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Alessandro, the beautiful country you represent with its traditions of producing top notch defenders with natural instincts to win a ball celebrates your kind. The rest of the world sadly, does not. South America loves their flair, Spain loves their midfield generals and England loves their…..frankly no one really knows. The idea of Italy producing yet another quality defender is almost benign considering Italy’s penchant to do so, and the possibility of a young Italian succeeding to stand out against the backdrop of a rich heritage of defenders is quite low, but against all the odds, you have done it.
I remember watching you for the first time on television against Juventus in the 2003 Champions League final at Old Trafford, a game I quite poignantly remember for United missing out on playing a Champions League final at home. A rather dull final, in fact one of the worst I’ve ever seen, the game brought out the best of Italian football and my first impression of you; resolute, hard and tactical.
As a newbie to the game alien to the nuances of tactics and strategy, your performance that night was my first lesson in defending masterclass; one that involved clean, hard tackles and well read interceptions, things that I had seldom seen in my limited viewing of the Premier League. You were the first defender I genuinely appreciated after my infatuation with Manchester United superstars like Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham; all of whom were attacking players.
When Lazio sold you to AC Milan for a lump some (around 30 million), I should have known that you were something out of the ordinary; big money was rarely splashed on defenders unless they were exceptional.
Having witnessed your performances for that great Milan side under Carlo Ancelotti, I looked up some DVD’s of your time at Lazio and was bewildered by your ease at playing as the “libero” or sweeper. My dad would gloat for hours about the great Franz Beckenbaeur and his importance as the sweeper whenever Germany came up during our weekly session of banter. With the role almost extinct in the modern game, your performances were a throwback to a bygone age. I began to realize just how lucky I was to be able to watch a great career unfold before my eyes.
The 2006 World Cup presented me with a great opportunity to witness your talent on a greater stage; my personal knowledge about football also greatly improved. Needless to say, you were the unsung hero yet again and although I was rooting for one of my idols in Zinedine Zidane and his France team to beat Italy in the final, I did feel your absence in that final. I cannot begin to imagine what it must be like to miss the majority of a World Cup finals tournament (including the final) at the peak of your career due to injury, but the biggest testament to your outstanding career was the fact that you didn’t need to play a World Cup final to prove your greatness.
I admire your incredible tenacity to bounce back from the various injures that plagued you throughout your career and I still remember how you put aside an injury ridden 2006-2007 campaign to help Milan reach the Champions League, knocking my team Man United out whilst doing so. I have also constantly wondered if that controversial game against South Korea in the 2002 World Cup would have turned out differently if you had been fit enough to be involved, but sadly that question will remain without an answer.
One of the defenders who began to peak at the end of your career that I quite admired was Rio Ferdinand probably because his style was much like yours and that he also played for United. Calm tackling, agility and intercepting ability, things that are seldom seen in defenders these days.In India, the Premier League was all we talked about being the only exclusively telecasted league. Asia remembers you as part of that great Milan team from 2003-2007 having only watched them in the Champions League. It pains me that everybody talks about Rio being the only defender that brought class to the rugged art of defending in the last decade; I as every other fan of yours completely disagree. You were a class apart and redefined defending in the modern age beyond the brute image of force and strength.
It was ironic that it was a back injury that haunted you towards the later stages of our career; you yourself marshaled Milan’s defense for years. As Man United made their mark in Europe once again with Milan slowly fading away, I assumed that your career was reaching its end. You proved me wrong yet again with your ability to fight that horrible injury and continue playing as a Milan player until 2012.
Never one for the limelight, you were an inspiration. I still have yet to see a defender who was as appealing and efficient as you. I as the average football fan prefers to watch attacking players more often than not, but I can proudly proclaim that one of the greatest players I have seen in my short span of following football was that imposing back bone of Ancelotti’s AC MILAN.
FORZA !
