Last October president Andrea Agnelli announced that the Old Lady’s legendary capitano will not be wearing the black and white strips in 2013 as this is his last season with the Bianconeri, it was a shocking announcement back then especially that it came at the beginning of the season, most fans, critics and experts mentioned the wrong timing of such a statement, however lately King Alex showed a lot of quality which forced a lot of rumors that he might extend his contract for one more year……..why should he? Here are some reasons
Although La Vecchia Signora’s captain faced a lot of pressure starting from Agnelli’s words earlier this season, to the few playing chances offered from Antonio Conte, and ending with the media’s heavy words on his situation every week, Del Piero has lately proved the uniqueness of his quality by his goals, key passes and dribbling skills. It is almost impossible to find a legend that is mature enough to accept sitting on the bench for so long and come in the 2nd half to show of some golden moments like the ones shown by Alex in his latest games.
The World-Cup winner is still a great leader, you can see it in the Captin’s eyes while sitting on the bench, when he illustrates his performance during the games and even in the Vinovo training sessions, his teammates talk about the psychological effect of his presence on and off the field plus his words of wisdom to each of them.
Alessandro has proven he is a key player in the big clashes as in 2012 Alex has scored against both Milan sides, both Roma sides and assisted a goal to Fabio Quagliarella against Napoli, even with the little playing time Del Piero is offered he managed to set a record this season no other Juventus striker was able to break as he is directly involved in five goals in 2012 against Juventus’ strongest competitors in Serie A. El Grande Capitano’s experience has finally paid off and with his last miraculous goal against the Biancocelesti, he made Juventus steps away from the Scudetto and left some burdens on the back of president Agnelli.
None of Juventus’ strikers reached the Old Lady’s standards this season as Mirko Vucinic is never consistent, Alessandro Matri did not do enough to convince Conte, Marco Borriello failed to score till now while Fabio Quagliarella is still trying to catch up with last season’s form. Juventus are surely getting new strikers next season but they will not be able to change all the current ones, that is why Antonio Conte needs to know he has a striker on the bench who could grab him the three points of the game in the 2nd half even if he stayed on the bench for that long and he has all kind of pressure on his back.
Finally and most importantly the Bianconeri’s walking legend mentioned more than once that he still wants to play, and that this is not the end of his love story with football. Remember we are talking about a player who has won absolutely every competition with Juventus, broke all Juventus’ scoring records with 289 goals today as well as the appearance records with 700. Till this day I have a mental image of that magical 200th goal, am I the only Juventino who can’t wait to see his 300th moment of happiness for the player who was the reason this generation fell in love with the Juventus?