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At 38 years old, one of the few remaining players from the old days back in the nineties has called it quits with football. Italian striker Antonio di Natale had already announced his retirement and this past Sunday he retired during Udinese's match against Carpi, he scored a goal from the spot in his team's final victory with him as their main striker. We are talking about one of the members of the exclusive top ten list of the Serie A all-time goal scorers.
With 209 goals in 445 matches played, Di Natale has marked a truly amazing period of time when he was Italy's most prolific goal scorer. He is also one of the few players who remained faithful to a single club for the better part of his career, playing with Udinese most of his Serie A and other tournament matches. Throughout 12 seasons he score 191 goals in 385 appearances, finished his career with 227 goals in all competitions with the fans from Udine chanting his name. They won't forget him, he is a beloved figure in their history and this past Sunday they proved it with an amazing homage they had for him.
'Toto' was very emotional during this ceremony after the match against Carpi ended, he shed some tears of joy that represent the life of a professional fooball player who gave his life for a single club and never faltered. He told Sky Sports Italia: "I think in the end 12 years was a great journey together. I want to thank my team-mates and the club, everyone who was with me during this time. I hurt myself in training, but I wanted to play those 20 minutes and the doctors allowed me to do it.
"Until yesterday I was relaxed, but when I sat in the locker room tonight I was crying like a baby. I saw 12 years flash before my eyes. I scored 227 goals. I did many things for this club, scored many goals, so I hope to remain in the history of this club. The president [Franco Soldati] is a great man, he puts everything at our disposal and this beautiful stadium is down to him. He was like a father to me and helped me throughout this career."
About what he plans to do next after this, he was very vague about it: "Right now I want to go home, spend some time with my family and then I'll decide what to do next. I know any day I can call the president and we'll talk. It was pleasing to receive so many messages, but most of all I want to thank [former Udinese boss] Francesco Guidolin. We reached the Champions League together and are very close."
Photo credit: Udinese Calcio
