Claudio Marchisio (born January 19, 1986 in Turin) is an Italian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Juventus and the Italian national team. He is often compared to the former Juventus midfielder Marco Tardelli.^[1]

[edit] Club career

Marchisio has played for the Juventus first team since the beginning of the 2006-07 season, when the club was in Serie B. He has been with Juve since he was seven years old and initially played as a support striker, modelling himself after club legend Alessandro Del Piero, all the way up until a coach moulded him into a midfielder when he was 16 years old.

He made his first team debut against Martina in the Coppa Italia, and was a starter in the match against Napoli, 6 November, 2006. During the latter part of the season, he became one of the key players in Didier Deschamps' squad; most notably playing the full 90 minutes for 6 consecutive matches since Juventus' 2-0 victory against Napoli.

Before the 2007-08 campaign, Marchisio was loaned out with Giovinco to Empoli to gain first-team experience. After Marchisio's good performances for Empoli he returned to Juventus for the 2008-09 campaign, making his first team debut against Artmedia Bratislava in the Champions League 2008-09 qualifers. He was also in the starting 11 in the games against Fiorentina and Milan. His performance in these three games were widely applauded. And was later voted player of the month in December.

In the 2009-10 season, Marchisio scored the winning goal in a 2-1 win over Inter in the Derby d'Italia on 5 December, 2009.

[edit] International career

Marchisio has been on the Italy U-21 squad since 2007. He has become a regular on the squad and in 2008 he was called up for the Toulon Tournament and the Summer Olimpics with the Italy team. During the Toulon Tournament, he was a regular in the starting eleven, and was a big part of why Italy won the tournament. He scored one goal, a 30 yard cracker against Turkey. In the 2008 Beijing Olimpics, Marchisio came on as a sub in the first match, but missed the rest of the tournament due to an injury. He took part at the 2009 Euro U-21 Championship.

On 12 August 2009, Marchisio made his debut for the senior national team after being called up by team coach Marcello Lippi for a friendly against Switzerland, featuring in the starting line-up.^[2][3]

[edit] Personal life

On the afternoon of 9 June 2008, the young midfielder married sweetheart Roberta. They expect their first baby in the end of august. Claudio said he would love to score a goal aganist Roma, when Juventus go to stadio Olimpico to play their second game of the 2009/2010 season, and dedicate it to his child to come.^[4]

[edit] References

• Official Empoli Player Profile

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