2003 Italian
SuperCup winner (Juventus) 2002 Serie A Champions (Juventus) 2003 Serie A Champions (Juventus) 2000 European Championship Finals (Italy) 2003 Champions League Finals (Juventus) 2002 Italian Cup Finals (Juventus)
Biography
Gianluca Zambrotta (born February 19, 1977 in Como) is an
Italian football player. He is comfortable playing on either
wing as a defender or midfielder. He currently plays for
Juventus of Serie A in a jersey numbered 19.
Como
Zambrotta started his career with his hometown team Como Calcio
at the age of 17 in 1994. In his first season with Como in Serie
B he played only one game. In 1995, Como were relegated to the
Serie C1 and Zambrotta started to play more regularly for the
first team. In the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons, he made 47
appearances and scored 6 goals for Como.
Bari
In 1997, Zambrotta's Serie A career have begun when his great
potential was spotted by the A.S. Bari boss Eugenio Fascetti.
Zambrotta was snapped up by Fascetti after Bari had won
promotion to the Serie A. In his first year in the top flight,
Zambrotta was playing on the left wing and scored 2 goals in 27
appearances. In the 1998-99 season, following the departure of
Nicola Ventola, Zambrotta exploded on to the scene. In Week 1,
he scored the only goal of the game against Venezia after just 9
minutes into the first half. Zambrotta continued to shine and
was the key figure for Bari's surprise start to the campaign. In
Week 7, he scored the opening goal at San Siro and helped Bari
to win the game 3-2 against Inter. In February 1999, the Italian
Under-21 International was rewarded by the coach of Italy, Dino
Zoff, for his impressive displays. He earned his first cap in a
friendly against Norway. He became the first player of Bari to
play for the national side in 50 years. Throughout the 1998-99
season, he made 32 appearances and got on the score sheet for 4
times. Halfway through this season, he was brought to the most
successful club in Italy, Juventus, by Carlo Ancelotti for
€15.85M and would play in the black-and-white jersey starting
the season after.
Juventus
After the transfer to Juventus, Zambrotta continued his upward
momentum. He made 32 league appearances with one goal in the
first season he played for Juventus. On 14th May 2000, the last
match day of the season, Juventus missed out on the Scudetto as
they were defeated 1-0 away at Perugia in the heavy rain while
Lazio got the 3 points at home by beating Reggina 3-0 and
overcame Juventus with 1 point. Zambrotta was brought on in the
second half in that game and was given a red card by the referee
Pierluigi Collina later.
In his 2nd season for Juventus, 2000-01, Zambrotta made 29
league appearances and scored 3 goals. But Juventus finished
once again on the 2nd place. Zambrotta won his first scudetto in
the season 2001-02, while he made 32 league appearances and
scored 1 goal throughout the season.
After Zambrotta suffered an injury in the game against South
Korea during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he missed the beginning of
the season 2002-03. During his absentation, the new signing of
Juventus Mauro Camoranesi took his place on the right wing and
was in superb form. This prompted the coach Marcello Lippi to
switch Zambrotta to the left-back when he returned to action.
Zambrotta was adapted to his new position very quickly and
performed particularly well. He remained a regular first team
player as Juventus won the 2nd consecutive scudetto and reached
the UEFA Champions League final, in which they were defeated by
Milan in the penalty shoot-out after a 0-0 draw.
Zambrotta has won three scudetti with Juventus as of 2005,
making a total of 185 league appearances and scoring 7 goals in
6 seasons. In 2005-06, following the injury of Zebina and the
arrival of Chiellini, Zambrotta is again switched to the right-back
by the coach Fabio Capello. In 2005, Zambrotta extended his deal
with Juventus again which will keep him in the black-and-white
jersey until 2010.
Italy National Team
Under-21
Soon after Zambrotta was brought to the Serie A, he got the
attention of the national side. He was selected to play for the
Italy Under-21 national team for the first time on 25 March 1998
against Malta. In his second game for the U21 against Wales on
22 April 1998, he scored the 2nd goal of Italy at the 43rd
minute and helped Italy to win the game by 2-1. In 1998, he
played in all six games of the Italy U21 while they won 5 of
them and drew the last one against Spain.
