Football Player's Biography 7: Antonio Cassano

Date of birth	12 July 1982 (1982-07-12) (age 28)
Place of birth	Bari, Italy
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Striker

Antonio Cassano (born 12 July 1982 in Bari) is an Italian footballer who plays for Serie A club Milan, mainly as a forward. Nicknamed Il Gioiello di Bari Vecchia ("the jewel of Old Bari"), he is known for his short temper as much as his ability on the pitch, which led to the coining of the neologism Cassanata by his former coach, Fabio Capello, in November 2002. The word is regularly used by Italian journalists as a euphemism for any behavior incompatible with team spirit in football

Club career

Early career

Cassano was born in Bari on the day after Italy beat Germany in the 1982 FIFA World Cup final,^[2] and his father left the family shortly thereafter.^{[citation needed]} He was raised in the Bari Vecchia neighbourhood, and began playing football at an early age. Cassano was spotted by an A.S. Bari scout and brought up through the team's youth system, and he made his Serie A debut for Bari against local rivals U.S. Lecce in 1999.

Roma

At the age of nineteen, Cassano signed with reigning Serie A champions A.S. Roma, for a transfer fee of 60billion Italian lire (about €30 million).^[3] His first season produced five goals, and he attracted media attention after openly clashing with coach Fabio Capello after he was left out of a practice match a few days after his international debut. In the 2003 Italian Cup final against A.C. Milan, Cassano was sent off after protesting an official's decision, and he flashed the sign of the horns at the referee while leaving the pitch.
He was omitted from the squad during Roma's tumultuous 2004–05 campaign while Luigi Delneri, Roma's third coach of the season (after Cesare Prandelli and Rudi Völler), was in charge. After Delneri himself resigned during the season, his replacement, Bruno Conti, returned Cassano to the starting lineup, with Cassano captaining the team in the absence of incumbent Francesco Totti, who was serving a five-match suspension.
During the 2005–06 preseason, Cassano was in constant conflict with club management over the renewal of his contract, which was due to expire on June 30, 2006.^[4] In January 2006, he acrimoniously parted ways with Roma and signed with Real Madrid.^[5] for just €5M.^[6]

Real Madrid

Cassano became the second ever Italian player to sign for Real Madrid after former Roma teammate Christian Panucci. His début came on 18 January 2006, in a Spanish Cup match against Real Betis, and scored his first goal just three minutes after entering the match in the second half.^[2] However, just four months into his tenure with the club, he began gaining weight due to poor eating habits, which resulted in Madrid fining him for every gram he remained over his playing weight.
On 30 October, Madrid's official website announced that Cassano had been suspended due to his “disrespect” of Capello, who had joined the club at the beginning of 2006–07 season, following a dressing room argument arising from his omission from the team after a game against Gimnàstic de Tarragona,^[7] and was subsequently benched along with David Beckham and Ronaldo. In an interview with a Roman radio station, Cassano said he would "walk all the way back" to rejoin Roma, and indicated his eagerness to make peace with Totti, with whom Cassano had conflicted with before his departure from Roma. However, Cassano remained with Madrid after the January 2007 transfer window had closed, and the rest of his season was cut short by an ankle injury.
In an interview with Spanish radio in July 2007, Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón described Cassano's attitude as "unsustainable in the last couple of months" and indicated that he would be leaving the club.^[8]

