Striker welcomed as a hero
As the first team from Australia to play in Italy, Sydney’s pre-season tour was always going to attract attention
However with Azzurri legend Alessandro Del Piero as the Sky Blues star man, the game against the Italian’s first club Padova was never going to be anything other than headline news.
The match takes places Wednesday evening, a crowd of over 20,000 are expected to attend with coach Frank Farina promising his to play his best 11.
As a Youth player Del Piero spent 5 years at the Stadio Euganeo, he spoke to the Sydney Morning Herald about the forthcoming friendly.
“It’s a privileged situation for me to return to Padua, where I spent time from 13 to 18 years old, an important period of my life and full of emotions that led me to where I came.
“It is fantastic for me to train in Italy in a place I know very well and which has gone out of its way to have me here.I signed autographs for an hour because that is also part of being a professional.
“I try to please everybody because many people have driven a long way to be here.
“It’s a great experience for many of my teammates as they’re not used to training in front of crowds like that and they are enthused by this atmosphere.”
The club were officially welcomed into Jesola by over 5000 fans, another 2000 paid $5 to watch a training session.