Alessandro Nesta done for the season. Is his career in doubt too?

By: Francesco | February 13th, 2009

Up until about 2 years ago, if you had asked anyone who the best Italian defender was or even who the top defender in the world was, many people would tell you it was Alessandro Nesta. Everyone appreciated Nesta. He has always been a serious professional who had chosen always to step away from the limelight and preferred to be a silent leader. His ability to always position himself correctly and anticipate the play and make clean tackles has always been second to none. Unfortunately the one problem for Alessandro Nesta has always been injuries. Nesta has been injury prone his whole career. It was a miracle to see Nesta play a full season injury free. In every World Cup he has participated in with Italy (1998, 2002, 2006), he was injured during the tournament and had to sit out. Most recently, his injury problem has been his back.

In 2006 he had already injured his shoulder and went to rehab in Miami as he didn’t want to undergo surgery and risk his career. He came back later in the season to win the Champions League with Milan and conquer 4th place in Serie A.

This past summer, he injured his back, and even though it seemed at first he would only be out for a month or two, he wasn’t even placed on Milan’s UEFA Cup roster in early September, which wasn’t a good sign. In November, still on the sidelines without having made a single appearance, he decided to return to Miami to do some rehab again, as he didn’t want to undergo surgery. He was in Miami until mid-January, when he returned to Italy and started light training. He had been training almost a month and reports said he would be ready to sit on the bench in the derby this weekend, but today more news came out.

Today it was reported that Nesta did not even show up to training. Why? Because his back hurt so bad from the month of training he couldn’t even get out of bed. So it looks like Nesta won’t be playing a part this season for Milan, and now he has to make an important decision for his career. He can undergo surgery, which would mean another long lay-off, and with Nesta turning 33 in March, is it really worth it? The other option is to take it on a day-by-day basis and see if it can cure naturally. At this point it may even be worth considering retirement. He’s had a good career, he’s won almost every trophy there is to win (Scudetto, Coppa Italia, World Club Cup, Champions League, World Cup, UEFA SuperCup, Italian SuperCup, U-21 Championship, 4 Best Italian defender awards), and he may decide that the pain just isn’t worth it anymore. Nesta will have to make a decision soon, and it will be very interesting to see what it is.

Here are some Nesta videos to admire: