Who are the strongest Italian strikers in the history of football? Classic uncomfortable question that will never find everyone in agreement. And to create even more chaos, we decided to create a list of 10 offensive players, also inserting the numbers 10, that is, those who are a bit of an attacking midfielder and a bit of a second striker. In short, by attackers we mean – in this case – offensive players. It will be a list that will cause discussion, we are sure of it. Before starting with the list it is right to make some introductions. A truthful ranking of the best Italian strikers in history theoretically includes players from all football generations and eras. There is a small obstacle: our editorial team is made up of Under 40s, we have not experienced many strikers who have made the history of Italian football, except through some stories from grandparents and/or parents and a few videos. Then we could only take into consideration attackers from the 90s and above, those we experienced, saw and loved firsthand, but the title would clearly have been clickbait. And so we opted for the third idea: a mix between Italian strikers experienced first hand and strikers from periods before our birth.
In the making of ranking of the best Italian strikers in history we had to make sacrifices and risky and painful choices. We are sure that each of you would have made different choices. But that's exactly the beauty of football.
We could choose between Mancini, Cassano and Toto Christmas. The first two options are perhaps too obvious: the choice fell on one of the most underrated players in the history of Italian football. His only flaw was that he always and only played for provincial clubs, becoming a symbol of Udinese.
He has never played in a big league. But this cannot hide the pure talent of the former Friulian number 10. A footballer who over the years has become more and more of a centre-forward, getting ever closer to the opponent's goal. A footballer capable of technically and stylistically dizzying plays and goals.
And if the numbers never lie: Antonio Di Natale is in sixth place in the all-time top scorer in Serie A with 209 goals in 445 games, with an average of almost one goal every two games (0.47) from 2002 to 2016, with the shirts of Empoli (for two years, in the top flight) and Udinese (twelve seasons). From a scoring point of view, he reached his highest point between 2009 and 2013, coming close to reaching 30 seasonal goals for four consecutive seasons and winning the Serie A top scorer rankings twice.
In this list there is space for one of the most important Italian number 9s in the history of football: Christian Vieri. We can start from the numbers: 142 goals in Serie A in 264 games with an average of more than a goal every two matches (0.54). In total, in his career, among all the teams and competitions played, he has scored 236 goals in 476 games played, here too the average is one goal every two games. An average that he also maintained in the national team, with 23 goals in 49 games.
Going over the numbers, enter Bobo Vieri was automatic in this ranking (regardless of position). An attacker capable of acting alone, of alternating sensational goals (see the curling shot against Buffon or the one from the back line with the Atletico Madrid shirt) with other easy ones, but with the ability to be in the right place at the moment Right.
The striker who is missing from the national team today. Business suit. In fact, among his characteristics there were physical strength, aerial play, progression with the ball and a powerful and precise left foot. At the top of his career he was probably the most complete striker in Europe and in the world.
We had to choose between Sandro Mazzola and Giuseppe Meazza. The choice fell on the latter who held the role of striker for the longest time. In fact, both were born midfielders and then raised their center of gravity by a few metres. With this choice, Meazza reached 216 goals in 367 Serie A games with an average of goals per game (0.59) higher than any other Italian striker.
In his career he wore the shirts of Inter, Milan and Juventus, the three big names in Serie A.
This is one of the players who – as 90min editors – we have never seen play, for obvious reasons. To describe it, we therefore rely on the words of Gianni Brera: “Great players already existed in the world, tougher and more continuous than him, but it didn't seem to us that we could go beyond his sudden inventions, his brilliant shots, his peremptory and yet never mocking dribbles, his solitary efforts towards his lost victory always, the opposing goalkeeper.”
The player with the most goals ever in Serie A: 274 goals in 537 games and an average of one goal every two games. This is what the numbers say about Silvio Piola, a leading center forward in Italy with the shirts of Pro Vercelli, Lazio, Turin, Juventus and Novara from the 1930s to the 1950s and winner of a World Cup (1938) and two top scorers in Serie A .
To describe it we rely, once again, on the words of those who have seen and experienced it up close. The former Italian coach Vittorio Pozzo said of him: “I still don't know whether he kicks better with his right or left foot, he's so good at it. He's very strong in his timing with his head. I've never seen anyone score like him with overhead kicks or splits.”while the journalist Carlo Felice Chiesa added: “He is the classic battering ram from the penalty area, but his technical completeness allowed him to participate in the maneuver, his class opened the doors to any type of conclusion on goal. His shot from distance is formidable.”
