Leonardo Bonucci has announced his retirement as a footballer. The 36-year-old Italian will continue until the summer of 2024. With five hundred official duels for Juventus, Bonucci can rightly be called a club icon.
End of an era: Juve figurehead Bonucci also announces his retirement
Bonucci had his greatest successes as a footballer with the Bianconeri. At the club from Turin, he won eight national titles, four times the Coppa Italia and five times the Italian Super Cup.
Remarkably enough, there is still one national title on Bonucci’s palmares. In 2006, the Viterbo-born Italian was a youngster from the youth academy of Internazionale in the selection that became champion that year. Bonucci would not succeed at Inter, after which he ended up at the Old Lady via Genoa and Bari in 2010.
The Italian would then stay in Turin for seven seasons, after which he made a trip to AC Milan in 2017. That period was not a success: Bonucci returned to Juventus a season later to become champion there two more times.
Bonucci became a permanent force in the Italian national team mainly due to his successes at Juventus. In the past thirteen years he has won 128 caps and scored eight goals in those matches. Bonucci made the most important goal in the European Championship final against England two years ago. In the 67th minute, the defender scored the equalizer, after which Italy defeated England on penalties.
Reliable duo with Chiellini
Bonucci often formed a duo with Giorgio Chiellini on and off the field. With both the Italian national team and Juventus, Chiellini was usually at the heart of defense alongside Bonucci. After Italy’s European title, the two defenders even went on holiday together. Chiellini left Juventus last year.
Now Bonucci is also going to stop. An end of an era, Juventus calls it. “I hope that Juventus academy defenders will one day see us as examples,” Bonucci said. “I have always played for Juventus with pride.”
No farewell match
In the coming weeks, Bonucci can fill a gap on his record with Juventus: winning a European club prize. The team from Turin will play the second semi-final of the Europa League at Seville on Thursday. At home, Juventus managed to pull a 1-1 draw out of the fire in the absolute final phase.
Bonucci will not be in the base at Juventus on Thursday anyway. The defender is currently out with an upper leg injury and is not expected to return until early June. This season, his contribution was limited to fourteen appearances in Serie A.
