He was once the most expensive and best paid footballer in the world and with an impressive scoring record in which he scored 103 goals in 144 appearances for Inter, you could understand why. Who else could i be talking about other than the one and only Christian Vieri.
Born on July 12th 1973 in Bologna Italy, Vieri is touted as one of Italy’s greatest strikers. He has played for major clubs in Italy as well as in France and Spain. I think to me his most memorable away spell must have been in the 1997-1998 season where he played for Atletico Madrid.
It was during this time that he score 24 goals in 24 appearances for this club. He later moved to Lazio where he had another amazing season scoring 12 goals in 22 appearances. In 1999, he caught the eye of Inter president Massimo Moratti and he moved to the San siro for a then world record transfer fee.
It was here under coach Marcello Lippi that Vieri was to establish himself as a master striker. Remember his lethal strike partnership with Ronaldo? Its a shame they could not play often together due to their nagging injuries.
Vieri had an amazing season with Inter during the 2001-2002 campaign where only a defeat to Lazio on closing prevented them for wining the scudetto. However, the injury he was to suffer the following season in the Champion League against valencia was to be the beginning of many problems.
In 2004 his form dipped and although he was a regular in the inter squad, many fans did not warmly take on Mancini’s plan of pairing him with Adriano. Moreover, his discontent at the sale of of Hernan Crespo to Chelsea left a bitter taste in the mouths of many.
In July 2005 Inter and Vieri came to a mutual agreement to terminate his contract at the club. This came more than a year after Pele had named him as one of the 25 greatest living players. Currently a free agent, Vieri is truly one of Inter’s legends. May be Eto’o can match or even surpass his his achievements at Inter.
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