Andrea Dossena (born 11 September 1981 in Crespiatica, Italy) is an Italian footballer who plays as a left back for English Premier League club Liverpool.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early career

Dossena began his career at Verona as a youth player before playing 4 seasons in their senior squad. He made his Serie A debut on 18 November 2001, city derby against Chievo.^[2]

Italian Serie A team Treviso signed Dossena in co-ownership deal in 2005, which promoted due to Caso Genoa.^[3]

[edit] Udinese

Udinese signed him in 2006 in co-ownership with Treviso, which became permanent in June 2007. He was given the number 8 jersey and made 63 appearances in the two seasons with Udinese, scoring 2 league goals along the way.^[4]

[edit] Liverpool

On 4 July 2008, Liverpool confirmed the signing of Dossena on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee, reported to be in the region of £7 million, becoming the first ever Italian to play for the club.^[5][6][7]

Dossena was signed as a direct replacement for John Arne Riise who left for Roma.^[1] On July 10, 2008, it was announced that Dossena would wear the number 2 shirt.^[8] His debut for Liverpool came on 16 August in the 1–0 Premier League win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. The start to his career at Liverpool was marked by poor form and he was unsatisfied with his performances, telling The Guardian:

"I am not fully happy with my level. I must now get to a high level and maintain that, but first I have to battle to win selection. I am learning all the time".^[9]

Dossena reinforced that he was committed to the club and explained that he was having difficulties adjusting because the pace of English football was significantly different from what he had experienced in Serie A. Despite his largely unimpressive performances, he received more opportunities to prove himself in the first team as Fábio Aurélio, Liverpool's favoured left back, suffered an injury in late November.^[10] However as of late, he has lost his first team slot with Aurelio's return from injury combined with the emergence of Emiliano Insua. He scored his first goal for Liverpool on 10 March 2009 against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League after coming on as a substitute.^[11] He scored his first goal in the Premier League four days later, on 14 March in the 4-1 victory against Manchester United at Old Trafford.^[12] He scored both goals playing as an auxiliary left-forward as a late substitute in both games.

In July 2009, Dossena's number 2 shirt was given to new signing Glen Johnson and he will now wear number 38.^[13]

[edit] International career

Dossena played for the Italy U-20 team from 2000 to 2001, earning four caps. He made his first appearance for Italy in a friendly against South Africa on 17 October 2007. Dossena won his second international cap when he came on at half-time during Italy's 2–2 draw with Austria on 20 August 2008. He scored an own goal to put Italy 3-0 down against Brazil in a Confederations Cup match on 21 June 2009.^[14]

[edit] Statistics

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Liverpool profile
• Andrea Dossena career stats at Soccerbase
• Andrea Dossena at National-Football-Teams.com
• Soccernet profile
• Eurosport profile and statistics
• FIFA.com profile
• ESPN Profile

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