Who's played for Monaco and Juventus?
Friday, April 28, 2017
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Reserve goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis is the 12th player to have represented both Monaco and Juventus – which puts the veteran in fairly impressive company.
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Thierry Henry
Henry came to prominence in 1996/97 at Monaco – his first professional club – with nine Ligue 1 goals in a championship-winning campaign, before top-scoring in the next season's UEFA Champions League group stage with six strikes. The youngster promptly joined Juventus in January 1999 for a then French-record €11m fee but left after only eight months and three goals having been unable to successfully replace the injured Alessandro Del Piero. His subsequent move to Arsenal worked out pretty well, though.
Lilian Thuram
One of the best defenders of his generation, world and European champion Thuram was one of the three high-profile players Juventus signed in summer 2001 after selling Zinédine Zidane to Real Madrid – Gianluigi Buffon and Pavel Nedvěd were the others. Thuram, who played 193 games for Monaco before switching to Parma in 1996, confirmed his class with the Bianconeri, landing the Scudetto twice and helping the Turin team reach the 2013 UEFA Champions League final.
David Trezeguet
Juventus eliminated Monaco in the 1998 semi-finals but their opponents' young attacking pair did not go unnoticed. While Henry was quickly sold after joining Juve in 1999, Trezeguet became a club legend after agreeing terms with the Old Lady the following year. He matched the two league titles he lifted with Monaco and his 171 goals rank fourth in the Bianconeri's all-time scoring chart (their highest non-Italian marksman).
Patrice Evra
Eyebrows were raised when Didier Deschamps recruited the 21-year-old Evra from Nice in 2002, yet he was a regular throughout his five seasons at the Stade Louis II and a key member of the side that progressed to the 2004 UEFA Champions League final. After nine campaigns with Manchester United, Evra then signed for Juve in 2014 and won two league and cup doubles, but defeat by Barcelona in the 2015 UEFA Champions League made him the first player to lose four finals.
Marco Di Vaio & Christian Vieri
In the second part of 2005/06, Monaco's front line comprised a prestigious Italian international pairing but they failed to meet expectations. Di Vaio had two indifferent seasons in the principality; Vieri, whose best days were behind him, got five goals in 11 games. The two attackers had another thing in common: UEFA Champions League runners-up medals with Juve. 'Bobo' played in the 3-1 defeat by Dortmund in 1997; Di Vaio was an unused substitute when Juve lost on penalties to Milan in 2003.
Didier Deschamps
Deschamps made his first foray into coaching at Monaco in 2001, staying for the next four seasons – and leading them to the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League final, knocking out Real Madrid and Chelsea en route to a final defeat by Porto. He quit in 2005 and the following summer returned to Juve, for whom he had appeared in three successive UEFA Champions League finals as a player in the 1990s. Deschamps guided them to promotion from Serie B in what proved to be his sole season in charge.
Vladimir Jugović
Juventus fans will always remember Jugović, the man who struck the decisive penalty in the shoot-out against Ajax in the 1996 UEFA Champions League final, the Bianconeri's last triumph in the competition. The midfielder – who also picked up the 1991 European Cup with Crvena zvezda on penalties – added the Scudetto the next season. His Monaco stay, in the autumn of his career, was less celebrated, amounting to 19 matches between 2001 and 2003.
Four more players have served both clubs: Sergio Almirón, Olivier Kapo, Morgan De Sanctis and Rui Barros, whose header against Roma in the 1991/92 European Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals gave Monaco their only victory against Italian opponents.