Magician Football: Antonio Di Natale

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Antonio Di Natale

Profile Football Stars | Antonio Di Natale | Di Natale earned the prestigious award of being the Serie A 'Capocannoniere' for the 2009/10 season, as well as the 2010/11 season. Though born in Naples, Antonio Di Natale moved up north and joined Empoli's youth system. He impressed while playing for the Tuscany side in Serie A. Di Natale finished his debut season with a record of 33 games and seven goals. In the 2007-08 season, Di Natale scored 17 goals. The two most notable goals were scored on Match day 4, when Udinese played against Reggina. Forming a formidable attacking duo with Fabio Quagliarella, Di Natale improved his goal tally, Becoming the focal point of the attack.

15 May 2010 saw the conclusion of Di Natale's best-ever season, scoring 29 goals in Serie A, and contributing 54% of Udinese's total goals. He also surpassed Oliver Bierhoff's club record for most league goals in a season, who had scored 28. A brace against Bari on 9 May 2010 saw Di Natale surpass the 100 goal mark in Serie A. On 14 November 2010, he scored a hat-trick during a match against Lecce and Udinese with on 28 November 2010, he scored a second consecutive home hat-trick during a match against Napoli.

During the 2010-11 season, Di Natale had the best strike rate of any player in Italy, scoring 28 goals in 36 games with a strike rate of 0.78 goals per game. As of 11 March 2012 Di Natale is second in the Serie A scoring title behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic. On 24 June 2010 he scored a goal in the 3-2 defeat against Slovakia the which resulted Italy finishing bottom of its group.

Personal information
Date of birth 13 October 1977 (age 34)
Place of birth Naples, Italy
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position Striker

Club information
Current club Udinese
Number 10

Youth career
Empoli

Senior career
years Team
158 1996-2004 Empoli (49)
Iperzola 1997-1998 (loan) 33 (6)
Varese 1998 (loan) 4 (0)
1998-1999 Viareggio (loan) 25 (12)
2004-Udinese 261 (134)