Gianluca Pessotto

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Personal information
Gianluca Pessotto

Date of birth	August 11, 1970
Place of birth	Latisana, Italy
Height	1.75 m
Nickname	Pessottino, Pesso
Position	Defender
Club information
Current club	retired
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1989-1991 1991-1992 1992-1993 1993-1994 1994-1995 1995-2006	Varese Massese Bologna Verona Torino Juventus	64 (1) 22 (1) 21 (1) 34 (3) 32 (1) 243 (2)
National team**
1996-2002	Italy	22 (0)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of June 28, 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of June 28, 2006.

Gianluca Pessotto (born August 11, 1970) is an Italian former footballer who played with Juventus for the majority of his career. A versatile player, Pessotto was able to play as a full back or midfielder.

1 Career
2 Attempted suicide
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Career

Born in Latisana, in the province of Udine, Pessotto started his career in the A.C. Milan youth system. As a player, Pessotto spent time with Varese (1989-1991), Massese (1991-92), Bologna (1992-93), Hellas Verona (1993-94), Torino (1994-95) and Juventus (1995-2006). He is one of many experienced players who have been at Juventus for a lengthy period of time. Injuries and other issues in the closing stages of his career limited his first-team opportunities to mainly being used a substitute to Jonathan Zebina.

Pessotto retired at the end of the 2005/2006 Serie A season, and was successively appointed as the new Juventus team manager.

Among his achievements as a football player, Pessotto won the UEFA Champions League in 1996 (played in 4 UCL Finals), the UEFA SuperCup in 1996, the Intercontinental Cup in 1996, 1 UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2000, 6 Scudetti (1997-1998-2002-2003-2005-2006) and 4 Italian SuperCup (1997-1998-2002-2003) with Juventus FC.

For Italy, Pessotto was capped 22 times. He played for his country at the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000. In Euro 2000, Pessotto scored a penalty in the shootout win over, Holland which sent Italy into the final. However, he only picked up a runners-up medal, as Italy lost after conceding a last minute equaliser, and then conceded a David Trézéguet golden goal.

His number 7, has recently been retired by Juventus after his retirement.

[edit] Attempted suicide

Pessotto survived a 15-metre fall from a a fourth story window at the headquarters of Juventus, on 27 June 2006. As he was holding a rosary, it is believed that he was attempting suicide. ^[1]

His suicide attempt coincides with widening investigations regarding possible match fixing amongst Italy's top clubs including Juventus, where Pessotto is Sports Director. Though not implicated in the scandal, Pessotto was said to be feeling depressed and unhappy with his role at the club. ^[2] ^[3] He suffered multiple fractures and internal bleeding from the fall. On 17th July 2006 the medical staff declared him out of danger and stated that he will not have long-term mental damage or physical paralysis. ^[4]

[edit] References

^ "Finally, joy for Italy", Belfast Telegraph, 5 July 2006.
^ "Pessotto was depressed - Wife", Teamtalk.com, 28 June 2006.
^ "Italians see Pessotto in hospital", BBC, 29 June 2006.
^ "Pessotto meets his sons in hospital", ANSA, 17 July 2006.

[edit] External links

[1] Report on Channel 4 Website.

	Italy squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists
1 Toldo \| 2 Bergomi \| 3 P. Maldini \| 4 Cannavaro \| 5 Costacurta \| 6 Nesta \| 7 Pessotto \| 8 Torricelli \| 9 Albertini \| 10 Del Piero \| 11 D. Baggio \| 12 Pagliuca \| 13 Cois \| 14 Di Biagio \| 15 Di Livio \| 16 Di Matteo \| 17 Moriero \| 18 R. Baggio \| 19 Inzaghi \| 20 Chiesa \| 21 Vieri \| 22 Buffon \| Coach: C. Maldini