Christian Vieri

Christian Vieri
	Christian Vieri while at Inter Milan Image © http://soccer-europe.com; Christian Vieri while at Inter Milan; Image © http://soccer-europe.com
Personal information
Full name	Christian Vieri
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	AS Monaco
	‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 2006

Christian Vieri (born 12 July 1973 in Bologna) is an Italian football player, a striker who currently plays for French club AS Monaco FC and the Italian national team.

Vieri was raised in Sydney, Australia, in one of the world's largest Italian communities. He attended Prairiewood High School in western Sydney. His father Roberto Vieri played for Sydney-based club Marconi Stallions. His brother, Massimiliano Vieri, is also a professional footballer, and is an Australian international. Vieri played for Marconi Juniors when he was a child but his family soon moved back to Italy. As a result of living in Australia, Vieri has stated that his greatest sporting hero is Allan Border. Incidentally, he could have easily made a career out of cricket rather than football, but he chose football.

Vieri started his playing career at Prato, a small club in Serie C1 in 1989. While there, he was spotted by Torino and played his first Serie A game the next year for the Turin giants. Vieri made six appearances and appeared in the Coppa Italia. In November 1992, he was sold to Serie B club, Pisa, scoring two goals. Another season went by, he then kicked off his wonder first season with Ravenna in Serie B, scoring 12 goals. Sold to Venezia in Serie B, scoring 11. And then another move for the youngster, to Atalanta where he only had seven goals. His change of luck came when he was spotted by Juventus in the 1996/1997 season. He made 23 appearances and scored eight goals in Serie A, and six goals in ten matches in Europe.

Vieri was on the move once again, this time it was Spain and Atlético Madrid. This is where the Vieri name became a trademark for Italian football and formed a successful partnership in the 1998 World Cup with Roberto Baggio. Amazingly, he scored a total of 24 goals in 24 appearances for Atlético, five goals from seven appearances in Europe which lead him to the win the Spanish top scoring reign.

After the world cup he moved to Lazio, where he was outstanding in his first season, scoring 12 goals in Serie A and one in Europe, winning the Cup Winners' Cup. But it all changed when Vieri was spotted by Inter Milan, and millionaire Massimo Moratti, who once signed Ronaldo for the world record transfer fee. Vieri became the richest footballer on the planet once he agreed on the move to Inter Milan.

Vieri played for Inter Milan from 1999 to 2005. In 2003, he led Serie A in scoring with 24 goals. As of the end of 2004, he has scored 22 goals in 43 matches for Italy and played for his country at the 1998 and

(he scored five in 1998 and four in 2002), as well as Template:Ec2. Vieri is still considered as Italy's greatest striker over the past decade, and one of Italy's most prolific World Cup goalscorers. He was named by Pelé as one of the 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

In July 2005, both Vieri and Inter Milan came to a mutual agreement to terminate his contract with the club. He was then signed by cross-town rivals AC Milan, but left the rossoneri, in which he was a reserve player, after just six months for joining French side AS Monaco in order to play regularly and gain a place for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Although a great player , Vieri will always be remembered for his terrible miss against South Korea in WC 2002 at the dying minutes of the match Vieri was alone in front of the empty net. In 2004 he also became notoriously famous for missing literally dozens of chances against Sweden. He hasn't recovered since and was relegated to the bench in Inter Milan before moving to the Bench of AC Milan. Indeed he now tries to make it through Monaco.

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