Trezeguet David

David Sergio Trezeguet is a French former footballer who played as a striker. Trezeguet began his career in Argentina with Club Atlético Platense at the age of eight, progressing through their youth system to their first team, where he made his debut in the Primera División in 1994. After one season, he transferred to Ligue 1 side AS Monaco, where he would form a striking partnership with international teammate Thierry Henry, winning the league in the 1996–97 season. He left the club in 2000, having scored 52 goals in 93 Ligue 1 appearances and having claimed two Ligue 1 championships and the 1997 Trophée des champions. In 2000, Trezeguet signed for Italian Serie A club Juventus for a transfer fee of £20 million. With 24 goals, he was the joint recipient of the Capocannoniere award for top scorer as his team won the 2001–02 Serie A title; Trezeguet also scored eight goals in 10 Champions League appearances as Juventus reached the second round of the tournament. Despite struggling with injuries the following season, he won another league title with the club, and also scored four goals in 10 Champions League appearances as Juventus reached the final of the tournament, eventually losing 2–3 on penalties to Milan, as Trezeguet missed his spot kick in the resulting shoot-out. Trezeguet was a prolific, complete, and talented striker, who was gifted with pace, power, instinct, and an eye for goal. A highly opportunistic player, he was excellent at taking advantage of chances and loose balls in the area, and was an accurate striker of the ball, known for his clinical finishing, as well as his ability to score with few touches, due to his ability to shoot first time and finish off chances from close range, even when off-balance or from awkward positions. He was capable of scoring with either foot, despite being naturally right footed, as well as with his head, and excelled in the air; he was also known for having a penchant for scoring acrobatic goals. Although he wasn’t particularly talented, skilful, or known for his link-up play, he was also highly regarded for his positional sense, anticipation, reactions, offensive movement, and his ability to lose his markers, as well as for his skill at playing with his back to goal, courtesy of his solid technique. David Trezeguet is considered to be one of the best strikers ever.

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Trezeguet first competed internationally in the French youth squad alongside Thierry Henry, Willy Sagnol, and William Gallas, and played in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. In the lead up to the 1998 World Cup in France, Aimé Jacquet gave younger players such as David Trezeguet, Henry and Patrick Vieira the chance to display their talent, and all three were eventually selected for the World Cup ahead of experienced French players including David Ginola. Trezeguet scored one goal in the tournament, in the 4–0 win over Saudi Arabia, as France went on to win the World Cup, defeating Brazil 3–0 in the final at the Stade de France. Two years later France were crowned European champions after defeating Italy 2–1 in the Euro 2000 final, courtesy of Trezeguet’s golden goal in extra time from a Robert Pirès assist.Although ranked first in the world, France failed spectacularly in the 2002 World Cup, crashing out in the group stage without scoring a single goal, despite David Trezeguet, Thierry Henry and Djibril Cissé being the top goalscorers respectively in Serie A, the Premier League and Ligue 1 that season. The failure was then followed up by a quarter-final exit at Euro 2004 at the hands of unheralded Greece with Trezeguet scoring just one goal in the tournament in a 2–2 draw against Croatia. However, with the return of Zinedine Zidane from brief international retirement, France would go on to reach the final of the 2006 World Cup. Throughout the tournament, Trezeguet found himself out of place in Raymond Domenech’s 4–2–3–1 formation which only used one striker – a position allocated to Thierry Henry. On 9 July 2006, Trezeguet took part in the final, coming on as a substitute. The match, against Italy, went to a penalty shootout and Trezeguet was the only player from either team to miss his penalty, his shot hitting the crossbar, as Italy won 5–3 on penalty kicks after a 1–1 draw. On 19 October 2007, Trezeguet threatened to quit France after being overlooked for two Euro 2008 qualifying matches by coach Raymond Domenech. On 26 March 2008, Trezeguet was selected for a friendly against England to replace the injured Karim Benzema, which would turn out to be his last appearance for France as he was subsequently not chosen for the squad that competed in Euro 2008. On 9 July 2008, he announced his retirement from international football, finishing his France career ranked third among France’s all-time top goalscorers with 34 goals from 71 caps. He cited “the awful Euro 2008 and the reappointment of the coach” being the main reasons for this decision, and also added “I see football differently from how they see it in France. Euro 2008 was very negative, but what annoys me more is that Domenech is staying.”