Alberto Gilardino, Cavaliere Ufficiale OMRI^[1][2], (born July 5, 1982 in Biella, Piedmont) is a World Cup-winning footballer who plays as a striker for ACF Fiorentina and the Italian national team.

Career

Early years

"Gila" started his career for Piacenza Calcio, playing his first match in Serie A against A.C. Milan, That season he made 17 league appearances and scored 3 goals.

He was sold to Hellas Verona in 2001, scoring only five goals in his two seasons at the club where he made 39 league appearances.

Parma

His career was launched on the international stage in 2002, after he transferred to Parma F.C. on the explicit request of former Verona coach Cesare Prandelli. Gilardino scored five goals in his first season, and netted 23 times in his second season, that total in the 2003-04 campaign, made him the second-most prolific Serie A scorer. The success in club level and U21 level, made him earned a contract extension until June 2007.^[3] He repeated this feat in 2004-05, scoring 23 goals and finishing as the second-best scorer in Serie A once again. He scored 50 goals for Parma in only 96 appearances in Seria A.

Milan

He made an estimated €24m transfer to AC Milan on 17 July 2005.^[4] Though he scored seventeen domestic goals for Milan, he failed to find his offensive form in Milan's 2005-06 Champions League campaign, going goalless in all twelve matches. ^[5] Gilardino's European offensive output the next season was equally disappointing, with only two goals. One of his two goals, though, helped Milan seal a decisive 3-0 win over Manchester United in the second leg of the semifinals on May 3, 2007, which put them back into the CL final and set up a rematch with Liverpool F.C.. He played only two minutes as a substitute for Filippo Inzaghi in Milan's 2-1 victory. Gilardino led Milan in '06-07 Serie A scoring with twelve goals; no other Milan player hit double figures.

He contributed a brace in Milan's 5-1 defeat of S.S. Lazio on October 7, 2007 (which marked his first domestic goal following a double in Milan's 5-2 victory over Ascoli Calcio on April 18), and likewise for his first Champions League scores of the season in a 4-1 victory over FC Shakhtar Donetsk on October 24.

Fiorentina

Gilardino against S.S. Lazio on 24 September 2008.

On May 25, 2008, Fiorentina sporting director Pantaleo Corvino confirmed that a deal to sign Gilardino from Milan had been completed.[1] On May 28, 2008, the deal was confirmed; Gilardino moved for €15 million and signed a five-year deal. Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli previously guided Gilardino when the pair were with Parma. His first goal with the viola shirt arrived in the first leg of the third qualifying round for the UEFA Champions League 2008–09 against Slavia Prague, where he scored the second goal of the match. On August 31, Gilardino scored on his Serie A debut against Juventus in the 89th minute to tie the game at 1–1. In the successive league match he supplied an assist to Adrian Mutu to open the score in the match against S.S.C. Napoli, but Fiorentina still finished on the losing side, by suffering a 1–2 defeat at the Stadio San Paolo. In the first match from the Champions League group stages against the French of Olympique Lyonnais, he scored two goals in the first half to give Fiorentina a two-goal cushion, only to be cancelled by two second-half goals from Piquionne and Benzema.^[6]

National

Gilardino played with Italy in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, winning the bronze medal. He also led Italy's Under 21 team to victory in the 2004 European Under-21 Football Championship.

He was a member of the Italy squad that won the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He played in the first two matches, scoring a goal against the United States with a diving header, then coming on as a substitute in the semifinal match against Germany, hitting the post in extra time and providing the pass for Alessandro Del Piero's stoppage-time goal that sealed the Azzurri's 2-0 victory.

On October 17th, 2007, Gilardino assumed the team captaincy for the first time in his international career after Daniele De Rossi was substituted during Italy's 2-0 friendly win over South Africa. He returned to the national team on the 20th August, 2008 and scored the first of Italy's two goals in an international friendly against Austria which ended in a 2-2 draw.

Olympic medal record
Competitor for  Italy
Men's Football
Bronze	2004 Athens	Team Competition

Honours

Club

• UEFA Champions League: 1
  • 2006-07, AC Milan
• UEFA Super Cup: 1
  • 2007, AC Milan
• FIFA Club World Cup: 1
  • 2007, AC Milan

National

• FIFA World Cup: 1
  • 2006, Italian national team
• UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 1
  • 2004, Italian national under-21 team
• 2004 Summer Olympics: 3
  • 2004, Italian national under-21 team

Individual

• Serie A Footballer of the Year: 1
  • 2005
• Italian Footballer of the Year: 1
  • 2005
• Serie A Young Footballer of the Year: 1
  • 2004

Career statistics

Club performance

¹European Competitions include the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup.
²Other Tournaments include the FIFA Club World Cup.

International goals

Updated to games played August 20, 2008. ^[7]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	October 13, 2004	Palermo, Italy	Belarus	4–3	Win	FIFA World Cup 2006 Qualification
2.	February 9, 2005	Cagliari, Italy	Russia	2–0	Win	Friendly
3.	August 17, 2005	Dublin, Ireland	Republic of Ireland	1–2	Win	Friendly
4.	October 12, 2005	Lecce, Italy	Moldova	2–1	Win	FIFA World Cup 2006 Qualification
5.	November 12, 2005	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Netherlands	1–2	Win	Friendly
6.	March 1, 2006	Florence, Italy	Germany	4–1	Win	Friendly
7.	April 31, 2006	Geneva, Switzerland	Switzerland	1–1	Draw	Friendly
8.	June 17, 2006	Kaiserslautern, Germany	United States	1–1	Draw	FIFA World Cup 2006
9.	September 6, 2006	Saint-Denis, France	France	1–3	Loss	UEFA Euro 2008 Qualification
10.	August 20, 2008	Nice, France	Austria	2–2	Draw	Friendly

Trivia

• When he scores, he often celebrates "playing the violin"- he gets down on his knees and imitates a violinist.
• Gilardino is close friends with former Milan teammate Daniele Bonera; they were also teammates at Parma. Gilardino once dedicated one of his goals to Daniele's baby daughter Talitha.
• He became engaged to Alice Bregoli in 31 March 2006^[8] and had their first baby, a girl Ginevra on the 2nd of March, 2008.
• He was born the day of Italy’s 3-2 group stage victory over Brazil in the 1982 World Cup, which was ultimately won by Italy.

References

External links

• Profile at ACF Fiorentina official site
• (Italian) National Team stats at FIGC official site
• FootballDatabase.com provides Gilardino's profile and stats
• Fan site
• Alberto Gilardino FIFA competition record

v • d • e Italy squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup Winners (4th Title) 1 Buffon • 2 Zaccardo • 3 Grosso • 4 De Rossi • 5 Cannavaro • 6 Barzagli • 7 Del Piero • 8 Gattuso • 9 Toni • 10 Totti • 11 Gilardino • 12 Peruzzi • 13 Nesta • 14 Amelia • 15 Iaquinta • 16 Camoranesi • 17 Barone • 18 Inzaghi • 19 Zambrotta • 20 Perrotta • 21 Pirlo • 22 Oddo • 23 Materazzi • Coach: Lippi