Alessandro Nesta, Cavaliere Ufficiale OMRI (born March 19, 1976 in Rome), is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who plays as a defender for Serie A club Milan. Considered by many as one of the best centre backs to have ever played the game, he is a four-time member of the annual UEFA Team of the Year.
Nesta was raised in the Cinecittà area of Rome. He attended the Margherita Bosco primary school where he first started playing football. His older brother, Fernando, was advised to play a sport because of a back problem and enrolled at the local football club. Alessandro threw a tantrum until his father gave in and enrolled him as well, thus marking the beginning of his career.
Nesta assumed the team captaincy in 1997, and helped Lazio win the 1998 Coppa Italia after beating Milan in the final, in which he scored the winning goal. This was followed by a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and European Super Cup in 1999, and a rare Scudetto and Coppa Italia double in the 1999–00 season, in addition to two Italian Super Cups.
Serious back injuries forced Nesta out of action for the whole 2008–09 season which raised concerns about his chances to make a comeback into active football. He fully recovered from his injuries and came on as 77th minute substitute in Milan's final away game to Fiorentina on 31 May 2009 for his first competitive appearance of the season. The following season Nesta scored his first brace for Milan in a 2–1 victory over Chievo Verona in the Serie A. He began to remerge a starter for the club and was one of Milan's most consistent players throughout the entire 2009–10 season.
Nesta continued his excellent partnership with fellow centerback Thiago Silva throughout the 2010–11 season, forming a formidable defence, conceding just 22 goals in 31 games as of the 2nd April. Throughout the 2010–11 season, speculation indicated that Nesta would retire at the end of the season, however Nesta later confirmed that this was not his intention and that he wanted to play one more season at Milan before retiring at which point he will be 36.On 18 May 2011, Nesta and Milan announced that he had signed a one year extension keeping him until the summer of 2012.
Nesta started in all three games partnering Cannavaro and later Marco Materazzi. Following two successive disappointments, newly appointed manager Marcello Lippi kept Nesta in the lineup as a starter. Nesta appeared consistently as Italy topped their qualification group with seven wins, two draws, and one loss. In the 2006 FIFA World Cup final tournament, Nesta was once again a starter, however injury in the final group game against the Czech Republic put him on the sidelines as Italy went on to win the trophy. After the World Cup, Nesta made one appearance in the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Georgia but his continuous injuries forced him to retire from the international team. Prior to the final tournament, Nesta declined Roberto Donadoni's invitation to return to the national team.Two years later, he similarly turned down an invitation from Marcello Lippi prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Alessandro Nesta Wallpaper
On 7 May 2007, Nesta married his fiancée, Gabriela Pagnozzi, in a civil ceremony in Milan; the religious ceremony followed on May 30, 2007. Gabriela was working for Casa Italia, the Italian national team HQ, during the 1998 World Cup. Their relationship was born when she tended to him following his injury against Austria. "I can say, I got the injury and her in France then. And the injury has gone, [but] she has stayed with me." Their daughter, Sofia, was born on October 19, 2006 and on March 20, 2008 their son Tommaso was born.
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