Christian Vieri was born in Bologna, on July 12, 1973.
He is the son of former player Roberto Vieri, while his mother is French. When Christian was four years old, he and his family emigrated to Australia for ten years (hence his love for cricket). In fact his first footballing experiences were down under with the Marconi Stallions.
Back in Italy between 1987-1992 he was with Santa Lucia, Prato and then Torino youth sectors.
He made his debut for Torino in 1991-92 (against Lazio) and played 6 league games with 1 goal (Genoa) and 1 game in Coppa Italia with 1 goal (Lazio). The Granata had a good season with a 3rd place and also reached the UEFA Cup final (lost to Ajax on away goals).
The following season he changed teams and joined Pisa in Serie B. This habit of changing clubs after only a year would become a constant rule over the first eight years of his career (8 teams in 8 years). With Pisa he played 18 games with 2 goals (Verona home and away). The Nerazzurri came 8th.
In 1993-94 he was with Ravenna in serie B. He made 32 appearances and started scoring more regularly, 12 goals. Despite his goals, the Giallorossi were relegated to Serie C.
A year later he was up the road at Venezia in Serie B. He played 29 games with 11 goals. The "Leoni Alati" (The Winged Lions) changed manager five times and came 9th.
The 1995-96 season saw "Bobo" back in Serie A at Atalanta. He played 19 league games with 8 goals (including Roma) and 2 games in Coppa Italia with 2 goals (Bologna). The "Orobici" came 13th and reached the Coppa Italia final, losing 3-0 on aggregate to Fiorentina.
In 1996-97 he joined Juventus. He played alongside Alessandro Del Piero, Zinedine Zidane, Alen Boksic and under manager Marcello Lippi. The Bianconeri won the Scudetto, the Intercontinental Cup (River Plate 1-0) and the European Super Cup (P.S.G 9-2 on aggregate, with 1 Vieri goal)). They however did not retain the Champions League as they were a little surprisingly beaten 3-1 in the final by Borussia Dortmund (with 2 goals by former Lazio, Karl-Heinz Riedle). Vieri himself played 23 league games with 8 goals (including 2 against Roma and 1 vs Lazio), 5 in Coppa Italia with 1 goal (F. Andria), 8 in Champions League with 4 goals (Rapid Vienna, Rosenborg, Ajax home and away), plus the Intercontinental final in Tokyo.
A year later he was in Spain and became a "Colchonero" joining Atletico Madrid. It was not a great season for them under Radomir Antić and Atletico came 7th. In the UEFA CUP they were eliminated by Lazio in the semis (0-1 on aggregate). It was a fantastic season for Vieri personally, he scored a total of 29 goals with 24 in the league and becoming the Liga "Pichichi" (top scorer).
In 1998-98 he returned to Italy and signed for Lazio. Ambitious Sergio Cragnotti was building a competitive team and chose Vieri as his top striker. Unfortunately, Vieri would not play regularly until January due to a knee injury in early September, but when he did he was excellent. He scored 12 league goals between January and May. Lazio went very close to winning the Scudetto, falling at the penultimate hurdle with a 1-1 draw in Florence amidst controversial refereeing decisions by a certain Treossi.
The Biancocelesti however won the last ever Cup Winners Cup Final 2-1 against Mallorca and Vieri scored the opener and was involved in the build up to Pavel Nedved's winner. Lazio also won the Italian Supercoppa in August '98 beating Juventus 2-1 away. Despite being a great success in Rome and very popular, in the summer he was sold.
Inter bought Vieri for a record 90 billion Lire. Cragnotti was a businessman and he simply could not refuse that sort of money. At Inter he was reunited with Marcello Lippi and the Nerazzurri came 4th (Lazio were Champions). Vieri played 19 league games (plus a CL playoff versus Parma) and scored 13 goals (including Roma), plus 5 games in Coppa Italia with 5 goals. Inter reached the Coppa Italia final but lost to Lazio 2-1 on aggregate.
The following year the big novelty was that Vieri actually stayed at Inter. Under Lippi (one league game) and then Marco Tardelli for the rest of the season, Inter came 5th. Vieri played 28 league games with 18 goals (including 2 against Roma) plus 5 in the UEFA Cup with 1 goal (Alavés).
In 2001-02 Hector Cuper arrived as manager. Inter looked to win the Scudetto but inexplicably collapsed in the last match against Lazio, losing 4-2 and ending up 3rd. Vieri played 25 league games with 22 goals (including derby winner, Roma and Lazio), 1 in Coppa Italia and 2 in the UEFA Cup with 3 goals (hat-trick vs Ipswich Town).
In 2002-03 Cuper stayed on. Inter finished 2nd. In the Champions League they reached the semi-finals but lost to Milan on away goals. Vieri played 23 league games with 24 goals (including Juve and Roma) and 14 in the Champions League with 3 goals (Newcastle United, Valencia home and away). He was Serie A top scorer.