Sampdoria

On 13 August 2007, Sampdoria took Cassano on a one-year loan, agreeing to pay €1.2 million of his €4.2 million salary.^[2] He was presented to approximately 2,500 fans five days later.^{[citation needed]} In his first press conference, Cassano said that since his first-choice number 18 was already taken by teammate Vladimir Koman, he had instead chosen 99, because 9 plus 9 equals 18.
He made his Sampdoria début in the Derby della Lanterna against Genoa on 23 September, in which he was substituted by former Roma teammate Vincenzo Montella in the final minutes of the match. Cassano scored his first league goal upon his return against Atalanta a week later, in a 3–0 victory. He scored in three consecutive games in January, and helped end league leaders Inter Milan's winning league run with a goal in a 1–1 draw. However, Cassano was sent off in a 2–2 draw with Torino FC on 2 March 2008, which he compounded by hurling his shirt at the referee as he left the pitch,^[9] and was punished with a five-match ban. Sampdoria ended the season with a UEFA Cup berth, while Cassano was acquired on a permanent basis by the club on a undisclosed fees from Madrid.^[10]
In his second season, Cassano confirmed to have temperamentally improved, also becoming vice-captain for the team behind Angelo Palombo. After the January signing of Giampaolo Pazzini from ACF Fiorentina, Cassano managed to form a fruitful striking partnership with the former viola forward, that was praised by both media and Sampdoria supporters, and led club chairman Riccardo Garrone to compare it with striking duo of Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini that led Sampdoria to win their only scudetto to date,^[11] an opinion that was later shared also by both Vialli and Mancini.^[12]^[13]
His third season with Sampdoria again began very well for Cassano, who affirmed himself as a valid assist-man for Pazzini, and being instrumental in the club's impressive seasonal start, that led them up to first place after a 1-0 home win to Inter. However, a result crisis, including a 3-0 defeat in the local derby against crosstown rivals Genoa, left Sampdoria down to mid-table on January, leading head coach Luigi Delneri to put Cassano off the team for "technical and tactical reasons", casting doubts about the player's future at the club.
In the final days of the transfer window, he was linked with a move on loan to Fiorentina, that was however denied with an official statement from the club,^[14] but was described by the media as Cassano's own refusal to leave Sampdoria.^[15] This was confirmed by Cassano himself through an official statement published on Sampdoria's website, citing his relationship with club chairman Riccardo Garrone, his teammates and the team supporters as the main reason for his choice.^[16]
On October 2010 Cassano was excluded from the first team squad with immediate effect after he had a heated row with chairman Riccardo Garrone following the player's refusal to attend an award ceremony.^[17] Following such events, Sampdoria formally applied for a contract termination to a league arbitration panel, a position that was confirmed even after Cassano apologised to Garrone and the club.^[18] On December 16, the arbitration panel ordered Sampdoria to reinclude Cassano into the first team from 1 January 2011, rejecting the blucerchiati's request for a contract termination, but also concluding Cassano will be paid only 50% of his salary for the remainder of his contract.^[19]

Milan

On 20 December 2010, it was reported that Milan, Sampdoria and the player agreed the installment plan to pay €5 million to Real Madrid which was indicated in Cassano's buy-out clause when he left the Spanish club. The agreement involved Sampdoria and Milan paying €2.5 million each to Real Madrid. Cassano then signed a three-and-a-half year contract with Milan,^[20] which was later confirmed by Milan's owner Silvio Berlusconi.^[21]

International career

Cassano has sixteen caps and four goals with Italy. His début came in November 2003 against Poland, in which he scored his first goal. He was part of Italy's UEFA Euro 2004 squad as a reserve, but after Totti was suspended following a spitting incident with Christian Poulsen in a group match against Denmark, Cassano was inserted into the starting lineup for a 1–1 draw with Sweden in which he scored. He also netted a last-minute winner in a 2–1 victory over Bulgaria, but Italy were eliminated in the group stage on goal difference.
Cassano was left off the final roster for the 2006 World Cup, but was called up for two Euro 2008 qualifying matches in September 2006. He was part of the finals roster and went scoreless in the tournament as Italy were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Spain after a penalty shootout.
After a two-year absence from the Azzurri team, and following widespread criticism from the media towards Marcello Lippi about his exclusion from the 2010 FIFA World Cup squad, Cassano was readmitted into the Italian team on August 6, 2010 by new head coach Cesare Prandelli for his first game in charge of the team, a friendly match against Côte d'Ivoire to played on August 10 at Upton Park, London.^[22] Almost a month later, in Italy's UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier played in Estonia Cassano scored the tying goal in a 1-2 away victory and also assisted Leonardo Bonucci's second goal with a back-heel. Cassano scored a magnificent goal from just outside the box in Italy's 5-0 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier win over the Faroe Islands.

Personal life

Cassano got engaged with water polo player Carolina Marcialis in 2008 and then married at June 19, 2010 at church Chiesa di San Martino, Portofino.^[23] Cassano's wife is set to give birth to the couple's first child, a son, by the end of March 2011