YOUR MOM IS A LEGEND

FINO ALLA FINE FORZA JUVENTUS!!! / Bon vivant.

[. @batmancurated]

dc superheroes by andrew day

[YOUR MOM IS A LEGEND @Intio17]

Conspiracy theory time. You've probably heard this one, I'm sure someone thought of it as well, but here I go anyways.

As you know, all professional sports are scripted. Too much money is involved for them not to be. Some sports are more important than others, and in this regard, football is king, because football is all politics.

That being said, in 1990, the World Cup was being played on Italian soil. Italy had a heavy squad with names like Baresi, Baggio, Maldini, Schillaci, et al., serious contenders if not the best candidates outside of Argentina, who were living their own golden age at the time (keep this in mind, it'll be important later on). But it was none other than Germany, Italy's single biggest rival,the ones who ended up lifting the trophy. How so?

Well, Germany were going through particularly critical times. The country was just unified after being forcefully divided decades ago, and as with any change of such scale, the future was uncertain. So they needed a win. A big win, a very important, unquestionable victory that would demonstrate to the world but, more importantly, to themselves, the absolute strength of their national unity. So they called on Italy for a political favor, one that would have to be repaid in kind one day. Now, Italy and Germany were historically and culturally rivals on almost all aspects, but they were bffs during WWII, so there was that. Germany needed a favor from and old-time war buddy. And Italy would oblige. The Germans would win the trophy in detriment of the actual best team in the world at the moment, Maradona's Argentina, on Italian soil. Hollywood doesn't write them that good.

Time would pass, and for reasons that need to be analyzed on their own rant, Italy was preparing to commit suicide on the footballing level. Their whole footballing world would be tore down to enthrone a mediocre club that hadn't won anything in decades and otherwise had no future. To do this, they had to murder their best and leading institution, and afterwards, they'd need to buy credibility in world football somehow. Juventus was the sacrificial lamb for this purpose, and after her murder, the image of Italian football had to be held up high somehow. So they asked for a favor somebody owed, and thus, in the Summer of 2006, Italy won the World Cup on German soil, in a highly dramatic fashion. You could say it looked scripted.

So Italy helped Germany at a critical moment, and Germany helped Italy at a critical moment later on. Not with troops, not with cavalry. With political favors that move millions in money and, more importantly, in credibility.

Assuming that the sport has been scripted since at least the 1990 World Cup, this would mean that Argentina was the last rightful champion of any truly competitive WC. So what happened to them afterwards? Decades struggling continentally and on the world stage. Why? Because Maradona's Argentina were the wild card of world football. They needed to be tore down until a more manageable generation of Argentine players would come up.

tl;dr Italy gifted the WC to Germany as a favor in 1990 and Germany repaid the favor in 2006.

[Juventus News Live @juvenewslive]

The sound of the ball hitting the net has lived in my brain for over two decades.

Tanti Auguri Alessandro Birindelli. A tireless servant to the Black and White 🎂⚪️⚫️

[YOUR MOM IS A LEGEND @Intio17]

True Italians.

[90s Football @90sfootball]

Fabrizio Ravanelli and Roberto Baggio ✨

[YOUR MOM IS A LEGEND @Intio17]

@CostasRibe92839 @elemental_cons Ok, es halagador, pero aún así no eres mi tipo. Dios mío.

[Forza Juventus @FJ_1897]

Remembering this golazo from Mauro Camoranesi 🚀🤍🖤

[YOUR MOM IS A LEGEND @Intio17]

@imaginary_fabri @torocamba Igual no hay safo.

[YOUR MOM IS A LEGEND @Intio17]

@imaginary_fabri @torocamba Nada. No hay safo.

[Juventus HQ | Nilesh @JuventusHQ]

David Trezeguet was one of the best strikers Juventus ever had. A World Cup winner, a European champion, and a man who scored 171 goals in black and white. But for all the goals and trophies, there's one decision he made in 2006 that Juventus supporters will never forget.

