadoni – something that at the turn of the year looked as lost a cause as Hill’s hopes of reaching the White House.
However, as they say in Italy, “the pitch will give it’s answer” and certainly out on the green quadrant the 33-year-old has been in sensational form, finishing the season as Serie A top goalscorer on 21 goals.
He even allowed David Trezeguet, who was also in the running to finish top of the Capocannoniere charts, to take a penalty against Sampdoria in the final game.
The former golden-boy is certainly making all the right moves, scheming away to reinvent himself as just one of the lads, putting the team first and be damned with personal glory.
Will this cunning Machiavellian strategy pay off or will the real Del Piero be unmasked in time?
Del Boy salutes the voters
The façade did slip for a moment on Saturday when Claudio Ranieri called him over to the sidelines with less than 10 minutes to go and for a moment the dark side surfaced as he let his coach know how he felt at the affront of being substituted.
Little Del Boy could still well cause Donadoni more problems than the combined efforts of Euro 2008 group opponents France, Holland and Romania.
At least, you know what you are getting with Antonio Cassano who only possesses guile and subtlety when he has the ball at his feet.
Otherwise, the Bari Bawler is more likely to disrupt everyone’s sleep patterns by setting off fire alarms and, if reports from Real Madrid are to believed, doing unsavoury things to hotel beds.
Donadoni has certainly made his own bed and having only the leeway of dropping one player from his initial squad he may have manoeuvred himself into a position of weakness.
Pandering to public opinion may have seen like the smart move but was it the right one?
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About Richard Whittle
Despite the name,
Richard Whittle is so at home in Italy that some call him Riccardo Rossi. He has lived and worked in Italy for the last 15 years as a football journalist and works as Italian soccer commentator for the English-speaking world covering Serie A, Champions League, Europa League and Italian Cup matches as well as Italy internationals. With Paul Visca, Richard concocts the regular
Calcio & Coffee podcast.