Domenico Criscito is an Italian defender, former captain of Zenit St. Petersburg, a player of the Italian national football team. One of the most memorable legionnaires in the Russian Premier League.
Biography
The future defender was born on December 30, 1986, in the tiny settlement of Cercola, which occupies only about three square kilometers in the Italian province of Naples. The Domenico family has two more sisters and a brother.
Criscito often skipped school to devote time to his favorite football. He literally slept with a ball in bed, and as a result, his father took his 15-year-old son to the first football club in the life of an athlete, Virtus Volla.
Career
A year later, when Domenico turned 16, the scouts of the Genoa football club noticed the talented defender. Then he got into the youth team of Turin "Juventus". As part of the youth team of Juventus there was a victory in the youth championship in Italy, the defender also got into the application for the match of the main team of Juventus several times, but did not take part in the matches.
In 2006, Criscito returned to Genoa. With Genoa, Domenico made his debut in the Italian championship. Oddly enough, the young defender immediately became the main player of the team. For half a season in the "griffins" the defender played 36 games. In early 2007, Criscito signed a full-fledged contract with Juventus, but that was not the end of Domenico's journey from Genoa to Juventus.
Criscito was unable to gain a foothold in the Turin team, and on loan again moved to the Griffin camp in 2008. In 2010, after several extensions of Criscito's lease, Genoa bought the defender's contract from Juventus. He played in the camp of griffins until the summer of 2011, but unfortunately, Domenico won no titles for the entire period of his stay in Italian teams.
And in the summer of 2011, the defender was transferred to Zenit St. Petersburg, the amount of the transfer was, according to various sources, from 11 to 15 million euros. At Zenit, the Italian footballer finally managed to gain a foothold in the team and win his first titles. In the St. Petersburg club, Domenico twice became the champion of Russia and received the Cup of Russia.
Criscito showed himself both on the field and in the locker room as the true leader of the team, and in 2015 he took over as its captain. As part of the St. Petersburg team, Domenico played 155 games and scored 15 goals, which is a very good result for a defender. In the summer of 2018, Domenico Criscito returned to Genoa, where he is currently playing.
Italy squad
The footballer played 24 matches in the national team. As part of the national team, the defender played at the World Cup in South Africa, however, like the entire national team, he had an indistinct tournament. Let us remind you that the Italian national team was eliminated from the tournament already at the stage of the group stage.
Personal life
Domenico has a wife, Pamela, and two sons. Pamela is a classic Italian wife, an emotional beauty, affectionately calling her brutal husband "Mimmo". After the St. Petersburg epic Domenico, in which she accompanied him, she loves Russian pancakes.
It is worth saying that the defender had unpleasant stories in his football career. Criscito was a suspect in the match-fixing case, the footballer himself denies this. Due to this incident, Domenico was not included in the national team's application for the 2012 European Championship.
