Full Name :Giorgio Chiellini Date Of Birth:August 14, 1984 (age 25) Place of Birth:Pisa, Italy Height:1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Position:Defender Current Club:Juventus National Debut:2004 Caps:28 (2)
Giorgio Chiellini (born August 14, 1984 in Pisa) is an Italian footballer who plays for Serie A club Juventus. He is a centre back who started his career playing as a left-back.
Club career Early years
Giorgio's parents are called Fabio and Lucia, he is one of three siblings, his twin brother Claudio and a brother & sister Giulio and Silvia. He started playing at 6 years of age for Livorno and at first was used as a central midfielder. As he grew up, he was switched on the wing and finally he found his position as a lateral defender. These days, thanks to his flexibility, he can be employed as a central defender too.
Juventus
He was signed by Juventus in summer 2004, for €6.5 million, but immediately sold on co-ownership deal to Fiorentina for €3.5 million, where he played for 2004–05 season.
After an excellent first season in Serie A, Chiellini was recalled by Juventus for the 2005–06 season, where Juventus paid €4.3 million for full-ownership. He has been a regular fixture in the Bianconeri backline in their return to Serie A and was named "Man of the Match" in a game against Inter Milan when he won a physical and heated duel with ex-Juve teammate Zlatan Ibrahimović, allowing the in-form
hitman no goals. Chiellini extended his original contract from until 2009 to 2011 on October 12, 2006.
After the Calciopoli scandal, Chiellini was a starter for Juventus in Serie B. After their triumphant return to Serie A, Giorgio Chiellini was converted by coach Claudio Ranieri into a center-back, having played left back in his career until this point. Chiellini had a tremendous season, named by many as the best center-back in all of Serie A. Alongside his reborn center-defense partner Nicola Legrottaglie, the duo led Juventus to the 2nd-least conceded goals for the season, despite many penalties awarded against Juventus controversially. The surprising aspect of this is that neither were considered remotely close to pinning down a center-back position in the summer before the season, with Domenico Criscito and Jorge Andrade preferred as the starting duo.
On April 27, 2008 scores twice for Juventus in 5-2 win over S.S. Lazio that confirms Bianconeri's place in Serie A top four.
On June 26, 2008 extends contract with Juventus to 2013.
On August 13, 2008 scores first European goal of career as Juve beat FC Artmedia Petržalka 4-0 in first leg of UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie.
On August 17, 2008 Giorgio injured his left knee again during the Trofeo Luigi Berlusconi against AC Milan and misses start of Serie A season. The extent of the damage is yet to be determined, but he will be unable to play for at least 6 weeks, possibly even 6 months. However, he returned marvelously fast to duty, after only a month out.[5] On September makes quick recovery from injury to start each of Juve's first three UEFA Champions League group games. Despite this, many Juventus supporters believe he is not fully healed as he has made two uncharacteristic mistakes that led to goals in recent weeks. After a few shaky games, Chiellini has regained the form that has seen him nominated by the Oscar del Calcio as the Best Defender in Serie A.
On December 14, 2008 he scored the 2–1 goal against Milan in Serie A with a well placed header from an Alessandro Del Piero corner kick. Juventus went on to win the match 4–2.
International career
Chiellini made his debut for the Italian national team in November 2004 against Finland, and has since become a regular squad member. He won the European Under-19 Championship with Italy in 2003, and was also a member of the Italy team that won the bronze medals at the football tournament of the 2004 Summer Olympics. He was named in the 'UEFA Team of the tournament' of the 2007 U-21 Championships held in the Netherlands where they qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Chiellini was called up to Italy's squad for Euro 2008, and infamously injured captain Fabio Cannavaro in a collision during a training session, that resulted in Cannavaro missing out on the tournament. He was sidelined in the opening game against the Netherlands, which Italy went on to lose 3–0. He subsequently received the nod to partner Christian Panucci at center-back from the second game onwards, cementing his place in the Azzurri defence. While he featured in the group games against Romania and France, his most impressive display was arguably to come against Spain in the quarterfinals, where he famously neutralized the threat of the Spanish attacking duo of David Villa and Fernando Torres. The game ended 0–0, with Italy eventually losing out on penalty shootouts.
During 2010 World Cup qualifying, Chiellini cemented his place as undisputed first-choice in Marcello Lippi's squad. He played the full 90 minutes in all three group matches at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup but Italy were eliminated at the group stages on goal difference. He has now been included in Marcello Lippi's preliminary 30-man squad for the World Cup, and is favourite to start for the azzurri, come the summer. His performances has earned him recognition as a favourite to lead both the azzurri and Juventus backline in coming years.
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