I LOVE AZZURRI :: Mauro Germán Serra Camoranesi

Full Name :Mauro Germán Serra Camoranesi
Date Of Birth:November 28, 1977 (age 33)
Place of Birth:Rome, Italy
Height:1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position:Left back, left wingback
Corrent Club:Lyon
National Debut:2003
Caps:53 (5)

Mauro Germán Camoranesi Serra, Cavaliere Ufficiale OMRI, (born October 4, 1976 in Tandil, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina) is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer, who plays for Serie A club Juventus as a midfielder, usually on the right wing. He has also been used as a central midfielder.
He is well known for his ability to cross the ball and his great dribbling skills.
Camoranesi is a member of the Italy national football team, and was part of the winning squad at the 2006 World Cup.

Club career
Camoranesi had always been a big fan of the Argentinian club River Plate growing up, but as a youngster, he played in the youth squad of native side Club Atlético Aldosivi. Aldosivi is situated in Mar del Plata just 160 km (99 mi) away from Mauro's birthplace of Tandil.
However, he moved to Mexico to begin his professional playing career at Santos Laguna. The club won the Primera División de México during the Invierno 1996 season, Camoranesi scored 1 goal in 13 games for the team; this was the clubs first ever championship success. Santos Laguna fans nicknamed him "El Cholo".
More travels came for the young Argentine the following year, as he moved to

Uruguayan club Montevideo Wanderers briefly, before returning back to his homeland to play for Banfield, solidifying himself as an impressive attacking right midfielder, while playing 38 games with 16 goals.
The following season Camoranesi moved once again, this time back to Mexico and club Cruz Azul, where he played from 1998 to 2000. He caught the attention of Italian Serie A side Verona by scoring 21 goals in 75 games with Cruz Azul, an impressive achievement for a midfield player.
He moved to Italy in 2000, signing with Verona where he played two years. In 2002, Camoranesi was signed on a co-ownership deal; initially Juventus paid Verona €4.8 million (reportedly £3 million) and gave them co-ownership of Max Vieri. On 26 June 2003 he was signed outright by the bianconeri on a permanent basis for an additional fee of €4.5 million; this was the same day Juventus signed Marco Di Vaio and Enzo Maresca in similar deals.

Top

Juventus
With Juventus, Camoranesi won Serie A in 2002-03, and Italian Super Cups in 2002 and 2003. Camoranesi was also a Serie A champion with the Old Lady in 2004-05 and 2005-06, but Juventus were stripped of both of those titles as another result of the "calciopoli" scandal.
Despite his agent Sergio Fortunato linking the player to clubs such as Lyon, Valencia and Liverpool over the summer of 2006, following Juve's relegation, Camoranesi made an announcement himself in September, pledging loyalty to Juventus: "In January I will not ask to be sold, I'm happy to stay here.", he stated.
Camoranesi contributed to a number of notable goals when Juventus played in Serie B after the relegation. Against Lecce, on April 2007, he performed an impressive piece of skill similar to a Cruijff Turn, turning the ball through a defender's legs on the wing, before retrieving it to help set up Juve's first goal of the match. Later in the match he scored his side's third; Camoranesi took the ball past three Lecce defenders, before hitting the ball from the edge of the box, with his left foot into the top corner.[5] Just days before he had scored a headed in the 2-0 victory against close title contenders S.S.C. Napoli. His original shirt number was 16, but was changed to 8 for 2007-2008. He changed back to number 16 from 8 after just one season. Despite suffering several injuries during the 2007/2008 season, he was a very important and influential player in Juventus' return season. Cameronesi had an impressive pre-season before the up and coming 08-09 Serie A season.

Top

International career
Although born in Argentina, Camoranesi has Italian ancestry through his Grandparents who were Italian and had emigrated to Argentina, hence his last name. This made him eligible to play for either Argentina or Italy, but the "Azzurri" showed interest in him first and, in 12 February 2003, he made his international debut for Italy in a friendly match against Portugal, which Italy won 1-0, under former coach Giovanni Trapattoni.
Some Italian fans are not too fond of Camoranesi because, upon accepting Trapattoni's offer to play for the "Azzurri", he stated: "I'm not a traitor, I still feel 100% Argentine and have done nothing to find myself in this situation. It's only a football matter, nothing else". He also chooses not to sing Italy's national anthem before their matches because he doesn't know the words, although he can be seen singing (at least a part of) the anthem during the World Cup celebrations in Circus Maximus on 10 July 2006. Camoranesi was not the first Juventus player born in Argentina to play for Italy, Omar Sivori before him did also.
He has been capped 33 times by Italy and has scored 3 goals, the first of which came in Italy's 2006 World Cup qualifier away to Belarus on 7 September 2005, which the Italians won 4-1. His second goal came on 11 October 2006 in Italy's 2008 European championship qualifier away to Georgia. He also scored on a friendly match against Netherlands on 12 November 2005, however official records decided that the goal is an own goal by a Netherlands player.
Camoranesi played for Italy at UEFA Euro 2004, and was also part of Marcello Lippi's Italy team which won the 2006 FIFA World Cup. At the end of the final match, in which Italy defeated rivals France, Camoranesi had Massimo Oddo, his team-mate, chop off a large chunk of his long hair as the rest of the squad danced around them in a circle. Camoranesi then went up to the Camera and dedicated the triumph by saying: "para los pibes del barrio ..." (for the guys from the neighbourhood).
Mauro commented in an interview in regards to the World Cup victory "I feel Argentine. But I have defended the colors of Italy with dignity. That is something nobody can take away."
He was called up to Italy's squad for Euro 2008.

Top

Honours
Santos Laguna
Primera División de México - Invierno 1996
Juventus
Serie A: 2002-03, (2004-05, 2005-06 : last two revoked due to Calciopoli scandal)
Supercoppa Italiana: 2002
Serie B: 2006-07
Italy National Team
FIFA World Cup: 2006

Top