Gone, But Not Forgotten

Last weekend marked the end of an era for a number of footballers. Their services to their respective clubs shall never be forgotten. Most of them were from Italian giants, Juventus and AC Milan.

The ultimate farewell: Del Piero on target as Serie A champions Juventus end unbeaten. Alessandro del Piero scored in his last league appearance for Juventus as the newly crowned Serie A champions beat Atalanta 3-1 to become the second Italian side to win the title by going the whole season unbeaten.

Del Piero signed off in style in front of the home fans as he doubled Juventus' lead in the 28th minute to cap a near 20-year career with the Old Lady. And Del Piero, who has been at Juventus since 1993, scored his 289th goal for the club shortly before the half hour when he fired home from the edge of the area.

The Juve captain was substituted in the 57th minute to a standing ovation as the players and staff of both teams joined in with the resounding applause for the club icon. The standing ovation and cheers continued even after Del Piero had left the field and the fomer Italy forward got back off the bench and walked around the pitch saluting the fans and gathering scarves which had been thrown down to him.

When his number 10 came up on the substitutions board in the 57th minute, the party really started. First, every single player on the pitch received him with a high-five, a handshake or a pat on the head. Some gave all three. He went to sit on the bench, giving coach Antonio Conte only a cursory glance on the way, but he wouldn’t stay there for long.

‘Del Piero sotto la curva’ demanded the fans. They wanted to congratulate their hero close-up. He obliged, taking a slow walk in front of all four stands as the game continued behind him. But the match didn’t matter anymore. All the supporters cared about was giving their captain the send-off he deserved. Little over half an hour later, he received the ultimate prize, getting his hands on the Scudetto for the eighth time in his career.

It was the perfect way to say goodbye to the Juventus fans, and while they will get an encore at the Coppa Italia final next Sunday, this was more than enough.

It was also emotional at San Siro as AC Milan bid farewell to club stalwarts Alessandro Nesta, Gennaro Gattuso and Filippo Inzaghi as well as Mark van Bommel. Before the game at Milan, Nesta, Gattuso, Inzaghi and Van Bommel were given a standing ovation as clips of important matches they had played in were shown on the big screen during the warmup and they were individually thanked over the loudspeaker.

It seemed as if Novara was going to ruin their farewells when Santiago Garcia gave it the lead in the 20th minute but Mathieu Flamini leveled 11 minutes after the break and Inzaghi scored the winner eight minutes from time for his 156th Serie A goal in his 300th appearance.