Italy international Barzagli, what level of player was he back then?

I still have a lot of affection for Barzagli because of the game Football Manager.

In the early days of CM Football Manager, Italy's Palermo was a team with great potential. There are famous players in the team such as Luca Toni, Barzagli, Zaccardo, Grosso, etc. I first got to know Barzagli through games.

Although he is very young, his statistics are also very good. After training, he can become a world-class central defender. From this period on, I have paid attention to Barzagli. I will watch him play in real life and want to know how he plays.

In fact, let alone mention it, Barzagli is also a very handsome young man. I still remember that he played in Wolfsburg and had long flowing curly hair.

looks like the picture above. Does it make you feel a bit like Calafioli now? It is true that Barzagli was still a bit delicate back then, and his appearance did not look so rough.

Leaving Palermo and coming to Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga was a very important turning point in his career.

He performed quite well here and helped the team win the Bundesliga championship. In the frontcourt were Dzeko, Grafite and others, and in the backcourt was Barzagli, who was also the team's main force at the time.

He is tall, has good positional sense, accurate positioning, and accurate prediction. This is his characteristic when playing football. He is very stable in the central defender position. Despite his height, he sometimes looks clumsy, but it does not affect his skills.

From this point on, Barzagli started to understand, and slowly improved his previous irritable habits when playing football, becoming mature and steady.

In 2011, Barzagli was gradually marginalized in Wolfsburg. In order to seek opportunities to play, he chose to return to Serie A and come to play for Juventus.

At the beginning, Juventus did not actually say how important it was to Barzagli, but only considered making him a substitute for Bonucci and Chiellini. He was already 30 years old at that time. After his thirties, coupled with injuries and other effects, the team needed a substitute for multi-line operations, and then bought him from Wolfsburg.

But sometimes fate is so funny. The arrival of Conte gave Barzagli a new life.

Conte’s tactical philosophy will place more emphasis on teamwork and pressing. The team likes to play a three-center-back system. It appreciates comprehensive and football-intelligent defenders. It also values ​​the positional sense and ball-playing ability of the central defender.

Barzagli can achieve all of these characteristics. After the early experience of Palermo and Wolfsburg, Barzagli's experience has become quite mature.

Being familiar with the Serie A arena, he quickly adapted to Conte's requirements and formed a good understanding with Chiellini, Bonucci and others.

These three people, together with Buffon, form Juventus' steel defense line.

I remember that in the 2011-2012 season, Juventus only conceded 20 goals in the league, which was like a wall of sighs, preventing opponents from breaking through.

Barzagli's performance has been widely praised by everyone. The attendance rate is very high, and the state is very stable, making few mistakes, and is also an indispensable core of Juventus' defense.

Real Madrid has the BBC combination, and so does Juventus. This defensive combination is also a perfect match in the history of football. The technical characteristics of the three people are complementary, including height, speed, and top-level abilities of assisting defense, cooperation and filling in positions, and they have a sense of defensive hierarchy.

I believe that Juventus fans will never forget the scene when these three people were together. The defense was simply like art and looked magnificent.

From 2011 to 2018, Barzagli had the second spring of his career and performed extremely well in the team.

Physically strong, he is very focused on the game on the court, actively tackles the ball, and makes clean and neat shoveling movements without any sloppiness. Apart from his slow turning speed, being easily beaten by opponents due to his age, and occasionally making mistakes when fighting for high balls, there are other weaknesses that are impeccable.

At the age of more than 30, he can still maintain a stable status in a wealthy club, which is enough to illustrate Barzagli's excellence.

By the way, don’t forget about Barzagli in the 2006 World Cup. He was also a member of the team’s roster and also played as a substitute.

It's just that he was still young at the time and looked a bit baby-faced. His status in the team was not as good as that of big brothers such as Cannavaro, Nesta, and Materazzi, so he would appear less "remarkable".

But being on the roster is enough to show how good he was at that time and that he was able to be called up by the Italian national team.

As I mentioned at the beginning, Grosso, Barzagli, and Zaccardo are all players trained by Palermo. They are very capable, and their outstanding performance in the league has allowed them to gain everyone's attention.

He is not well-known, but it is true that Barzagli is a powerful star. He will be an indispensable "puzzle player" for any team. Without him, you will always feel that something is missing.

In the 2012 European Cup, he returned to the national team after losing the 2010 World Cup. He still showed very good strength and helped the team reach the finals.

In terms of his performance in the few major competitions, he is still able to gain a foothold in the national team.

Whether it is the club or the national team, I think Barzagli has succeeded. He has both major championships and club honors, and he does not have many regrets in his career.

When talking about the outstanding representatives of defenders in the history of Italian football, Barzagli's name can also be mentioned repeatedly. When talking about the BBC, everyone can still remember him for his pairing with Bonucci and Chiellini.

It’s enough to have such a memory.