Pietro Anastasi

Pietro Anastasi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjɛːtro anaˈstaːzi]; 7 April 1948 – 17 January 2020), nicknamed Petruzzu 'u turcu (Sicilian for 'Pete the Turk') by fans, was an Italian footballer who played mainly in the role of a forward.

He started his professional club career in Italy with Varese in 1966, helping the club to achieve promotion to Serie A in his first season with the side; after a promising debut campaign in the Italian top-flight the following season, he joined Juventus in 1968, where he enjoyed a highly successful and prolific eight–year stint, winning three Serie A titles. He then spent two seasons with Internazionale, where he won the Coppa Italia in 1978, before moving to Ascoli, where he remained for three seasons. He finally retired in 1982, after a single season with Swiss club Lugano.

At international level, Anastasi represented Italy on 25 occasions between 1968 and 1975, scoring eight goals. He made his senior international debut at UEFA Euro 1968 on home soil, and is widely known for later scoring in the final victory over Yugoslavia, which gave Italy their first ever European Championship title. He later also took part at the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

After retiring, he worked as a pundit. He died on 17 January 2020 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Club career

Anastasi was born in Catania, Sicily. During his career (1964–1982), he played for Massiminiana, Varese, Juventus, Internazionale and Ascoli. In Serie A, he played 338 matches and scored 105 goals (For Juventus, he played 205 games and scored 78 goals). Although he never won the Serie A Top Goalscorer award, he was the third highest goalscorer in the League on three occasions, during the 1968–69, 1969–70 and 1973–74 seasons.