Fall from Grace: ex-Inter Milan star Christian Vieri
Christian Vieri was a bit of a nomad at the start of his career. A list of the number of clubs he was at demonstrates this quite clearly. From 1991 to 1999, in nine seasons he played for nine clubs including spells at Atletico Madrid, Lazio, Atalanta and various other small Italian clubs. It was not as though he was not good enough for most of these clubs but he was in great demand, especially after scoring 24 goals in 24 league games during his one year in Spain for Atletico Madrid in the 1997-1998 season. He then went on to play in the World Cup after that successful season in Madrid and formed a threatening partnership with Roberto Baggio.
His successful spell with Atletico inevitably led to more interest back in Italy, and he was purchased by Lazio after the World Cup in France. During his only season in Rome he scored twelve goals, helping the team to Cup Winners Cup success. His style was of a typical old English centre forward, strong and powerful in the air, and when Marcello Lippi came to manage Inter for the start of the 1999/2000 season, he wanted another striker to partner Ronaldo. Chairman Massimo Moratti went after the Italian striker and he paid Lazio a then world record of £32.5million for the player.
Internazionale would be the most settled time in the career of Vieri, as he successfully led the line for the Milan club. He never developed a partnership with Ronaldo due to injuries which affected both players but he started to score nonetheless during his six year stay at the club. Managerial changes at the start of his career at Inter did not help in his settling in period but he shone under the management of strict disciplinarian Hector Cuper. Inter narrowly missed out on the title on the last day of the 2001/2002 season but Vieri still hammered in the goals as he regularly scored 20 a season, including becoming Serie A’s top goalscorer in 2003 with 24 goals. At international level, he had a successful World Cup in 2002, playing as a lone striker and scoring four goals in four games, including a goal in the controversial last 16 defeat to South Korea.
The arrival of Alberto Zaacheroni as coach in 2004 however changed Vieri’s fortunes dramatically. An injury he had sustained against Valenica in the Champions League Quarter final second leg the previous season had affected his game, and despite partnering Adriano upfront, his performances became substandard. His loss of fitness became an issue with the club and his contract was terminated in July 2005. Vieri’s career began to go downhill rapidly and he once again became a nomad, switching from club to club at regular intervals. After a brief six month spell with Inter’s city rivals Milan, he moved to Monaco in France to get regular first team football in a bid to get into the 2006 World Cup squad. A serious knee injury put pay to those ambitions and he returned to Italy on a small wage with one of his previous clubs Atalanta. Vieri had signed a contract with Sampdoria but the Genoa club terminated it due to laziness and he was picked up by Atalanta on a minimal wage, earning bonuses for scoring goals.
After a brief successful spell with Fiorentina in 2007/07 where he scored 9 goals in all competitions, he returned to Atalanta before his contract was terminated in April last year. Now 36 years of age, after a failed trial with Blackburn in the summer, Vieri finds himself in Brazil looking for work. A contract was withdrawn by Brazilian first division side Botafogo and last month Vieri expressed his desire to join third division outfit Boavista. Vieri is certainly a long way from the heights of European football he was at ten years ago.
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