There's still life after Euro 2000

June 7, 2000
Written by Alice

After Italy's terrible Euro 2000 defeat by France, the show must go on. Even for Del Piero, who was considered by many people the cause of the Italian unlucky result. Alex missed two precious chances, it's true, but this surely can't be considered the only cause. France's 93rd minute goal was a shock for the Italian players, and anyone could tell that their morale was lower than France's during the break among regular time and extra time.

In an article from Reuters, called "Heroes and villains", Alex's name featured among the ones from the second group:

"Alessandro Del Piero (Italy)

For the third time Del Piero underachieved when it mattered with the "Azzurri" after indifferent performances in Euro 96 and France 98.

But this time the Juventus player will feel that disappointment even more keenly and faces a tough time when he returns to the peninsular.

With Italy leading France 1-0 in the final Del Piero squandered two glorious chances to wrap up the match for Dino Zoff's side and gave France the platform for their spectacular comeback".

Del Piero was visibly devastated after the match. Among Reuters' selection of the quotes of the tournament, there was his "I'm destroyed".

All the media criticism has passed beyond fronteers - Italian fonteers and football fronteers. England's Football 365 has made a survey among its visitors to know who's the best looking wife or girlfirend of the footballers that played in the Euro. The winner? Valeria Marini, the Italian model who's supposedly Del Piero's girl.

Moreover, Del Piero being overweight has been the subject of many discussions, maybe even being one of the causes of his slowdown. Luciano Moggi, Juventus general manager, has said: "Alex is probably carrying an extra kilo or so, which takes away that burst of acceleration. All he needs is a bit of training to transform him to the player he used to be. He's still young and his physique can change. It is absurd to say Juventus have changed him and stunted his progress."

After all of this, Del Piero surely needs his deserved vacations. And he will have them. According to Italian newspaper Tuttosport, Alex will spend some time at the island of Bora Bora, with his real girlfriend, Sonia. Right after their stay at Polinesia, the couple will fly to the United States, where they will visit San Francisco and Los Angeles in around six days.
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