Vieri, Christian

Club

Vieri started playing football quite late - at the age of 13, and began his career in Australia , where his father Roberto Vieri, who was also a professional footballer, played at that time (in particular, he played for such clubs as Juventus , Sampdoria and “ Roma "). To further his career, Christian returned to Italy, where he changed several football schools before being in the Torino Academy.

It was the Turin club that became the first team in Vieri's professional career. Here the footballer won his first trophy - the Italian Cup in 1993, but failed to gain a foothold in the team. For the next four years, the forward played for modest Italian teams, but even in them he failed to become a base player and demonstrate striking talents. This is largely due to the fact that the player was late in professional sports and did not even have basic skills. In the same years, the strong qualities of a young football player were manifested: the ability to catch on the ball and play with the head. Vieri gradually improved the technique of the game and learned to use his strengths.

Thanks to his efforts in 1996, Vieri was part of Juventus , the then champion of the Champions League . Christian could not become a player in the starting lineup, only replacing the main strikers of the team Alessandro Del Piero and Alain Boksic , but despite this for the season he scored 15 goals in all tournaments and helped the team regain the league title and again reach the Champions League final (where “the old senior "Lost to the Dortmund Borussia ).

In the summer of 1997, Vieri moved to Atletico Madrid for 20 million euros. This transition turned out to be decisive in Christian's career: with 24 goals, he won the score of the Spanish Championship and helped his club win a ticket to the UEFA Cup . After this season, Vieri has gained a reputation as one of the best strikers in the world.

The next club in his career was Lazio , which at that time was going through the best period in its history. In 1999, Vieri helped the team win the last Cup Winners Cup in history by scoring one of the goals in the final match with Mallorca (the match ended 2-1) and was recognized as the footballer of the year in Italy . In total for the season he managed to excel 15 times.

In the summer of 1999, Vieri again changed his club registration, switching to International for 48.5 million euros, which made Christiana the most expensive soccer player of the world at that time. In this team, the striker played for six seasons. Initially, he composed a promising tandem with the Brazilian Ronaldo , but he was often harassed, and in 2002 he left the team. Vieri managed to become the main striking force of the team for the next few seasons. In 2002, he was again recognized as the footballer of the year in Italy, and in 2003, with 24 goals, he became Serie A 's top scorer. Altogether, Vieri scored 123 goals for Nerazzurri and entered the club’s top ten scorers, but the Italian Cup in 2005 was the only trophy won in those years. By that time, Christian's career had already begun to decline.

In 2005, the attacker as a free agent replenished the composition of “ Milan ”, but for fourteen matches in the “Rossoneri” Vieri was able to score only two goals, and soon came into conflict with the club’s leadership and was forced to leave it already in the winter transfer window . An attempt to restart a career in the French " Monaco ".

Christian spent the last years of his playing career in Atalanta and Fiorentina , but failed to return to a high level and in 2009 decided to end his playing career ^[3] . In July 2016, Vieri announced a possible resumption of the player’s career, but this did not happen ^[4] .

International

Vieri played in the youth and Olympic teams of Italy. With the youth team, the striker won two European Youth Championships in 1994 and 1996.

On March 29, 1997, Christian made his debut as part of the Italian national team in a match with the Moldavian national team (ending 3-0). A year later, Vieri as part of the team went to the World Cup in France , where he was the main striker of the team. He managed to distinguish himself in all the matches of the group stage, score the only goal in the match of the 1/8 finals with Norway and realize his hit in the penalty shootout with the French team in the quarter finals (the French won in the end). As a result of the tournament, the striker received a “silver ball”, only one goal behind Davor Shuker .

Vieri missed Euro 2000 because of the injury, but already at the Far East World Cup he again became the main striking force of Italians. In four matches of the “Mundial” he managed to distinguish himself four times. The last tournament in the national team for Christian was the European Championship 2004 , but he failed to distinguish himself, and the Italians could not reach the playoffs.

Vieri hoped to play at the World Championships in Germany (which won for the "azure team"), but a knee injury put an end to these plans. According to the number of goals in the national team, Vieri takes the tenth place (along with Francesco Graziani ). Ironically, the last match in the national team for Vieri was again the game with Moldova on October 12, 2005.

Team

  Torino

• UEFA Cup Finalist: 1991/92
• Italian Cup Winner: 1992/93

  Juventus

• Champion of Italy : 1996/97
• Intercontinental Cup Winner: 1996
• UEFA Super Cup Winner: 1996

  Lazio

• Super Bowl Italy : 1998
• Cup Winner : 1998/99

  International

• Italian Cup Winner: 2004/05

  Italy national team

• European Champion U-21 : 1994 , 1996

Personal

• Guerin Sportivo : footballer of the year in Italy : 2002
• Top scorer of the championship of Spain : 1998
• Italian top scorer : 2003
• Winner of the Silver Boot World Cup : 1998 ^[5]
• Italian footballer of the year ( 2 ): 1999, 2002
• Listed on FIFA 100
• Soccer Player of the Year in Italy : 1999
• Included in the symbolic European team according to ESM ( 2 ): 1998, 2003
• In 1999, his transfer from Lazio to Inter for 90 billion lire ($ 48.5 million) made him the most expensive player in the world.
• His transition is the most expensive purchase in the history of Inter
• Serie A record holder for the number of goals scored by the head (more than 50 goals)
• Record holder of the Italian national team for the number of goals in the world championships : 9 goals ^[6]
• Included in the list of the greatest football players of the XX century according to World Soccer

In 2003, Vieri, together with his friend Paolo Maldini, invested in the creation of the new Sweet Years clothing line. Vieri and Maldini have found a way to advertise their product: under a T-shirt they wear a T-shirt with the label of their company. And as soon as, for example, Christian scores a goal, he lifts a T-shirt, showing the company symbol in the form of a stylized heart.

Vieri also has a restaurant with a bar called Baci e Abbracci (Kisses and Hugs) , which he holds with his longtime friend and namesake Brocca .

• Player profile on Transfermarkt
• Call me Bomber (excerpts from an autobiography)
• Angry Bison (Christian Vieri)
• Alexey Malinovsky: Christian Vieri's Big Circle
• Vieri: I was debited early
• Biography Vieri
• Christian Vieri - the most expensive football player in the world
• Bobo's return ...