Standing Ovation in Madrid

November 7, 2008

Through decades of football history, very few people have managed to get the chance to play at a mythical stadium like Santiago Bernabéu. Fewer people have even managed to score at Santiago Bernabéu. And fewer people still, managed to play, score, and receive a standing ovation at Santiago Bernabéu, the stadium where legends are born and home of Real Madrid, the team still holding the record for the most Champions League trophies in history.

After Wednesday night, Alessandro Del Piero is one of those people.

At 34 years of age (his birthday is coming up on Sunday), Pinturicchio travelled to Spain to Madrid, hoping to lead his team to victory and turn the tide of a match which for over 46 years had not seen Juventus come victorious on Royal soil. Hoping that for the first time ever his name would appear next to the goalscoring legends like Puskas, Di Stefano, and Raúl Gonzalez Blanco, those who over the course of history so many times had found the way of the net at Avenida de Concha Espina 1. For Del Piero, reaching those legends would be an impossible feat, but even one goal would have probably been satisfactory for him. Instead, he got two, and Juventus went on to beat the Spanish giants.

Could you ask for a more perfect day?

Full Match Report here.