Christian Vieri (Italian pronunciation:[ˈkristjamˈvjɛːri]; born 12 July 1973), commonly known asBobo Vieri, is an Italian former professionalfootballer who played as acentre forward. Having been born in Italy, Vieri moved with his family to Australia as a child, before returning to Italy to pursue his professional career at a young age. He then spent the bulk of his career playing in theSerie A. In March 2004, he was named in theFIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected byPelé as a part of FIFA's centenary celebrations.[2]
A prolific goalscorer, for a number of years, he was regarded as one of the best strikers of this generation,[3] leading to him becoming theworld's most expensive player in 1999 whenInter Milan paidLazio £32 million (€43 million) for his services.[4][5] Something of a footballing nomad, Vieri played for no fewer than 12 clubs throughout his career, mainly in Italy, but also in Spain and France. He started his career withTorino in 1991, but his most notable and successful spells were those atJuventus,Atlético Madrid, Lazio and Inter, clubs with which he won several honours.
During his time in Australia, Vieri developed a love for both football andcricket, a sport he still follows to this day. He stated in an interview that he would have liked to have been a professional cricketer.[14] His younger brother,Massimiliano "Max" Vieri, was also a professional footballer and was anAustralian international in 2004. Vieri played for Marconi Juniors when he was a child but his family subsequently moved back to Italy. In an interview at the1998 FIFA World Cup, Vieri named his all-time sporting hero as AustraliancricketerAllan Border, and said that as a child he was better at cricket than football.[15][16]
Vieri started his playing career atMarconi Stallions. Upon his return to Italy in 1988, his first club was Santa Lucia, a team fromPrato, where his first coach was Luciano Diamanti, the father of the playerAlessandro Diamanti. The next year he became affiliated withPrato and scored several goals in theCampionato Nazionale Dante Berretti.[17]
The following year, he moved toTorino after being spotted by Serino Rampanti, who recommended him to the coach Sergio Vatta. The president of the Prato, Andrea Toccafondi, did not want to sell the promising striker. To convince him to sell Vieri to Torino, theGranata also had to buy the son of Toccafondi, Paolo, who was a goalkeeper. After a year in the Torino youth ranks, Vieri was given his first team debut at age 18, on 30 October 1991 in the1991–92 Coppa Italia underEmiliano Mondonico; he scored the second goal in a 2–0 win for Torino againstLazio. On 15 December of the same year, he made his official debut inSerie A during the final minutes of a home game againstFiorentina (2–0). He would later score his first goal in the league in a match won 4–0 againstGenoa.[18] At the end of the1991–92 season, Vieri would pick up a runners up medal as an unused substitute in the1992 UEFA Cup final, lost on away goals toAjax.
In November 1992, Vieri was sold toSerie B clubPisa, scoring two goals in 18 appearances. He would only stay in Pisa for one season, moving to fellow Serie B sideRavenna for the1993–94 season, where he scored 12 goals in 32 appearances. He was subsequently transferred to another Serie B club for the1994–95 season,Venezia, where he scored 11 goals in 29 appearances.
After three seasons in Serie B, Vieri returned to Serie A for the1995–96 season, when he joinedAtalanta, scoring 9 goals in 21 appearances across all competitions, also reaching the1996 Coppa Italia final, where they lost out toFiorentina.[19]
His first big move came when he was signed byJuventus from Atalanta for a fee of €2.5 million for the1996–97 season. He made 23 appearances and scored 8 goals in Serie A, and six goals in ten matches in Europe, making him joint top scorer for Juventus that season along withAlen Bokšić. He ended his season at Juve by winning the 'Scudetto and starting in the 3–1UEFA Champions League final loss toBorussia Dortmund.
Vieri's form for Juventus attracted the attention of Spanish sideAtlético Madrid who paid £12.5 million to sign the striker in 1997. He was part of a £45 million spending spree for the club owned byJesús Gil that season, alongsideJuninho Paulista.[20]
Vieri made his debut for Atlético on 30 August 1997 in a 1–1 draw withReal Madrid at theSantiago Bernabéu Stadium on the first day of theLa Liga season.[21] He scored his first goal on 16 September, a penalty in a 2–1 home win againstLeicester City in the first round of theUEFA Cup.[22] Eleven days later he opened his league account with two goals in a 3–3 home draw withCelta.[23] In October, he scored back-to-back hat-tricks in a 5–1 win atReal Zaragoza and a 5–2 home win overPAOK in the quarter-finals of the European competition.[23] On 21 March 1998, he scored four times away toSalamanca, but theRojiblancos lost 5–4.[24]
He scored a total of 24 goals in 24 league appearances for Atlético and finished the season with 29 goals from 32 appearances, which saw him receive thePichichi Trophy as the league's top scorer.