In 2003-04 Cuper was sacked after six games and replaced by Alberto Zaccheroni (the Lazio manager on that fateful May 5, 2002). Inter came 4th and Vieri played 22 league games with 13 goals (including Lazio, Roma and Juventus), 1 in Coppa Italia, 5 in Champions League with 2 goals (Dynamo Kiev and Arsenal) and 4 in the UEFA Cup with 2 goals (Sochaux and Benfica).
In 2004-05, Roberto Mancini arrived as manager. Inter came 3rd in Serie A but won the Coppa Italia beating Roma 3-0 on aggregate. Vieri played 27 league games with13 goals (including Juventus), 3 in Coppa Italia with 3 goals (Bologna, Cagliari x2) and 6 in the Champions League with 1 goal (Valencia). In the Champions League Inter were again knocked out by city rivals Milan in the quarterfinals. At Inter he played 190 games with an impressive 123 goals (103 Serie A, 8 CI, 12 European cups)
In 2005-06 Vieri stayed in the Lombard capital but joined A.C Milan. The season was a strange one as the two top placed teams, Juventus and Milan were punished for their involvement in the Calciopoli scandal. The Bianconeri were sent down to Serie B and the Rossoneri were docked 30 points, ironically giving Vieri's former team Inter the Scudetto. Before the final verdicts Ancelotti's Milan had come 2nd. Vieri only played 8 league games with 1 goal (Empoli), 1 game in Coppa Italia and 5 in Champions League (Milan eventually knocked out by Barcelona in the semis). Vieri however had only stayed with Milan until January.
To give himself more playing time and a better chance to be called up for the World Cup squad, he joined Monaco. In France he played 7 league games with 3 goals, 2 Cup games with 1 goal and 2 games in the UEFA Cup with 1 goal. In March he suffered a serious injury which ended his season and any World Cup hopes.
The following year Vieri was supposed to join Sampdoria. He was still injured and instead of turning up for pre-season training he went off on holiday with his girlfriend. The Samp owner Garrone was not amused and never registered the striker's contract.
At this point a few weeks later Vieri re-joined Atalanta. His injury however dragged out and he did not play until April. He got 7 games in the end with 2 goals (Siena, Udinese). The Bergamaschi came 8th under Stefano Colantuono.
In 2007-08, as a free agent, he signed for Fiorentina. The Viola had a good season under Cesare Prandelli, 4th in Serie A (CL qualification) and semi final of UEFA Cup (Rangers on penalties - Vieri missed the last spot kick). Vieri played 26 league games with 6 goals (Atalanta, Siena, Napoli, Torino, Udinese, Sampdoria), 1 in Coppa Italia and 12 in the UEFA Cup with 3 goals (Villarreal, Elfsborg, Mladá Boleslav).
In 2008-09 he spent one last season back in Bergamo with Atalanta. The manager was Luigi Del Neri and the "Orobici" finished 11th. Vieri, plagued by injuries and 35, got 9 league games with 2 goals (Udinese, Juventus).
Approaching 36 Vieri then retired.
At international level Vieri won 49 caps for Italy with 23 goals. He took part in two World Cups (1998 and 2002) and one European Championship (2004). He holds the record of goals for the "Azzurri" at World Cups with 9 (alongside Paolo Rossi and Roberto Baggio). He also won two U21 European Championships (1994 and 1996).
Since retiring he has been in a film, started a clothing brand, been in adverts and TV shows, worked as a pundit, organised beach football tennis tournaments (Bobo Summer Cup), put out a music single and he now has his own TV programme in streaming called Bobo TV… he has kept busy.
As a player Vieri was a classic centre-forward. At 1.85 metres and 82 kilos he was physically strong but quick once he got going and good in the air. Despite his size he also had opportunist qualities. He had a very powerful and precise left foot which allowed him to score with long range shots too. He was a goal scorer but was also an effective attacking partner to play off so he was also a useful assist man. He was a team player and had good leadership qualities. He was a reliable penalty taker.
All these qualities made him one of the best forwards of his generation. He has been compared to Gigi Riva, Giorgio Chinaglia (with whom he also shared emigration experiences and hence a very particular spoken Italian). Nowadays Erland Haaland I would say has "Vieriesque" qualities.
At Lazio he was a huge success. Unfortunately he stayed only a year and was injured until January. When he started playing again he was a whirlwind presence and scored goals (14 in 23 games). Lazio deserved to win the Scudetto that year, falling agonizingly short, but won the Cup Winners Cup.
He was popular in Rome for his character, his similarity to Chinaglia, his fighting spirit and not least his goals. Vieri is possibly the player who in the shortest time (5 months in the end) made the biggest impact at Lazio. He is remembered as a great player and with the cup win has his place in Lazio history.
Had Lazio won the Scudetto they deserved he would have left an even bigger mark. This was a curious fact about Vieri's career, timing; Lazio became champions the year after he left, Inter the same (albeit awarded), Milan won the Champions League a year after he left and Italy won the World Cup in 2006 with Vieri out injured. He did win trophies but maybe not as many as his talent deserved.
Lazio career
Season | Total Appearances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Cup Winners Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1998-99 | 28 (14) | 22 (12) | 2 (1) | 4 (1) |
Sources
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