As expected, the legendary former Italy and Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci has called it a day and officially retired after a remarkable 19-year career in professional football.
One of the highlights of the 37-year-old’s career was scoring in the final of the Euro 2020 championship for Italy, a competition they won and in which Italy played some of the best football in a long time. He also won eight Serie A titles, four Coppa Italia crowns, and five Italian Super Cups during two spells at Juventus. He made a stunning 502 appearances for the Bianconeri.
Bonucci also briefly played for Inter Milan and AC Milan, although he finished his career at Turkish side Fenerbahce. Showing off his poetic side, he announced his retirement on social media at, you guessed it, 19:19 local time.
“As a child, I dreamed of this story I would tell, promising myself achievements to embrace against the biggest, celebrating, having faith through difficulties with courage. A father, a team-mate, a husband, a player. Beyond. Beyond history today, I am me.”
— Leonardo Bonucci
Photo by Visionhaus/Corbis via Getty Images
Juventus honored Bonucci with a statement on social media:
“A player who formed an enormous part of our recent history has decided to leave the world of football. Leonardo Bonucci has decided to retire from football, an announcement that touches us deeply, because Leo has his name etched into the Juventus archives.
“We said goodbye last September, but the thread that binds us cannot be broken. Not even now that Leo has decided to embark on a new chapter in his life, for which we wish him only the best.”
Despite his unfriendly departure from Juventus and brief ill-fated spell at AC Milan, there’s no doubt that Bonucci was an absolute legend for the club. People tend to remember the peaks and ends of things so I hope that Juventini will choose to remember the remarkable highs that Bonucci had — especially at the peak of the BBC era and the two appearances in the final of the Champions League — rather than the unfortunate falling out he had with the club.
Good luck, Leo. Enjoy your well-deserved retirement.