Antonio Cassano
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Antonio Cassano | ||
 |
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Antonio Cassano | |
| Date of birth | July 12, 1982 (age 24) | |
| Place of birth |  Bari, Italy |
|
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | |
| Playing position | Striker, Deep-lying Forward | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club |  Real Madrid |
|
| Number | 18 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1999 | Bari |
|
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1999-2001 2001-2006 2006- |
Bari AS Roma Real Madrid |
48 (6) 118 (39) 14 (4) |
| National team2 | ||
| 2000-2002 2003- |
Italy U-21 Italy |
9 (3) 10 (3) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Antonio Cassano (born July 12, 1982 in Bari) is an Italian professional football player, who currently plays for Spanish club side Real Madrid and is an occasional member of the Italian national team. He is a forward.
Variously nicknamed Peter Pan, Fantantonio, El Pibe de Bari (a clear reference to Diego Maradona's nickname) and Il Gioiello di Bari Vecchia (the jewel of Old Bari), Cassano has acquired a repuation for petulance that has often attracted more media attention than his ability as a player. He has lent his name to the Italian neologism cassanata, coined by Fabio Capello in November 2002 and subsequently used by journalists to refer to any behaviour incompatible with team spirit in football.[1]
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[edit] Biography
Cassano grew up poor in the old section of Bari. As a child, he always played football in the streets of Bari and was picked up by an A.S. Bari scout and brought up through the AS Bari youth system.
[edit] Early career
Cassano made his Italian Serie A league debut for Bari in 1999, against local rivals U.S. Lecce. A week later, he scored a superb goal against Inter Milan, one of the clubs who had courted Cassano before he signed a professional contract with his hometown club.
The top clubs in Italy each kept a close eye on Cassano, and with rumours of a pre-contract agreement having been signed with A.S. Roma, he eventually signed for the then Serie A champions in the summer of 2001. The transfer fee of around €28m, is huge amount to pay for a player who was still only 19 years old - Juventus FC general director Luciano Moggi said at the time: "Cassano is a real talent, but €28m for a player of his age is excessive. It's too soon to understand exactly how much he is worth."
Cassano's first season at Roma produced only five goals. As he developed his game, he began to come to the attention of those in charge of the national side, culminating in a scoring debut for Italy in November 2003, against Poland. Cassano played for the Azzurri squad in Euro 2004, at age 22. When Italian playmaker Francesco Totti was suspended, Cassano won a place in the starting line-up and scored a goal against Sweden and a last-minute winner against Bulgaria. However, Italy was eliminated in the group stage on goal difference.
[edit] Roma controversies
It was during this period that Cassano's legendary surliness began to make the newspapers. He had numerous spats with coaches at the club and the national team. His relationship with then Roma coach Fabio Capello was a fractious one - the pair fell out over Cassano's omission from a practice match days after his international debut.
In the 2003 Coppa Italia finals against AC Milan, Cassano was sent off when he protested at a decision. Cassano insistently showed the horns gesture while leaving the pitch. In the 2004-05 season, after the resignation of Roma manager Cesare Prandelli, Cassano quarrelled with replacement Rudi Völler until the poor performance of the club forced Völler to resign only a month after his appointment. In a December 2004 interview, Cassano claimed to miss Capello, whom he considered to be "like a father".
He was omitted from the squad while Luigi del Neri, the third AS Roma coach of the season was in charge. Del Neri was replaced in the middle of the season by youth team boss Bruno Conti after a run of disastrous results. Cassano was playing again under Conti, and even served as Roma team captain when Francesco Totti was suspended for five matches toward the end of the season.
During the 2002-03 pre-season, while Roma was coached by Luciano Spalletti, Cassano was in constant conflict with the club management over the renewal of his contract, which was due to expire on 30 June 2006. Many media commentators speculated that Cassano would leave Roma to join his former coach Fabio Capello at Juventus, but he eventually joined Real Madrid in January 2006, notoriously without saying good-bye to his Roma teammates.