Vieri stated in his 2015 autobiography that his 1997 transfer to Atlético was motivated purely by financial reasons—revealing that Juventus would only pay him an annual salary ofL.2 million while the Spanish club were offering the equivalent ofL.3.5 million.[25] He furthermore asserted: "If I could have turned back time, I’d have stayed in Turin".[25]
Vieri also revealed a funny story about the aforementioned back-to-back hat-tricks againstReal Zaragoza and PAOK. Before the match with PAOK, Vieri made a bet withJesús Gil: if he had scored a hat-trick, the President would have given him aFerrari. The striker did find the net three times, with the third goal, scored from the goal line, being one of the most iconic moments of his career, and Gil made him choose his gift car. However, Vieri never picked up hisFerrari at the end of the season, as he felt he had betrayed the President leaving Atlético after just one year.[26][27]
After his performances for Atlético and at the1998 World Cup, Vieri returned to Serie A with Lazio for a fee of €25 million. He partnered Chilean internationalMarcelo Salas for theRome-based club, managed bySven-Göran Eriksson. He had a successful season, scoring 14 goals in 28 appearances, and won theCup Winners' Cup. He scored the first goal of the 2–1 win overMallorca inthe final atVilla Park on 19 May, the last match in the tournament's history.[28]
The following season Vieri was the subject of a thenworld record transfer of €49 million (90 billionItalian lire,[29] £32 million) toInter Milan after drawing the attention of chairmanMassimo Moratti and managerMarcello Lippi, who had requested the player after their successful season together at Juventus. Inter would be Vieri's ninth club in his ninth season of being a professional footballer, and the only one where he would play for more than one season, for a total of six.
At Inter, Vieri formed a potentially dangerous partnership withRonaldo up front, but because of injuries to both players, they were not able to play together often. He was impressive in his first couple of seasons, but constant managerial changes meant that Inter could not challenge for theScudetto. It was under disciplined Argentinian coachHéctor Cúper, that Vieri and Inter really began to flourish and challenge for honours. Vieri was made the focal point of the attack and scored 22 goals in 25 games in the2001–02 season as Inter narrowly missed out on the title after their last-day defeat to Lazio. The following season, he was Serie ACapocannoniere after scoring 24 goals in 23 appearances. In addition, he scored three goals in Inter'sChampions League campaign and formed a potent partnership withHernán Crespo. He scored both of Inter's goals in the quarter-final victory overValencia. Vieri was injured during the second leg of this game and therefore played no part in the semi-final defeat tocity rivalsAC Milan.
The following year, Cúper was sacked only a few games into the season and was replaced byAlberto Zaccheroni. Vieri did not get along with his new manager[30] and also had many of the Inter fans turn on him after his dip in form. In addition, he had shown his discontent at the sale of strike partner Crespo toChelsea. WhenRoberto Mancini replaced Zaccheroni in the summer of 2004, Vieri played the majority games upfront withAdriano. It was clear to many though that the injury he had sustained against Valencia had taken its toll on Vieri and he was no longer as sharp in front of goal, despite his respectable goal output. On 6 January 2004, he scored his 100th goal for the club in a 3–1 home against Lecce, being celebrated by his teammates with a crown.[31]
In July 2005, Vieri and Inter came to a mutual agreement to terminate his contract with the club. He was then signed by cross-town rivals AC Milan on a two-year deal, amidst interest fromNewcastle United.[32] He scored his only goal for them on 26 October to wrap up a 3–1 win atEmpoli.[33] Due to his poor performances throughout the season, he won theBidone d'Oro Award in 2005, which is given to the worst Serie A player during a particular season.[34]
In January 2006, he moved on a free transfer toMonaco, on a two-and-a-half-year deal, being brought in by compatriot managerFrancesco Guidolin who had also loaned an Italian strike partner in the form ofMarco Di Vaio.[35] On 26 March, he suffered a knee injury through a collision withParis Saint-Germain'sBernard Mendy, which eventually ruled him out of a place in Italy's squad that won the2006 FIFA World Cup.[36]
Vieri agreed a one-year deal withSampdoria on 6 July 2006, however he returned to Atalanta on 29 August, signing a one-year minimum wage contract worth €1,500 per month. Although he received a paltry salary, Vieri was to earn another €100,000 for every goal he scored, leaving chairman Ivan Ruggeri to comment, "If things go well, Vieri will cost me €2 million." Vieri scored two goals in seven substitute appearances, including one spectacular long-range effort.