Stradivialli. This is the nickname invented by Gianni Brera for Gianluca Vialli. The reason? The ability to acrobatically score goals. Extraordinary acrobatic goals. The former Cremonese, Sampdoria, Juventus and Chelsea striker was a complete striker: fast, physically strong, gifted with excellent individual technique, cynical in front of goal and dynamic.
In his career he scored 123 goals in 325 games in Serie A, with an average of 0.38 goals per game, an identical scoring average if we consider the 286 goals in 753 games across all competitions played, with the national team (including Under 21) included. He was the player who made the Genoa Blucerchiati dream with the victory of the Scudetto, coming close to a Champions Cup which he would then win with the black and white shirt.
He was one of the first Italian players to take advantage of the Bosman law by moving as a free agent to Chelsea, where he became an idol in just a few months.
Paolo Rossi's magical year was 1982 where with his goals he dragged Italy to victory in the World Cup and consequently won – the same year – the Ballon d'Or. Record holder of goals in a football World Cup with the Italy shirt (9, like Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri).
Giorgio Tosatti defined it as: “Rossi is a player with the grace of a dancer and the ruthless coldness of a bullfighter”. Pablito had the ability to play in short spaces and always find the right time to put the ball in the bag. In his career he scored 134 goals in 341 games.
It would be unthinkable not to put him in the list of the best Italian strikers in its history.
We move towards a number 10, one of those players worth the price of the ticket who doesn't have the cynicism of a pure centre-forward, but knows how to give you goals of high technical quality. Furthermore, his typical goal was named after him: the Alessandro Del Piero-style goal.
He certainly wasn't a bomber and yet in the ranking of players with the most goals in Serie A he is in tenth place with 188 goals in 478 games, with an average of a goal every two and a half games (more or less). With the Juventus shirt he won everything he could win, with that of the national team – with which he had a love and hate relationship – he won the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Infinite class on and off the pitch. Player particularly appreciated also by opposing fans. In his career he fell several times but he always had the ability to get back up.
250 goals in 619 Serie A games. Second only to Silvio Piola in terms of number of goals scored in the Italian championship. Except that Francesco Totti is not a first striker. In his career he played more as an offensive winger and attacking midfielder, getting closer and closer to the opponent's goal as he got older.
Captain and idol of Roma. In order to remain faithful to the Giallorossi colours, he gave up big clubs (Real Madrid above all), victories and probably even at least one Ballon d'Or.
Despite the many goals scored, Totti has an infinite amount of assists for his teammates. In his career he has demonstrated an incredible ability to send his teammates on goal with high-class plays that were unpredictable for his opponents (sometimes even for his teammates). Approaching the goal (with the false nine of the first Spalletti era at Roma) he also showed off his scoring abilities. He brought back the penalty kick taken with the table spoon.
Ask any football fan who lived through the 90s and 2000s as a teenager or adult for an opinion on Roberto Baggio and wait for the answer. And don't be scared if you see a little emotion in the interviewee's eyes. The Divine Codino is the idol of Italian football. There is no football fan who can find fault with him.
It's hard to even describe. A bit of an attacking midfielder, a bit of a second striker. Technically among the strongest Italian footballers – and not only – ever, instinctive, capable of separating his teammates and finding the right space to receive possession of the ball, with an inimitable beauty in dribbling. Specialist in set pieces and with a great eye for goal.
In Serie A he scored 205 goals in 452 games, with an average of almost a goal every two games. In his career he played in top clubs and in the provinces, with the same attitude as a leader. Particularly appreciated also for his humility in starting from the bottom when few believed in him anymore.
Fifty years after his last match with the national team, Gigi Riva still holds the record for goals for Italy: 35 goals in 42 games, close to the average of one goal per game. In Serie A he averages over a goal every two games: 156 goals in 289 games played.
Gianni Brera nicknamed him Thunderclap for his scoring ability and the power of his left foot. Even Riva wasn't a real center forward, but he had all the characteristics of a striker: speed, dribbling, sense of goal and aerial play. One of the strongest players of his era, so much so that he pushed Juventus to offer Cagliari half a squad in order to bring him to Turin. Without success.
Having arrived in Sardinia in '63, after an initial moment of confusion, he decided to stay there for life, realizing his dream of winning the Scudetto with the Cagliari shirt in 1970.