First Cap
After some impressive displays for the U21 and the amazing start
of the season 1998-99, Zambrotta earned his first cap on 10
February 1999, 9 days before his 22nd birthday. Despite a 0-0
draw in this friendly against Norway, Zambrotta played well
throughout the game.
UEFA Euro 2000
In 1999-00, Zambrotta went on to play for the U21 for 4 more
times and gained some more experience with the senior squad by
getting 6 more caps. At the end of the 1999-00 season, Zambrotta
appeared on the list of Zoff for the Euro 2000 in June.
Zambrotta played in a number 17 jersey in his first major
tournament with the Azzurri. In the group stage, Italy won all 3
games against Turkey, co-hosts Belgium, Sweden by 2-1, 2-0, 2-1
respectively while Zambrotta played the entire first 2 games.
Zambrotta was back on the starting line-up in the quarter final
game against Romania and helped Italy to go through by a 2-0
victory.
In the semi-final, Italy were facing the other co-hosts the
Netherlands. After some tough encounters between Zambrotta and
Boudewijn Zenden, they both picked up a yellow card very early
in the game at the 15th and 28th minute respectively. Just 34
minutes into the first half, Zambrotta received a second booking
for a foul on Zenden again and was sent off by the referee
Markus Merk. With 10 players left on the field, Italy managed to
bring the game into a penalty shoot-out with their magnificent
defence. With Francesco Toldo saving a total of 4 penalties,
including two in the regular time, Italy won the shoot-out by
3-1 and were in the final.
Zambrotta was suspended in the final against France due to his
red card in the last round. Italy lost the game 1-2 after a
golden goal by David Trézéguet.
Sydney 2000 Olympic Games
After the disappointing Euro 2000, Zambrotta was back with the
U21 side for the Olympic Games in September. He started in the
games against Australia and Honduras while they won 1-0 and 3-1
respectively. Since Italy was qualified for the quarter finals
already, the coach put Zambrotta on the bench for the last game
in the group stage against Nigeria and substituted him on at the
80th minute. This would be the last time he played for the U21
national team, with a total of 13 U21-caps. Italy were defeated
by Spain, the later silver medalists, with one goal in the
quarter final and Zambrotta did not play in this game.
2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan
After the appointment of the new coach, Giovanni Trapattoni, by
the FIGC for the national team, Zambrotta remained a regular
first team player in the squad. Before the World Cup (as of 27
May 2002) Zambrotta had earned 23 caps already. He played the
entire 90 minutes for all the 3 games in the group stage and
Italy were qualified as the runners up of the group. In the
round of 16, Italy were drawn against the Group D winners, South
Korea. At the 72nd minute, Zambrotta suffered a serious thigh
injury after a very harsh tackle by the Korean defender. He was
brought off the field and Italy lost the game in the extra time
after a 1-1 draw.
UEFA Euro 2004
In 2003, after the retirement of Paolo Maldini from the national
team and a successful switch to the left-back with Juventus,
Zambrotta became the first choice for this position in the
national team. On 30 May 2004, Zambrotta scored his first ever
international goal in the game against Tunisia. A Bernardo
Corradi header was flapped out for Zambrotta's fierce volley
into the roof of the net at the 89th minute while Italy won the
game by 4-0. In Euro 2004, although the performance of Italy was
largely disappointing and were eliminated at the group stage,
Zambrotta was one of the few Italian players who got praises for
their performances.
Present
After two consecutive disappointing major tournaments,
Trapattoni resigned as the coach of the Azzurri. The new coach
for Italy is Marcello Lippi, who just resigned as the Juventus
coach by that time. At the end of 2005, as Lippi brought on many
new faces for the squad, he once again switched Zambrotta's
position - to the right-back this time.
Zambrotta is currently one of the core players for Italy. His
ability to play on any positions on both flanks contributes
great flexibility to Italy. He will be a key figure of Azzurri
in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. As of 16 Nov 2005, Zambrotta has
earned 52 caps with 1 international goal.