In June 2007, Atalanta announced they would not offer a contract extension to Vieri. His contract therefore ended on 30 June. Vieri signed a one-year deal with Fiorentina in the summer of 2007 and he was officially presented to the press on 21 July 2007.[37] He signed a one-year-contract for Atalanta on 30 June 2008; however, in early April, both Atalanta and Vieri mutually agreed that the contract was to be rescinded after only making nine appearances for the club.[38] He announced his retirement from professional football on 20 October 2009.[39]
Vieri scored 23 goals in 49 matches forItaly between 1997 and 2005.[40] He played for his country at the1998 World Cup, scoring five times, and the2002 World Cup, scoring four times. He endured a less successful tournament atEuro 2004, whilst he missedEuro 2000 and2006 World Cup through injury. Vieri is generally considered to be Italy's greatest pure striker of recent times,[citation needed] despite strong competition, and is one of Italy's most prolific World Cup goal scorers. Appearing in a total of nine World Cup games in 1998 and 2002, he found the net nine times, making him one of the most feared strikers in those tournaments along with Ronaldo andMiroslav Klose, and Italy's joint-highest World Cup goalscorer, alongsideRoberto Baggio andPaolo Rossi.[41] He was named byPelé as one of the125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.[2] AlongsideFrancesco Graziani, he isItaly's ninth-highest goalscorer of all time.
Vieri received his first international cap during the 1996–97 season after some impressive displays for Juventus; he made his Italy senior debut on 29 March 1997, at the age of 23, in a 3–0 win overMoldova, in which he also scored his first international goal, which was also the 1000th goal scored by the Italy national team.[42] He scored a key goal for Italy in a 1–1 draw in the away leg of the team's play off againstRussia during theirqualification campaign for the 1998 World Cup.[43] At the finals of the tournament in France he formed a strong partnership with Roberto Baggio. Vieri opened the scoring againstChile after an assist from his strike partner.[44] He went on to score three more goals during thegroup stage: two againstCameroon,[45] and one againstAustria.[46] Vieri scored Italy's only goal in the round of 16 match againstNorway.[47] He scored Italy's fourth penalty in the quarter-final shootout against hosts and eventual championsFrance, butLuigi Di Biagio missed the fifth spot-kick, and Italy were eliminated. The aforementioned quarter-final showdown against France, which had ended in a 0–0 draw following extra time, was the only game of the tournament in which Vieri was unable to score.[48]
Vieri missed outDino Zoff's squad for Euro 2000 after suffering a recurrence of an old thigh injury, following a collision withGianluigi Buffon during the Serie A fourth place playoff for the final Champions League spot with Inter, againstParma, at the end of the1999–2000 season;[49][50] Buffon would later also miss out on the tournament through injury.[51]
Italy played Vieri as a lone striker in the 2002 World Cup under managerGiovanni Trapattoni, scoring an impressive four goals in four games. He managed a brace in the opening game againstEcuador,[52] and scored Italy's only goal in the 2–1 defeat toCroatia despite having a previous goal incorrectly ruled out foroffside.[53] In the round of 16 match against co-hostsSouth Korea, he opened the scoring in the 18th minute, scoring a powerful header from aFrancesco Totti corner. Italy led the game until the Koreans equalised two minutes before the end. Just one minute after the Korean equaliser, Vieri missed an open goal which would have put Italy in front.[54] Italy were eventually eliminated by South Korea by agolden goal.[55] The only game in which he failed to find the net was againstMexico in a 1–1 draw.[56]
Vieri was once again the main striker in Italy's ill-fated Euro 2004 campaign. This time he did not fare so well, however, scoring no goals as Italy were eliminated in the first round.[57] It was during this tournament that his now infamous "more of a man" press conference took place following Italy's 1–1 draw againstSweden, where he hit back at his critics in the Italian press by insulting them, and stated that he was "more of a man" than any of them, and accused them of publishing false news stories, after a rumour concerning a supposed quarrel between Vieri and his teammateGianluigi Buffon had been leaked in the press.[58] It is worth noting that Euro 2004 occurred at a particularly painful period of Vieri's life, when he was being spied upon by his own club Inter andTelecom Italia at the request of club owner Massimo Moratti. In September 2012, Inter and Telecom Italia were ordered by a Milan court to pay Vieri damages amounting to €1 million for this case of phone tapping.[59]
