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Valerio Bertotto’s 50th birthday: happy birthday captain

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Valerio Bertotto’s 50th birthday: happy birthday captain

Fifty is an important number. It’s round, but above all, in a man’s life it means half a century of life, which is effective. Sunday, championship day, Valerio Bertotto turns fifty.

It is not a trivial goal, first of all for him, but also for all the Udinese fans who have seen him on the pitch for thirteen years in the black and white shirt.

Valerio arrived very young in Friuli in the summer of 1993. In the previous three seasons he had played for Alessandria where he made his debut in Serie C at a very young age.

Then the sudden double jump in the top flight that Udinese had defended in the play-off match against Brescia in Bologna.

“I watched that match in front of the TV and cheered wildly for my future team, playing in A would have had a completely different flavor than in B”, he said on several occasions.

On the Udinese bench he finds a certain Azeglio Vicini who three years earlier was the coach of the national team at Italia ’90.

On the second day the debut in Cagliari where the bianconeri won 2-1. The first goal comes at the start of the return leg at the Tardini in Parma and it’s a three-point goal.

Udinese relegate, but have a team to recover immediately. Valerio is not the protagonist of that climb: on 27 November in Venice he breaks his knee ligament, he will be back in just time to collect a couple of appearances.

The following year Zaccheroni was on the bench, Valerio was right-back in the 4-4-2, then when the legendary 3-4-3 team was born, initially the place would be played with Gargo. When Calori and then Poggi left Friuli between the summer of 1999 and January 2000, Bertotto became the captain.

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On December 11, 2001, his knee crashes again: he is in the national team where he collects four appearances, returns to the field in record time (April 14, Verona-Udinese 1-0) but misses the train for the Japanese-Korean World Cup .

It gave its best under the management of Luciano Spalletti in the three-year period 2002-2005. He is the recognized leader of that team.

In the Champions League preliminary match with Sporting Lisbon, he sustains a head injury but remains on the pitch with a showy turban. And seven days later he will replace him in the second leg which qualifies for the top European competition. With Barcelona he sees a little with Ronaldinho, a little with the rising star Messi, unforgettable flashes of his personal album.

The defeat in Friuli against Barça, when a draw would have been enough to reach the round of 16, is the biggest disappointment of his career. Cosmi jumps and Galeone arrives who switches to back four and puts him on the sidelines a bit.

In the summer of 2006 Pozzo leaves him free to choose a team. He will play for two years at Siena and a few months at Venice. He hung up his boots in 2009 and at that time he was the player who wore the Udinese shirt the most times in history (406 and 7 goals).

To overcome it, we will have to wait for the phenomenon of Totò Di Natale (445) with whom he shared two seasons in black and white.

Udine and Friuli remained so close to him that Bertotto, with Piedmontese roots, continued to live here. Everyone loves him, he continues to be invited to club dinners and he replies presently. And then 50 times happy birthday, Captain.

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