Full Name :Alberto Aquilani Date Of Birth:July 7, 1984 (age 24) Place of Birth:Rome, Italy Height:1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Position:Central Midfielder Current Club:A.S. Roma National Debut:2006 Caps:10 (2)
Alberto Aquilani (born July 7, 1984 in Rome) is an Italian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Roma and the Italy national football team.
Club career
In 2001, when he was 16, Chelsea offered him a lucrative contract but he declined the offer because it was his dream to play for Roma, whom he had supported since childhood.
He made his debut in Serie A aged 18, with manager Fabio Capello on May 10, 2003 against Torino. Then he played the 2003-04 season on loan with Serie B club Triestina, where he played as a starter and gain some experience.
Back to Roma in 2004-05, he scored the second goal in the victory in the derby played on February 26, 2006; that victory broke the record of most consecutive wins in Serie A. In the following season he was expected to be one of the best player of Roma, unfortunately an injury forced him to stay away from the fields for several months. He also played in the UEFA Champions League against Real Madrid where he had an excellent game. That performance earned him much praise from the media and Arsenal were reported to be targeting him for a transfer in January 2009. He scored two long range goals in the first two matches of the season 2007-08 against Palermo and Siena.
International career
Aquilani was capped for the first time by Italy on 15 November 2006 for a friendly against Turkey. He played as a regular during the 2007 U-21 Championship held in Netherlands and was also named in the "UEFA Team of the Tournament".
He was named to the 23-man roster for Euro 2008, his first major international tournament. He came on as a sub in Italy's third game of the tournament, which was a 2-0 victory over rivals France. He started Italy's quarterfinal match against Spain due to the suspensions to Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso where Italy lost 4-2 in a shootout after 0-0 at 120 minutes.
He scored his first goal with the Azzurri during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Montenegro on October 15, 2008, and he doubled in the same match.