His name has come up again this week for an unusual reason. France coach Zinedine Zidane needed a replacement for the injured Pierre Kalulu and called up 21-year-old Saël Kumbedi, who plays for Wolfsburg in Germany's second division. French journalists started looking into when a player from the second tier had last been selected for the national team. The answer took them back to February 2007, when Raymond Domenech called up Trezeguet for a friendly against Argentina.

At the time, Trezeguet was already a World Cup winner and one of Europe's most established strikers. But he was also playing in Serie B with Juventus, having decided to stay after the club's relegation. Almost twenty years later, that decision is still worth talking about.

And with Italy facing France at San Siro tomorrow night, with Zidane on the French bench and Gatti and Vicario in the Italian squad, it's a good time to remember a player whose career was so closely connected to both countries.

Trezeguet joined Juventus on June 27, 2000, while Euro 2000 was still being played. Five days later, he did something that probably made his arrival in Turin a little awkward.

France were facing Italy in the European Championship final. Italy had taken the lead through Marco Delvecchio, with Juventus defender Gianluca Pessotto providing the assist. Del Piero had opportunities to put the game beyond France, but couldn't take them. Then, deep into stoppage time, Sylvain Wiltord equalised and sent the match into extra time.

In the 103rd minute, Robert Pirès delivered the ball into the box, and Trezeguet struck a brilliant half-volley into the roof of the net.

Golden goal. France were European champions.

For Italy, it was heartbreaking. And for Juventus, their new signing had just scored the goal that denied several of his future teammates a European title.

Trezeguet later joked that half the Italy squad played for Juventus and that some of his new teammates weren't particularly interested in speaking to him when he arrived. You can hardly blame them.

Six years later, the roles were reversed.

The 2006 World Cup final in Berlin brought France and Italy together again, and once again Trezeguet found himself at the centre of everything.

This time, the match went to penalties. Italy scored all five of theirs, while Trezeguet stepped up and struck his attempt against the crossbar. The ball bounced down, stayed out, and Italy went on to lift the World Cup.

Standing in goal was Gianluigi Buffon, the man who had been facing Trezeguet's shots in Juventus training for five years.

Buffon later said he thought Trezeguet had looked nervous before taking the penalty. Trezeguet always maintained that he'd struck the ball well, and watching it back, he wasn't far away from scoring.

There was another Juventus connection on the Italian bench that night. Marcello Lippi had coached Trezeguet during the 2003 Champions League final, when Juventus lost to Milan on penalties. Trezeguet had missed his attempt in that shootout too.

Lippi later joked that he felt the Frenchman owed him something.

But for Juventus supporters, what happened after the World Cup was far more important than anything Trezeguet had done for France.

Calciopoli had turned the club upside down. Juventus were stripped of their titles and relegated to Serie B, and some of the biggest names in the squad began looking for a way out.

Cannavaro left. Zambrotta left. Thuram, Vieira, Emerson and Ibrahimović all moved on.

And to be fair, nobody could have been particularly surprised. These were established international players, many of them in the prime of their careers, suddenly facing a season in Italy's second division.

Trezeguet was 28 years old. He had already won major trophies for club and country, and there would have been no shortage of clubs willing to sign him. He could have continued playing at the highest level elsewhere.

Instead, he stayed.

Alongside Del Piero, Buffon, Nedvěd and Camoranesi, Trezeguet committed himself to getting Juventus back into Serie A.

It's easy to talk about loyalty when a team is winning trophies every year. It's a very different thing when that same club has been relegated, its best players are leaving, and nobody knows exactly how long the rebuilding process will take.

Trezeguet chose to be part of it anyway.

He scored 15 league goals in Serie B as Juventus secured promotion at the first attempt. Then, in their first season back in Serie A, he scored another 20, finishing just one behind Del Piero in the scoring charts.

