Italian striker Antonio di Natale: career

Antonio di Natale is an attacker of Italian origin, who at the moment is without a valid contract with any club. However, it is likely that he will end his career in the near future, since he is already 39 years old. Antonio di Natale performs at the position of the central striker. But throughout his career, he could come out as a winger and a drawn forward.

Carier start

Antonio di Natale was born on October 13, 1977 in Italy, in Naples. However, for a long time he did not practice football professionally until he moved north. Then the young man decided to become a professional football player. At the age of 17 he joined the academy of the Empoli club. A year later he signed a professional contract.

However, for the first time he entered the field only when he was already 19 years old. It was clear that the player was not reaching the club level, so in 1997 he was leased to a small team of "Iperzola". There he played 33 matches, scoring 6 goals. Then di Natale went on a half-year lease in the "Varese", and after that - in "Viareggio". It was in the last club that he showed himself best: in 25 matches scored 12 goals.

When in 1999 Antonio di Natale returned to Empoli, he was taken more seriously. In the first season he appeared 30 times on the field, scoring seven goals. Already from the next season, the striker became the player of the club's base. There he spent the next four years, playing another 147 matches and scoring 48 goals. In 2004, he was attracted by the larger Italian club Udinese, who bought a player who became a legend for symbolic 100 thousand euros.

The game in Udinese

What did Antonio di Natale show in Udinese? The statistics of the player is impressive, since he spent 12 years at the club. And it should be noted that in all seasons, except for the last, he was the player of the base and the key figure on the field. In the first season, Antonio scored just 11 goals. But then gradually began to grow, reaching a peak by 2010, when he managed to beat 29 goals in 38 games.

He repeated this achievement in 2012. Then he scored the same number of goals, but already in 42 games. Twice he got the title of the best sniper of Serie A. Once he was recognized as the best player of the year in Italy. Antonio collected a lot of individual awards, but to achieve great team success could not.

In just 12 years, the striker "Udinese" played 446 matches, scoring 227 goals. Naturally, with such indicators di Natale is not only the best scorer in the history of the club, but also the player with the most played matches in the history of the team. It is unlikely that in the coming years someone will be able to beat these records.

National team appearances

In the Italian national team, di Natale debuted in 2002. At that time he was already 25 years old. During his career he had only 43 matches, scoring 11 goals. His first major tournament was the European Championships, held in 2008. Then he went on the field in two of four matches. At the World Cup in 2010, he had already spent all three games, scoring a goal against the team of Slovakia. The last tournament for the national team for Antonio was the European Championship in 2012. He reached the finals, having scored one goal in the gates of the Spaniards.