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Claudio Marchisio

Claudio Marchisio (born January 19 1986 in Turin) is an Italian football player. He plays for Serie A club Juventus.

Football career

Marchisio has played for the Italian football side Juventus F.C. since the beginning of the 2006 season. He has been with Juve since he was seven years old and initially played as a support striker, modelling himself after club legend Alessandro Del Piero, all the way up until a coach moulded him into a midfielder when he was 16 years old.

He made his first team debut against Martina in the Coppa Italia, and was a starter in the match against S.S.C. Napoli, 6 November, 2006. During the latter part of the 2006-2007 season in Serie B, he became one of the key players in Didier Deschamps' squad; most notably playing the full 90 minutes for 6 consecutive matches since Juventus' 2-0 victory against Napoli.

Before the 2007-08 campaign, Marchisio was loaned out with Giovinco to Empoli to gain first-team experience. After Marchisio's good performances for Empoli he returned to Juventus for the 2008-09 campaign, making his first team debut against Artmedia Bratislava in the Champions League 2008-09 qualifers. He was also in starting 11 in the Serie A opener against Fiorentina. His performance in these two games were widely applauded.

Marchisio is often compared to the former Juventus midfielder Marco Tardelli.

International Career

Due to his quality performances with Juve in the 2006/07 campaign, he was called into the Italy U-21 squad along with fellow Juventus youngsters Sebastian Giovinco, Paolo De Ceglie and Domenico Criscito for the match with Albania. He also scored the winner for the U-23 team against Turkey at the youth festival tournament in Toulon, France.

Marchisio has been on the Italy U-21 squad since 2007. Since then he has become a regular on the squad and was called up for the Toulon Tournament, in France, as well as to the Italy U-23, 2008 Summer Olimpic Games squad. During the Toulon Tournament, he was a regular in the starting eleven, and was a big part of why Italy won the tournament. He scored one goal, a 30 yard cracker against Turkey. In Italy's opening game at the 2008 Beijing Olimpics against Honduras, Marchisio came on as a 79th minute sub for Juventus teammate Sebastian Giovinco, but may miss the remaining games due to an injury.