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The Good Life: AC Milan Striker Antonio Cassano
Goal.com looks at some little known facts about Fantantonio after he recently underwent medical intervention for a patent foramen ovale...
05-Nov-2011 1:01:00 PM
By Kaustav Bera
Getty Images
In the wake of Antonio Cassano needing medical intervention for his patent foramen ovale, as a result of which he is said to have suffered a stroke in training, Goal.com takes an in depth look at the man…
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A superstar is born Born on 12 July 1982, just a day after Italy lifted the 1982 World Cup, defeating West Germany, it was certain that Antonio Cassano was destined for greatness. He grew up in Bari Vecchia or Old Bari as they call it. It was his mother who brought him up in the rough streets of Bari, with his father leaving the family shortly after his birth. |
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Misfit in school Although Antonio Cassano is frequently hailed for his greatness on the pitch, he was far from it in school. He had a two in all subjects in school (20%) and claimed to have failed a grade six times from elementary to middle school. |
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Rags to riches From playing on the streets of Bari, where everyone wanted to bet on the team he played for (and he himself took a percentage of the bets) he was picked up by AS Bari scouts, and made his debut for Bari against US Lecce in 1999. However, he was in the forefront of Italian football when a brilliant solo effort helped AS Bari defeat Inter Milan, where he dribbled past Laurent Blanc and Cristian Panucci to score a last gasp winner. “That was the moment that changed everything. If it had not been for that goal against Inter then I might have ended up a criminal.” |
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Courting controversies If the ‘fireworks’ of Mario Balotelli have made him controversy’s favourite child, Antonio Cassano is the ultimate bad-boy of football. As much as his talent on the pitch, Cassano is known for his antics and clashes with managers and players alike. He famously claimed “Eugenio Fascetti (former Bari manager) is the only manager I never caused trouble with.” From Fabio Capello who coached him at Roma and Real Madrid to his Roma team-mate Francesco Totti, Cassano spared no one and launched into controversies which led him to getting censured and banned on numerous occasions. But that did not prevent the “Bari Brawler” from mending his ways. |
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A World coined after Him Which football player can claim that they have a term coined after them? Well... Antonio Cassano surely can, as the player nicknamed Il Gioiello di Bari Vecchia ("the jewel of Old Bari") for his audacious talent on the pitch, also led to the coining of the neologism Cassanata by his former coach, Fabio Capello in November 2002. The word is regularly used by Italian journalists as a euphemism for any behavior incompatible with team spirit in football. He has also been named Peter Pan and Fantantonio among others. |
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Cassano - The husband and father Cassano finally married his long time girlfriend Carolina Marcialis, an Italian water polo player on 19 June 2010 at chirch Chiesa di San Martino, Portofino. They were engaged from 2008. Being excluded from the Italy squad for the 2010 World Cup, Cassano famously said that he wouldn’t postpone his wedding (which fell during the World Cup) even if he was called up for Italy!!! The couple’s first child was a son named Christopher was born on 14 March 2011. |
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Football's greatest author Not content with co-authoring his first biography sensationally titled “Vi Dico Tutto” (I’ll tell you everything) where he spoke about everything from his poor upbringing to his spats with everybody he encountered to his passion for food (Italian pastries and junk food) and living life truly kingsize, Cassano’s latest is “Mornings Are Pointless (And 364 other Cassanate, in the form of aphorisms, for living a year like a fantasista)” Some hilarious samplers include: “Don’t be impulsive. Do like I do. Before exploding, always count at least to one.” |
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“I hope to go to the World Cup in South Africa, I will do the maximum to achieve that. If I don’t, I’ll go to South Africa anyway, to go on safari with Catalina.” He also had a comic strip after him, where he was the Hero in a crime novel, with the villain after him was modelled on Marcelo Lippi, who had left him out of the Italy squad! |
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That's what we call celebrating With his outrageous temper tantrums off the pitch, Antonio Cassano also has some of the most crazy ways of celebrating even on the pitch. Besides running amok on the pitch wearing next to nothing after wins, Cassano is said to bring his own giant bottle of champagne from home after every match. Curiously, he is said to kick other players while celebrating which was reciprocated by Zlatan Ibrahimovic after AC Milan won the Scudetto in 2011! |
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Love for cars Cassano is said to be obsessed with cars. Curiously he is a fan of German cars even though Italy certainly does not lack in producing fantastic cars. His first love was a VW Golf which Bari President Matarrese gifted him after that wonder goal against Inter. Currently he is an Audi fan with him being gifted the Audi Q7 while he was at Real Madrid. He has also been spotted using the Audi Q5 at various times. |
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The tattooed superstar Like most football players, Antonio Cassano sports tattoos adorning almost the whole of his body with tattoos in the Kanji script on his left sleeve and Grab wing tattoos on his back, as well as an yellow flower and Mayan Sun on his forearms as well as a Mayan mask on his arm, among others. The Chinese script he sports on his left arm actually phonetically comes to mean ANTONIO. |
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One less than 100 Although Cassano considers 18 to be his favourite number which he worse at Bari and AS Roma, when he moved to Sampdoria, the No.18 was already taken by team-mate Vladimir Koman, He chose No.99 claiming 9+9=18, the reason for his choice. At Milan too he has the No. 99 shirt. At Real Madrid, he was given the number 19 jersey. For Italy however he now wears the No.10 shirt, reserved for the role of the Trequartista, as he was seen as a natural successor to Francesco Totti for the Italian team. Befoe Totti's retirement, he would wear number 18 for the national team too. |
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A dog who loves water? Born under the element of water, in the Chinese Year of the Dog, Cassano has certainly allowed the astrologers a happy smile of victory. Dogs are said be temperamental, narrow-minded and stubborn. These traits are typified by Antonio Cassano!! And he could easily be a poster boy for Astrologers! |
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