David Trezeguet

Platense

Trezeguet began his career at Platense in the Argentine Primera División, where he played his first professional game on 12 June 1994 as a 16-year-old in a 1–1 tie against Gimnasia. After just five matches with the team, he moved to play for AS Monaco.

Monaco

In 1995, he was close to joining Paris Saint-Germain, but the deal was cancelled after the two clubs failed to agree a deal. Shortly afterwards, he opted to join Monaco. Monaco coach Jean Tigana was "impressed" by Trezeguet, who scored five goals in trial, signing a deal which saw him earn 15,000 francs a month. Trezeguet spent two seasons with Monaco B, having made just nine appearances in total for the club's first team during his first two seasons. In 1998, Trezeguet scored the fastest ever goal in terms of velocity in UEFA Champions League history in a quarter-final match against Manchester United. The shot that resulted in a goal was clocked at 97.6 mph (157.3 km/h). With Monaco, he won Ligue 1 twice and was named Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year in 1998. He scored a total of 60 goals in 113 appearances for the Monégasque club and it was here that he made his name as a potent goalscoring poacher.

Juventus

During his first season with Juventus, under manager Carlo Ancelotti, Trezeguet managed 14 goals in Serie A, despite being predominantly utilised as a substitute striker, behind Filippo Inzaghi, who started alongside Alessandro Del Piero. Juventus missed out on the 2000–01…

As a French–Argentine, Trezeguet was eligible to play for France or Argentina. Trezeguet first competed internationally in the French youth squad alongside Thierry Henry, Willy Sagnol, and William Gallas, and played in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. In the lead up to the 1998 World Cup in France, Aimé Jacquet gave younger players such as David Trezeguet, Henry and Patrick Vieira the chance to display their talent, and all three were eventually selected for the World Cup ahead of experienced French players including David Ginola. Trezeguet scored one goal in the tournament, in the 4–0 win over Saudi Arabia, as France went on to win the World Cup, defeating Brazil 3–0 in the final at the Stade de France. Two years later France were crowned European champions after defeating Italy 2–1 in the Euro 2000 final, courtesy of Trezeguet's golden goal in extra time from a Robert Pires assist. Although ranked first in the world, France was not very successful in the 2002 World Cup, being eliminated in the group stage without scoring a single goal, despite David Trezeguet, Thierry Henry and Djibril Cissé being the top goalscorers respectively in Serie A, the Premier League and Ligue 1 that season. The failure was then followed up by a quarter-final exit at Euro 2004 at the hands of unheralded Greece with Trezeguet scoring just one goal in the tournament in a 2–2 draw against Croatia. However, with the return of Zinedine Zidane from brief international retirement, France would go…

Trezeguet was a prolific, complete, and talented striker, who was gifted with pace, power, instinct, and an eye for goal. A highly opportunistic player, he was excellent at taking advantage of chances and loose balls in the area, and was an accurate striker of the ball, known for his clinical finishing, as well as his ability to score with few touches, due to his ability to shoot first time and finish off chances from close range, even when off-balance or from awkward positions. He was capable of scoring with either foot, despite being naturally right footed, as well as with his head, and excelled in the air; he was also known for having a penchant for scoring acrobatic goals. Although he wasn't particularly known for his link-up play, he was highly regarded for his positional sense, anticipation, reactions, offensive movement, and his ability to lose his markers, as well as for his skill at playing with his back to goal, courtesy of his solid technique. Considered to be one of the best strikers of his generation, due to the number of goals he scored for Juventus he gained the nicknames: Cobra, Trezegol, and Re David (King David, in Italian), during his time at the club. Despite his ability, his playing time throughout his career was often limited by injuries.

David Sergio Trezeguet was born on 15 October 1977 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France, but grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father Jorge Trezeguet was playing football for FC Rouen. He left the club in 1979 and returned to Argentina with his family. Trezeguet was married to Beatriz Villalba for 13 years; they have two sons together, Aarón (born 2000) and Noraan (born 2008). Beatriz is from Alicante, Spain. They divorced in 2012.