More disappointment occurred when he missed the 2006 World Cup after suffering a knee meniscus injury in aLigue 1 match with Monaco againstParis Saint-Germain on 26 March 2006.[60] Although Vieri would not necessarily have been a starter for Marcello Lippi's side, Lippi admitted that he would have picked him had he been fit, and even encouraged him to move to France in order to gain more playing time ahead of the tournament.[61] He played in three tournaments, but failed to win a medal in each of them, missing out on the Euro 2000 runners-up medal and the 2006 World Cup winners medal due to injury. His final appearance for Italy had come against Moldova, the team against which he had also made his debut, on 12 October 2005, under Lippi; he marked the occasion by scoring his final international goal in the 2–1 home win.[62]
Vieri was a complete, prolific and opportunisticstriker, with a keen eye for goal.[63][64] Due to his notable goal-scoring prowess, Vieri is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest Italian strikers of all time[65][66] and one of the top strikers of his generation.[5] Although he was considered to be more of a physical rather than talented player in his youth, who lacked strong technical ability, he was able to refine his touch on the ball in training as his career progressed, showing significant improvements to his technique.[67] In his prime, his unique and direct offensive style of play, which blended power with pace and solid technical skills, led him to be compared toLuigi Riva andRoberto Boninsegna, as well as earning him the nickname of"Il Toro" ("The Bull").[63][68][69][70] Despite his goalscoring ability, he was also injury prone throughout his career, however, which greatly affected his pace, fitness and mobility in later years.[71] Vieri was predominantly left-footed, although he was capable of scoring with both feet, as well as with his head, and fromvolleys.[64] He has often been described as a large, old fashionedcentre forward, due to his powerful physical presence and outstanding aerial ability; he is the all-time top scorer of headed goals in Italian league history.[63][72][73] He also excelled at finding space to anticipate opponents and get on the end of passes.[74] Despite being primarily a goal-scoring striker, he was also capable of providingassists to teammates, which was aided by his ability to use his strength to hold up the ball and play with his back to goal in order to participate in the build-up of attacking plays;[75][76][77] he also excelled at beating theoffside trap to get on the end of long balls with his runs in behind the defence, which also allowed him to provide depth to his team.[74] Although he was primarily a goal-area threat, Vieri had an accurate and powerful shot from distance as well as inside the area;[64] he was also an accuratepenalty taker.[78]
Vieri's personal life has been subject to much media attention in Italy. He has been involved in many high-profile relationships, including those with modelsElisabetta Canalis,Elena Santarelli, Debora Salvalaggio,Fernanda Lessa,Melissa Satta and Jazzma Kendrick, among others.[79][80]
Vieri has his own fashion label – Sweet Years – which he runs with friend and former Italy and AC Milan teammatePaolo Maldini.[81][82] The pair also own a number of restaurants in the city of Milan.[83] Another close friend of his is former forwardAlessandro Matri, with whom he has been seen holidaying in Spain, along with other friends. He also started another clothing brand (Baci & Abbracci) with close friend and footballerCristian Brocchi and modelAlena Šeredová.[84][85]
Vieri presented afootvolley cup with the nameBobo summer cup, in 2018.[86][87]
In 2017, Vieri began a relationship with Italian showgirl Costanza Caracciolo.[88] On 18 November 2018, Vieri and Caracciolo announced the birth of their daughter Stella onInstagram.[89] On 18 March 2019, the pair were married in a small civil ceremony at Villa Litta Modignani in the Affori ward of Milan.[90] Toward the end of October that year, the couple announced that they were expecting a second child.[91]
In December 2003, Vieri participated in the Italian TV broadcastChi vuol essere milionario? forming a memorable duo withGennaro Gattuso during an episode organised for charity purposes. Vieri and Gattuso answered 13 questions in a row correctly, retiring after reading the second-to-last question, winning an outstanding amount of €150,000.[94][95][96] The thirteenth question represented a dramatic yet hilarious moment on Italian television: being the duo doubtful about the correct answer,Vincenzo Montella, one of the football players who were in the audience, invited Vieri and Gattuso to walk away with the already collected amount of €70,000 without risking to reduce the final prize to €16,000 answering incorrectly. Vieri playfully suggested selling the player ("Ma vendetelo!"), while Gattuso jokingly asked for getting Montella out of the studio as he was behaving like a jinx ("Porta una sfiga Montella, mandatelo via!").[95][96][97]
Having retired from professional football, Vieri started working as apundit and consultant forbeIN Sports.[98] He successively started his weeklyTwitch-based podcast, namedBobo TV, together with former teammatesAntonio Cassano,Daniele Adani andNicola Ventola, which quickly became one of the most popular Web-based shows in Italy.[99]
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^Licia Granello (30 October 1997)."ITALIA A UN PASSO DAI MONDIALI" [Italy a Step Away from the World Cup] (in Italian). La Repubblica. Retrieved11 May 2016.
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