For a player who could easily have spent that year competing in the Champions League with another club, he came back from Serie B and immediately proved that he was still one of the best finishers in Italy.

And what a finisher he was.

Trezeguet wasn't the kind of striker who needed to dribble past three defenders or spend the whole game dropping deep to collect the ball. He was at his best inside the penalty area, finding space where there seemed to be none and finishing chances before defenders had time to react.

Give him half a yard, and he'd find a way to score.

He could finish with either foot, was excellent in the air, and had that rare ability to make difficult goals look incredibly simple. Juventus supporters spent ten years watching him turn crosses, loose balls and half-chances into goals.

When he eventually left in 2010, he'd scored 171 Serie A goals for Juventus, more than any other foreign player in the club's history. It's a record that still stands.

And it's no coincidence that his name has been mentioned again this week, with Juventus still looking for the kind of physical centre-forward Luciano Spalletti wants in his team.

There have been plenty of strikers since Trezeguet, some arriving for enormous transfer fees and with huge expectations. But finding someone who could score as consistently as he did has been a challenge.

Of course, Trezeguet played in some wonderful Juventus teams. He had Del Piero alongside him, and players like Nedvěd, Camoranesi and later Marchisio helping create opportunities. But that shouldn't take anything away from just how good he was at his job.

He knew where the goal was, and he rarely needed a second invitation.

Nearly twenty years after his last call-up as a Serie B player, a young French defender has brought his name back into the conversation.

But for Juventus supporters, Trezeguet was never going to be remembered simply as the French striker who scored against Italy in a European Championship final, or the man who missed a penalty against Buffon in Berlin.

He was the striker who stayed when Juventus had lost almost everything.

He gave the club ten years, 171 league goals, and some of the best memories of an era that had both wonderful highs and painful lows.

And when Juventus needed him most, he didn't look for another club. He stayed and helped bring us back.

[YOUR MOM IS A LEGEND @Intio17]

@imaginary_fabri @torocamba Cierto bolita se muere por ser Cambita

[YOUR MOM IS A LEGEND @Intio17]

@CostasRibe92839 @elemental_cons Supongo que es halagador, viniendo de alguien que ama la mierda, pero no eres mi tipo. Porque te encanta la mierda.

[YOUR MOM IS A LEGEND @Intio17]

@CostasRibe92839 @elemental_cons Carlos Mesa es mierda. Todo lo que hace es mierda. Hizo mierda a todo un país. Si te gusta la mierda, no puedes obligar a qué les guste a quienes no son moscas.

[Viejito Piola @asaoyvino]

Nickname con banderita 🇧🇴 y avatar de k-pop o anime.

🚨 Alerta de pelotudo 🚨

[YOUR MOM IS A LEGEND @Intio17]

@JamesGunn @DCOfficial Just keep them. You've done enough damage. Thank fuck that's over.

[YOUR MOM IS A LEGEND @Intio17]

Oh, my golden boy. You are a fucking clown.

[AJ @FinoAllaFine282]

Fast-forward 4 years he’s 19th in premier league 😭

[JuventusFC @juventusfc]

☄️ #GoalOfTheDay

[YOUR MOM IS A LEGEND @Intio17]

@cainlioncourt @carlixpc Sip.

[YOUR MOM IS A LEGEND @Intio17]

@finvazion So much text just to be so utterly, bitterly wrong. Hope someone reads it, though.

[YOUR MOM IS A LEGEND @Intio17]

Si crees que vivir en un hoyo rodeado de cerros y favelas de ladrillo donde se respira polvo y tierra es lo peor de La Paz, hermano, no conoces ni sabes nada de la paz. Eso no es ni por si acaso lo peor de vivir aquí. Eso hasta podría ser romántico, hermoso si eres un rarito de esos. Pero no. Lo peor de aquí es la gente, de lejos. Tienes que compartir camino cinco minutos con ellos para darte cuenta del tipo de lacra con el que estás lidiando.