Sport

Filipo Inzaghi

Filippo "Pippo" Inzaghi, Cavaliere Ufficiale (born August 9, 1973 in Piacenza) is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who plays for Serie A club Milan.

Club career

The brother of fellow footballer Simone Inzaghi, Inzaghi got his start playing for hometown club Piacenza Calcio as a teenager in 1991, but made only two appearances before being loaned to Serie C1 side Leffe, with whom he scored an impressive 13 goals in 21 matches. In 1993, Inzaghi moved to Serie B club Verona and scored 13 goals in 36 appearances. Upon his return to Piacenza, he scored 15 times in 37 games and proved himself as an exciting young prospect.

Inzaghi made his Serie A debut when he transferred to Parma in 1995, but scored only twice in 15 matches. He moved on to Atalanta the following season, finishing as the Capocannoniere (Serie A's top scorer) with 24 goals.

Juventus

However, he was soon on the move once again to his seventh team in seven seasons, this time to Juventus. He formed a formidable attacking partnership along with Alessandro Del Piero and Zinédine Zidane, a tandem which would last for four seasons, marking Inzaghi's longest stint with one team at the time. Juventus won the Scudetto in the 1997-98 season, but lost 1-0 in the Champions League final to Real Madrid.

Milan

Despite a solid tally of 58 goals in 122 games for the Bianconeri, Inzaghi was soon benched in favor of David Trézéguet, and he was bought by Milan for the 2001-02 campaign by Fatih Terim, but suffered a knee injury and missed the first half of the season. Upon his return, he was able to forge a strong goalscoring partnership with Andriy Shevchenko, and he soon racked up an impressive trophy count with the Rossoneri, among them the 2002-03 Champions League (in which Milan defeated his previous team, Juventus, in the final on penalties), along with the 2003 Coppa Italia and the 2003-04 Scudetto. He signed a contract extension in November 2004.

Inzaghi was able to fully recover from persistent knee injuries that had dogged him for two years, as he also regained his predatory goalscoring form by scoring 12 goals in 22 Serie A matches in 2005-06, along with four scores in five CL appearances. On May 23, 2007, in the 2007 Champions League final in Athens, he scored both of Milan's goals in their 2-1 victory over Liverpool in a rematch of the 2005 final. He declared after the match:

It's a dream since I was a child to score twice in the final, and the ones I scored yesterday evening were the most important in my life. It was an unforgettable game. It's something that will stay with me all my life and two goals in the final speaks for itself.

At the start of the 2007-2008 season he picked up where he left off in Athens, scoring the equalizer in the Super Cup in Milan's 3-1 victory over Sevilla, a game in which he controversially celebrated his goal despite all the other goal scorers of the game (Renato, Marek Jankulovski and Kaká) not doing so, showing respect for the late Sevilla player Antonio Puerta. Inzaghi capped off the year by scoring two goals in the final of the 2007 Club World Cup, helping Milan win 4-2 against Boca Juniors to take revenge for the defeat on penalties in 2003.

On 24 February 2008, Inzaghi scored the matchwinning goal in Milan's 2-1 win over Palermo with a diving header; it marked his first Serie A goal in over a year. This was followed by ten more goals in the league, the last against Udinese. This strike against Udinese was his goal number 100 for the club in official games. In November 2008, he agreed for a contract extension to June 2010.[5] On 8 March 2009, Inzaghi scored his first hat-trick of the season against Atalanta when they won by 3-0 home at San Siro. His 300th career goal came in the 4-1 thrashing of Siena away from home. He then went on to score three goals against Torino, his second professional hat-trick in as many months.

European competition records

Inzaghi became the first player to score two Champions League hat tricks (both with Juventus) when he netted a treble during a 4-4 group stage draw with Hamburg on 13 September 2000; his first was in a 4-1 victory over Dynamo Kyiv during the 1997-98 quarterfinals.

He scored his 62nd career European goal, and 33rd overall for Milan, in a 3-0 Champions League group stage win over Shakhtar Donetsk on 6 November 2007. This achievement put him level with Bayern Munich legend Gerd Müller on UEFA's all-time scoring list.Inzaghi surpassed Müller after netting his 63rd career goal during Milan's final group stage match against Celtic on 4 December 2007. However, Raúl of Real Madrid scored a brace on 10 December 2008 in a game against Zenit St. Petersburg in the Champions League, which put Raúl ahead of Inzaghi in the goal count.

International career

Inzaghi earned his first cap for Italy against Brazil on June 8, 1997, and has since scored 25 goals in 57 appearances. He was called up for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2000, the 2002 FIFA World Cup and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Inzaghi was Italy's top goalscorer during the qualifying rounds of the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004, but missed the latter due to injury.

His persistent knee and ankle injuries put a halt to his international play for almost two years before his resurgence at the club level, which resulted in his being called up by Italy coach Marcello Lippi for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals. Inzaghi made his only appearance in a group stage match against the Czech Republic on 22 June 2006, scoring his one goal of the tournament against Petr Čech in a one-on-one encounter.

He is currently the sixth-highest goalscorer in team history with 25 goals, which ties him with Adolfo Baloncieri and Alessandro Altobelli.

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