Profile of Christian Vieri on Famous Like Me

Christian Vieri (born 12 July 1973 in Bologna) is an Italian football player, a striker who currently plays for Italian club AC Milan and the Italian national team.

Vieri was raised in Sydney, Australia, in one of the world's largest Italian communities. His father played for Sydney-based club Marconi Stallions. His brother, Maximilano Vieri, is also a professional footballer, and is an Australian international. Vieri played for Marconi Juniors when he was a child but his family soon moved back to Italy. As a result of living in Australia, Vieri has stated that his greatest sporting hero is Allan Border. Incidentally, he could have easily made a career out of cricket rather than football, but he chose football.

Vieri started his playing career at Prato, a small club in Serie C1 in 1989. While there, he was spotted by Torino and played his first Serie A game the next year for the Turin giants. Vieri made six appearances and appeared in the Coppa Italia. In November 1992, he was sold to Serie B club, Pisa, scoring two goals. Another season went by, he then kicked off his wonder first season with Ravenna in Serie B, scoring 12 goals. Sold to Venezia in Serie B, scoring 11. And then another move for the youngster, to Atalanta where he only had seven goals. His change of luck came when he was spotted by Juventus in the 1996/1997 season. He made 23 appearances and scored eight goals in Serie A, and six goals in ten matches in Europe.

Vieri was on the move once again, this time it was Spain and Atlético Madrid. This is where the Vieri name became a trademark for Italian football and with the 1998 World Cup just around the corner, he could be Italy's strike partner along side Roberto Baggio or Alessandro Del Piero. Amazingly, he scored a total of 24 goals in 24 appearances for Atlético, five goals from seven appearances in Europe which lead him to the win the Spanish top scoring reign.

After the world cup he moved to Lazio, where he was outstanding in his first season, scoring 12 goals in Serie A and one in Europe, winning the Cup Winners' Cup. But it all changed when Vieri was spotted by Inter Milan, and millionaire Massimo Moratti, who once signed Ronaldo for the world record transfer fee. Vieri became the richest footballer on the planet once he agreed on the move to Inter Milan.

Vieri has been at Inter Milan since 1999. In 2003, he led Serie A in scoring with 24 goals. As of the end of 2004, he has scored 22 goals in 43 matches for Italy and played for his country at the 1998 and 2002 World Cup (he scored five in 1998 and four in 2002), as well as Euro 2004. Vieri is still considered as Italy's greatest striker over the past decade, and one of Italy's most prolific World Cup goalscorers. He was named by Pelé as one of the 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

In July 2005, both Vieri and Inter Milan came to a mutual agreement to terminate his contract with the club. He was then signed by cross-town rivals AC Milan.

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