Fabio Quagliarella: 7 Incredible Facts About the 36-Year-Old Outscoring Cristiano Ronaldo in Serie A

Sampdoria striker Fabio Quagliarella continues to set Serie A alight this season, leading the way in the race for the Italian league’s golden boot ahead of a certain Cristiano Ronaldo.

The 36-year-old has continued to get better with age and is now producing the best form of his entire career for a Sampdoria side who currently find themselves ninth in the table.

Quagliarella is in the 20th year of his professional career and has played for eight clubs across the country.

Here are seven more fascinating facts about the Italian.

Stalker Scandal

Quagliarella was stalked by policeman, Raffaele Piccolo, for five years. Piccolo sent him and his family death threats as well as making up rumours that the forward was committing crimes such as dealing drugs, fixing matches and claiming that he had links with the Mafia.

The pressure of the situation forced him to leave Napoli after only one season, which led to his move to Juventus where he won three consecutive Serie A titles.

Wears Number 27 as an Ode to a Childhood Friend

Quagliarella wears the number 27 in honour of Niccolo Galli, a childhood friend and youth academy teammate of his who used to wear this number.

Galli died in a road accident in 2001 while on loan at Bologna from Arsenal. The Italian club have retired the shirt in his honour.

27th Player to Win the Premio Nazionale Carriera Esemplare ‘Gaetano Scirea’

The number 27 also has another special meaning for Quagliarella, as he was the 27th player to win the Premio Nazionale Carriera Esemplare ‘Gaetano Scirea’.

This is an award dedicated to footballers over the age of 30 playing in Serie A in recognition of their playing ability and sportsmanship by the Unione Stampa Sportiva Italiana (Italian Sports Press Union).

Leading the Capocannoniere Race

Quagliarella would become just the third Sampdoria player to win the Capocannoniere (Serie A Golden Boot), if he maintains his position as leading goalscorer this season.

He is currently on 25 league goals, three ahead of Atalanta’s Duvan Zapata and four ahead of Juve’s Cristiano Ronaldo with just three games of the season remaining.

Scored in a Record 11th Consecutive League Games

Quagliarella equalled Gabriel Batistuta’s record for scoring in 11 consecutive Serie A games this season with two goals in a 4-0 victory over Udinese in January.

The Italian was a decade older than Batistuta when he matched the record. The Argentinean was 26 when he set the target while playing for Fiorentina during the 1994/95 campaign.

Oldest Goalscorer in Azzurri History

The striker is Italy’s all-time oldest goalscorer, having scored twice against Liechtenstein at the age of 36 years and 54 days in March this year.

Those goals took him to nine in 27 matches for his country.

Waited Eight Years Between Azzurri

He had to wait a long time to move on from seven international strikes however, as there were 3,048 days between Italy caps number 25 and 26 for the Sampdoria man.

There was a gap of eight and a half years between a friendly game against Romania, where he got the equaliser in a 1-1 draw, in November 2010 and his next cap as a substitute against Finland in March 2019.

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