Christian Vieri - Club Career

Club Career

Vieri started his playing career at Marconi Stallions. While there, he was spotted by Torino and played his first Serie A game the next year for the Turin team. Vieri made six appearances in the league as well as in the Coppa Italia. He also picked up a runners up medal as an unused substitute in the 1992 UEFA Cup Final, as Torino lost the tie to Ajax on away goals. In November 1992, he was sold to Serie C club, Pisa Calcio, scoring two goals. Another season went by, he then moved to Ravenna in Serie B, scoring 12 goals. He was subsequently sold to Venezia in Serie F, scoring 11 goals. Another move followed for the youngster, this time to Atalanta where he scored seven goals. A change of luck came when he was spotted by Juventus in the 1996–97 season. He made 23 appearances and scored eight goals in Serie A, and six goals in ten matches in Europe, making him joint topscorer for Juventus that season along with Alen Bokšić.

Vieri was on the move once again, this time it was to Spain and Atlético Madrid. He scored a total of 24 goals in 24 league appearances for Atlético (and an additional five goals from seven appearances in Europe), which led him to the win the Pichichi Trophy, as the league's top scorer. In an interview with Marca magazine shortly after arriving at the Calderón, he had Spanish readers hot-footing it to internet search engines when he named his all-time sporting hero as Australian cricketer Allan Border.

After the 1998 World Cup, he moved to Lazio, where he was outstanding in his first season, scoring 12 goals in Serie A and one in Europe, winning the Cup Winners' Cup in the final of which came his sole European goal that season. But it all changed when he was spotted by Inter and its chairman Massimo Moratti. Vieri's move to Internazionale was for a (then) world record transfer fee of £32 million. Then manager Marcello Lippi had requested the player after their successful season together at Juventus. According to rumour, Vieri took on the number 32 jersey at Inter as a reflection of his hefty price tag.

At Inter, Vieri formed a potentially dangerous partnership with Ronaldo up front, but because of injuries to both players, they were not able to play together often. He was impressive in his first couple of seasons, but constant managerial changes meant that Inter could not challenge for the Scudetto. It was under disciplined Argentinian coach Héctor Cúper, that Vieri and Inter really began to flourish and challenge for honours. Vieri was made the focal point of the attack and scored 22 goals in 25 games in the 2001–02 season as Inter narrowly missed out on the Scudetto after their last-day defeat to Lazio. The following season he was Serie A Capocannoniere after scoring 24 goals in 23 appearances. In addition, he scored 3 goals in Inter's Champions League campaign and formed a potent partnership with Hernán Crespo. He scored both of Inter's goals in the quarter-final victory over Valencia. Vieri was injured during the second leg of this game and therefore played no part in the semifinal defeat to city rivals Milan.

The following year, Cúper was sacked only a few games into the season and was replaced by Alberto Zaccheroni. Vieri did not get along with his new manager and also had many of the Inter fans turn on him after his dip in form. In addition, he had shown his discontent at the sale of strike partner Crespo to Chelsea. When Roberto Mancini replaced Zaccheroni in the summer of 2004, Vieri played the majority games upfront with Adriano. It was clear to many though that the injury he had sustained against Valencia had taken its toll on Vieri and he was no longer as sharp in front of goal, despite his respectable goal output.

In July 2005, Vieri and Internazionale came to a mutual agreement to terminate his contract with the club. He was then signed by cross-town rivals Milan, but left the Rossoneri - where he was not a regular starter - after just six months, joining French side Monaco in order to play regularly and gain a place on Italy's roster for the 2006 World Cup. However, he suffered a serious knee injury while playing for Monaco in 2006, which required extensive surgery and ruled out the possibility of playing in his third consecutive FIFA World Cup.

Vieri agreed a one-year deal with Sampdoria on 6 July 2006. However, Vieri returned to Atalanta on 29 August, signing a one-year minimum wage contract worth 1500€ per month. Although he received a paltry salary, Vieri was to earn another €100,000 for every goal he scored, leaving chairman Ivan Ruggeri to comment, "If things go well, Vieri will cost me €2 million." Vieri scored 2 goals in 7 substitute appearances, including one spectacular long-range effort.

In June 2007, Atalanta announced they chose not to offer a contract extension to Vieri. His contract therefore ended on 30 June and was signed on a one-year deal with Fiorentina. He was officially presented to the press on 21 July 2007. He signed a one-year-contract for Atalanta on 30 June 2008. However, both Atalanta and Vieri mutually agreed that his contract will be rescinded, after only making nine appearances. He announced his retirement on 20 October 2009.