Matri Alessandro
Alessandro Matri is an Italian footballer who plays as a striker. Born in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, Lombardy, a comune 30 km away from the city of Milan, Matri started his career at Milan. He made his debut on 24 May 2003 against Piacenza as a starter, as Milan rested the majority of its regular starting eleven in view of the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final won over Juventus four days later. Inn his career he played for some important Italian teams as Milan, Juventus, Lazio, Fiorentina, Genoa, Cagliari, Sassuolo and Brescia. Matri earned his first call up for the Italian national team for a friendly match against Germany that took place on 9 February 2011. He played 7 games for Italy’s team scoring one goal.
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The 2012 TIM Supercoppa Italiana Final was the 25th edition of the Supercoppa, an annual football match contested by the winners of the previous season’s Serie A and Coppa Italia competitions. It was the third instance in four years that the match took place in China, where it has an increasing fanbase in Italian football. Juventus qualified to take part by winning the 2011–12 Serie A title, while Napoli qualified by winning the 2012 Coppa Italia Final. Juventus won the game 4–2 after extra time.
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Matri is a dynamic, mobile, hardworking and opportunistic right-footed forward, with a good positional sense, good movement off the ball, and an eye for goal. Although he is primarily deployed as a centre-forward, he is also capable of playing on the wing, or even off another striker, in a more creative role, on occasion, due to his unselfish team-play, as well as his ability to drop deep, link-up with midfielders, and create space for his teammates. As a striker, he is primarily known for his ability to time his attacking runs, and play with his back to goal, as well as his defensive contribution and willingness to press opponents off the ball. He also possesses reliable technique, and an accurate shot, whilst his physical attributes enable him to be effective in the air. Matri earned his first call up for the Italian national team for a friendly match against Germany that took place on 9 February 2011. On 29 March 2011, he made his international debut in the friendly game against Ukraine played in Kiev, under manager Cesare Prandelli, coming on as a substitute for Giuseppe Rossi in the 61st minute, and subsequently scoring his first goal for Italy in the 81st minute, from a Sebastian Giovinco assist, in a match which Italy won 2–0.
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On 31 January 2011, in the final hours of the January transfer window, Matri moved to Juventus until the end of the season in loan deal that saw the remaining half of Lorenzo Ariaudo’s registration rights, worth €2.5 million, being acquired to Cagliari. Juventus would also have an option to permanently acquire the player at the end of the season for an additional €15.5 million, potentially making him worth €18 million in total. The acquisition was a consequence of Juventus’ striking vacancies caused by a season-ending injury to striker Fabio Quagliarella and the loan of Amauri to Parma. Matri made his Juventus debut only two days later, playing in a league game against Palermo, ended in a 2–1 win for the Sicilian opponents. On 5 February, Matri scored his first two goals for Juventus on his return to Cagliari, when he latched onto a Miloš Krasić pass and drove into the near corner for the first, and volleyed again for the second, choosing not to celebrate on both occasions. Matri scored his third goal for Juventus in the classic Derby d’Italia, scoring a header and defeating Inter 1–0. He was not able to score in the three upcoming matches against Lecce, Bologna, and Milan. In the next match, he scored another brace, although Juventus managed to secure only one point on a 2–2 away draw match against newly promoted Cesena. On 4 April, Matri scored his sixth goal for Juventus against Roma, an eventual 2–0 victory for Juventus. In the next match, he again scored one goal, helping the Bianconeri obtain the full three points against Genoa. In addition to his 11 goals with Cagliari during the first half of the season, Matri scored nine goals for Juve during the second half of the 2010–11 season, finishing the league campaign with 20 goals in total, fourth-most in Serie A. On 2 June, Matri officially signed for Juventus on a permanent deal that saw the club pay the pre-agreed €15.5 million transfer fee. He signed a contract that would tie him to Juventus until 30 June 2015. On 2 April 2012, Juventus announced that Matri had added two more years to his current contract to 30 June 2017. During his second season with the club, he won the 2011–12 Serie A title under new manager Antonio Conte, scoring ten goals in Serie A that season, finishing the season as Juventus’ joint top goal-scorer in the league and also reaching the 2012 Coppa Italia final with the club. He notably scored Juventus’ equaliser against title rivals Milan on 25 February 2012 in a 1–1 away draw at the San Siro. Matri began the following season by winning the 2012 Supercoppa Italiana over Napoli. He would go on to make his European debut that season, also scoring his first ever UEFA Champions League goal in a 3–0 away win over Celtic in the round of 16; he scored another goal in the competition as Juventus reached the quarter-finals, only to be eliminated by eventual champions Bayern Munich. Matri finished his third season with the club by winning his second consecutive Serie A title.[10] He won his second Supercoppa Italiana with Juventus at the beginning of the next season, on 18 August 2013, as Juventus defeated Lazio 4–0, before leaving the club later that month.
