Alessio Tacchinardi

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Alessio Tacchinardi (born July 23, 1975 in Crema, Lombardy) is an Italian footballer and central midfielder who currently plays for Villarreal. He previously spent eleven seasons with Juventus.

He started his career in 1992 at Atalanta, where he played in nine games before being transferred to Juventus in 1994. There, he had an immediate impact, starring in 24 games. Arguably, his peak season so far was the 2002-03 campaign, where he scored two goals in 27 appearances in the Serie A, while scoring two more goals in 13 Champions League appearances (that year, Juventus reached the Champions League finals). Nonetheless, he has had occasional injury problems, and has not completely filled the gap left by Edgar Davids' departure. In July 2005, Villareal signed him on one-year loan from Juventus. He helped the team to reach Champions League semi-finals. In July 2006, he extended his loan for one year. His loan will finish at the end of the 2006/07 season. He wears #18 for Villareal in the Primera Liga

For Italy, Tacchinardi has been capped 11 times, as of 2005.

His elder brother, Massimiliano, also briefly played professional football as a defender.

Villarreal CF - Current Squad