3+7=10

Today is Alessandro Del Piero's 37th birthday, the son of the Old Lady may well be playing his last year of football but this is no reason to forget what this man has achieved in his career.

Believe it or not, Del Piero started playing football very young as a goalkeeper as his mother didn't want him to get hurt whilst playing but shifted to an outfield position after his older brother convinced their mother that he was good up front. Six years later, he was spotted playing for his sunday club and he signed for Padova at the age of 13.

Del Piero moved to Juventus from Padova in 1993 and had an almost instant impact. He started as almost all young players do, coming off the bench attempting to make an impact - he grabbed his first goal for the club coming on a substitute against Foggia and on for his first start for the club (3 games into his career, it should be noted) he bagged himself a hat-trick against Parma. Juve went on win their first Scudetto after eight years in 1994, with Del Piero playing his part; he made 29 appearances and scored 8 that season. It was in that season where he scored that goal against Fiorentina.

In the following years Juventus won another six Scudetti (two being taken away after Calciopoli), the Champions League in 1996, four Italian Super-Cups and a Coppa Italia. Del Piero also found international glory at under-21 level with Italy winning the European Championship twice, back to back. Most notably, with the senior squad in 2006 he won the World Cup - He scored another remarkable goal that tournament; in the semi-final against host nation, Germany, in the dying minutes of extra time he scored a beauty of a goal to guarantee Italy a place in the final.

After Juventus got demoted to Serie B in 2006, Del Piero set an example as club captain to his teammates by declaring he would stay at the club despite their on-going problems, some followed his lead but many super stars left. That season Del Piero was top goal scorer in Serie B, Juventus got promoted, and the following season Juventus finished 3rd with Del Piero as top scorer in Serie A! Along with this record, he has made the most club appearances for Juventus as well being the club's all time top goal scorer. I think it is a shame that he isn't getting as much game time as should be this year as well as not being able to stay on for another year, making his time span at Juventus 20 years rather than 19. Either way, he has been a God to Juventus and Italy fans. You cannot find a bad word to say about that man, he is a model professional and I hope he is not the last of a dying breed. The man exudes class and technique, he played the "fantasista" or the "trequartista" perfectly, threading in passes as well as being a major goal threat. Alessandro Del Piero, dubbed "Il Vero Fenomeno" (the real phenomenon) in a response to Inter fans' given name to Ronaldo "Il Fenomeno" really did go to show what a phenomenon he really was, 285 goals for Juventus and a very respectable 27 for Italy. Happy birthday, Alex.

Here is Del Piero's first 100 goals for the club. On his 6th goal you can see Del Piero scoring his first trademark goal by taking on a very young Fabio Cannavaro at Napoli. Also, Toldo was in goal for Fiorentina when Del Piero scored that wonder goal. How old do you feel right now?