Alessandro Matri

Alessandro Matri (born 19 August 1984) is an Italian footballer who plays as a striker for Italian Serie A club Juventus and the Italian national team.

 Early career

Born in Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, Lombardy, a comune 30 km away from Milan, Matri started his career at Milan and made his debut on 24 May 2004 against Piacenza Calcio as a starter as Milan had rested most of their starting eleven. Matri partnered with Michele Piccolo and replaced by Roberto Bortolotto in the 71st minute but he did not score. In the next season, he played all the time at Primavera (U20) Team and has not played in the first team. In the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons, he left on loan to Prato (along with Piccolo) and Lumezzane, played 64 Serie C1 matches.

Rimini

In 2006–07 season, Matri was loaned to Rimini, Serie B team. Here he partnered with the more experienced Ricchiuti, Jeda and Moscardelli (all destined for playing in Serie A) therefore he sometimes started from the bench. During his stay in Rimini, Matri scored 4 goals in Serie B, all of them between March and April of 2007. He also scored a goal in Coppa Italia.

Cagliari

In June 2007, as part of David Suazo's deal to Milan, he left for Cagliari in co-ownership deal, for €2 million. (Suazo eventually joined city rival Internazionale.) He partnered with Robert Acquafresca, which Internazionale sent him to the Sardinia as part of Suazo's deal. The young strikers scored 16 goals for the team, ahead of midfielders Pasquale Foggia and Daniele Conti (both five goals). Their replacement, Jeda and Joaquín Larrivey, scored three goals in half season and one goal in the full season, respectively. In June 2008, Cagliari bought the another half of the player's registration rights for another €2 million.

In the next season, Matri became the third choice striker, as Jeda and Acquafresca were in better form throughout the season. He did score, however, six goals in 31 matches, but only 11 of them as a starter.

After the exit of Acquafresca, Matri became the other half of a starting pair along with Jeda, with new signing Nenê, the 2008–09 Portuguese Liga top-scorer, played as a substitute. He was the team's top scorer, having scored 12 league goals, ahead Nenê (seven goals) and Jeda (six goals). At the start of the 2010–11 Serie A season, he was re-united with Acquafresca as he re-joined Cagliari. Matri, Acquafresca, and Nenê scored 11 goals in 22 games, three goals in 21 games (only 11 starts), and four times in 20 games (14 starts) in the league, respectively, before Matri's departure.

Juventus

On 31 January 2011, in the final hours of the January transfer window, Matri moved to Juventus until the end of the season in loan deal that saw the remaining half of Lorenzo Ariaudo's registration rights, worth €2.5 million, being acquired to Cagliari; Juventus will also have an option to permanently acquire the player at the end of the season for €15.5 million in three installments. The acquisition was a consequence of Juventus' striking vacancies caused by a out-of-season injury to fellow on-loan striker Fabio Quagliarella and the loan of Amauri to Parma.

Matri made his Juventus debut only two days later, playing in a league game against Palermo, ended in a 2–1 win for the Sicilian opponents. On 5 February, Matri scored his first two goals for Juventus on his return to Cagliari, when he latched onto a Miloš Krasić pass and drove into the near corner for the first, and volleyed again for the second, choosing not to celebrate on both occasions. Matri scored his third goal for Juventus in the classic Derby d'Italia, scoring a header and defeating Internazionale 1–0. He wasn't able to score in the three upcoming matches against Lecce, Bologna, and Milan. In the next match, he scored another brace, although Juventus managed to secure only one point on a 2-2 away draw match against newly-promoted Cesena. On 4 April, Matri scored his sixth goal for Juventus against Roma, which ended in a 2–0 victory for Juventus.The next match, he again scored one goal, helping the Bianconeri obtain the full three points against Genoa. On the 22nd of June, Matri officially signed for Juventus on a permanent deal which will see the player sign for € 15.5 payable over 3 years. Matri signed the contract which will tie him to Juventus until 2015.

International Career

Matri earned his first call up for the Italian national team for a friendly match against Germany that took place on 9 February 2011. On 29 March, he made his debut in the friendly game against Ukraine played in Kiev, where he scored his first goal for Italy in the 81st minute, in a match which Italy won 2–0.