[edit] Transfer to Real Madrid
Cassano became only the second ever Italian player to sign for Real Madrid following Christian Panucci, a former teammate of his at AS Roma. He scored on his debut on January 18 2006 in a Copa del Rey match against Real Betis. He also scored in Real Madrid's 2-1 win over city rivals Atlético Madrid, but his failure to gain a regular place prompted speculation that Madrid signed him primarily to cash in on his resale value in his native Italy. Meanwhile reports of Cassano's erratic and anti-social behavior continued, and his expanding waistline due to a weakness for junk food led in May 2006 to Madrid fining him for every gram he remained overweight. He was omitted from Italy's victorious 2006 World Cup squad.
Hopes were raised of a revival in Cassano's career when his mentor and former manager at Roma, Fabio Capello joined Real Madrid in the summer 2006 following his departure from Juventus in the wake of the Serie A scandal of 2006.
[edit] Return to the Azzurri
After an absence of about a year, Cassano was called up to the Italian national team for two Euro 2008 qualifying matches in September 2006. On September 2, Cassano played the full 90 minutes against Lithuania, setting up a goal in the 1-1 draw and being arguably the best player in the team. His performance in the next qualifying match, the 3-1 defeat by France on September 6, was less impressive.
[edit] Real Madrid controversies
On October 30, 2006, the Real Madrid club website announced that Cassano had been temporarily suspended from the team, citing his “disrespect” of coach Fabio Capello following a dressing room argument arising from his omission from the team after a game against Gimnastic de Tarragona. According to the Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, Cassano reportedly said that he had always stood behind Capello, since their days at Roma, and asked Capello, "Is this how you repay me?"
Speculation abounded as to Cassano's future as a result of his outburst. He was linked with moves to AC Milan, Inter Milan, Fiorentina, Italian Serie B team SSC Napoli, and Newcastle United. In an interview with a Rome radio station Cassano told the interviewer he would "walk all the way back to Roma", that he felt he owes the club, and that he should probably never have left in the first place. He also indicated his eagerness to make peace with Roma captain Francesco Totti with whom he fell out before his departure from Roma.
However, Cassano did not move in the January 2007 transfer window, and on 19 February 2007 manager Capello announced Cassano's return to the squad, commenting "he has lost weight, he's training well and is in good physical condition" [[1]]
[edit] Honours
- Italian Super Cup: 2001
[edit] Trivia
- Cassano was born on the day after Italy beat West Germany in the 1982 World Cup Final.
- Spanish comedian Carlos Latre created an imitation of Antonio Cassano, in which he plays on Cassano's habit of excessive eating.
- Antonio's nickname is the bad boy of Italian football
[edit] References
- ^ (Italian) [Antonio il terribile, Gazzetta dello Sport
[edit] External links
- Antonio Cassano career stats at Soccerbase
- FootballDatabase provides Antonio Cassano's profile and stats
- Antonio Cassano fans club
| Preceded by Matteo Brighi |
Serie A Young Footballer of the Year 2003 |
Succeeded by Alberto Gilardino |
| Preceded by Roberto Baronio |
Serie A Young Footballer of the Year 2001 |
Succeeded by Matteo Brighi |
| Real Madrid - Current Squad |
|---|
|
1 Casillas | 2 Salgado | 3 Roberto Carlos | 4 Ramos | 5 Cannavaro | 6 Diarra | 7 Raúl | 8 Emerson | 10 Robinho | 11 Cicinho | 12 Marcelo | 13 López | 14 Guti | 15 Bravo | 16 Gago | 17 van Nistelrooy | 18 Cassano | 19 Reyes | 20 Higuaín | 21 Helguera | 22 Pavón | 23 Beckham | 24 Mejía | 25 Miñambres | 26 Javi García | 27 De la Red | 36 Nieto | 38 Torres | 39 Valero | Coach Capello |
