Player Profile - Alberto Gilardino
Prolific, young and Italian, Gilardino will hope to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Paolo Rossi and Salvatore Schillaci at the 2006 World Cup finals.
His playing career began at Piacenza, making his debut against Milan, the club where he currently plies his trade.
"If he continues in this way, then he will be the most important Italian forward"
Cesare Prandelli
He was sold to Verona, and then moved on to Parma, where he shot to stardom in the 2004/05 season, when he became second-top scorer in Serie A with 23 goals. He also scored two hat-tricks in his time at Parma, each time scoring four goals, and ensuring the move to another club became more and more inevitable.
His overall record for Parma was 54 goals in 114 appearances, 50 of these in 96 games, averaging more than one goal every other game, and this was the launch-pad for a blockbusting £17.2 million move to Milan at the end of the 2005 season.
His strike-rate at Milan has also been prolific, with 19 goals from his first 43 appearances, 37 of these games being starts. Having the likes of Filippo Inzaghi and Christian Vieri at the same club has surely benefited the young striker.
This prolific strike rate has been echoed on the international stage, with Gilardino scoring six goals in his first 13 caps for the Azzurri.
With the creative forces of Francesco Totti, Andrea Pirlo and Antonio Cassano providing the ammunition for Gilardino, the Azzurri should be able to rely on Gilardino's natural goalscoring ability to get them goals, and, crucially, victories in Germany.
