Happy birthday Toto! Antonio Di Natale was born on 13 October 1977 in Naples and is celebrating his birthday today. The former Udinese striker, who also wore the captain’s armband, is considered one of the greatest players in the club’s history. The stats speak for themselves. In his Udinese career from 2004-05 to 2015-16 he scored 191 goals in Serie A, as well as 18 further goals in the division for Empoli. He was the golden boot winner in two consecutive seasons - in 2009/10 with 29 goals and the following year with 28 - in addition to having scored more than twenty goals in four seasons on the trot, from 2009/10 until 2012/13. Some of the feats he pulled off on the pitch and the cracking goals he scored would even have legends of the game like of Pele and Diego Maradona feeling jealous.
Di Natale is Udinese's top appearance holder in Serie A with 385 appearances, as well as in European competitions with 37 games played. Only another former captain Valerio Bertotto has played more games than him in the Coppa Italia, featuring 36 times to Di Natale’s 23.
He is also Udinese’s recorder scorer in both the Coppa Italia and European competitions, with 23 and 17 goals scored in the respective competitions.
Di Natale made his maiden appearance in professional football on 26 January 1997 for Empoli, where he learnt his trade, in a 0-0 draw against Cremonese. However he was soon loaned out to gain experience, at Iperzola in Serie C2 under the tutelage of another ex-Udinese player, Marino Perani, scoring his first goal on 21 December 1997. Further loan spells at Varese and Viareggio followed before Di Natale returned to Empoli for a successful stint in the first team, scoring 18 goals in 60 appearances in Serie A. Following their relegation he then moved on to Udinese in 2004.
Toto made his Udinese bow on 19 September 2004 in Matchday 2 of the 2004/05 season. It was a match to remember – the home side overwhelmed Parma 4-0 with Di Natale getting the opener. While his overall goal tally for that campaign was an underwhelming seven strikes, his scoring output went on to improve year on year, albeit with modest numbers. However, following a serious injury in March while on international duty for Italy he managed to bounce back in spectacular fashion, scoring at least 20 goals a season between 2009/10 and 2013/14. Even as a 37-year-old he managed a highly credible 14 strikes in the league, before bowing out of the game at the end of the 2015/16 campaign.