Why is Gianluca Lapadula trending after the elimination of Italy in repesca?

This Thursday, minutes before Peru vs. Uruguay, in a historic result, Italy fell 1-0 to Macedonia in Palermo for the European repechage for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Aleksandar Trajkovski scored a great goal in the match discounts (90′+2) and that is how the 'azzurri' will miss the World Cup for the second consecutive edition. This fact quickly became a trend on social networks, but one name is the one that stood out, that of Italian-Peruvian Gianluca Lapadula.

As is known, in 2017 the striker was called up to play for the 'azzurri' and had a great performance in a friendly against San Marino where he scored a treble. After that, he was not called up again and made his debut in November 2020 in La Blanquirroja against Chile. From that moment on, he became one of the essential players of coach Ricardo Gareca. In addition to winning the love of Peruvian fans.

These are some of the comments that were made on social networks.

ABOUT LAPADULA

Lapadula, born in Turin 30 years ago, has a long career in Italian football and has been flirting for several years with the idea of playing for his mother's native country. He had never visited Peru and hardly speaks Spanish, but several times he was on the radar of the Inca national team. And finally the day came when he put on the shirt, it was before the defeat to Chile in the Qualifiers heading to the Qatar 2022 World Cup .

His journey to this debut was very long. He took his first steps in the lower categories of Juventus and, after a brief stint at Pro Vercelli in the third division, he reached Parma in 2009. He was only 19 years old and played a few matches in the reserve team, until he began to be on loan to different clubs of the rise of Italian football: Atlético de Roma, Ravenna, Cesena FC and San Marino, where he scored 24 goals in 35 matches in the 2011/12 season. He was already shown as a physically very strong second point, possessing a lethal left-handed shot and his name began to gain prestige between the Lega Pro 2, 1 and Serie B.

His first big season was at Teramo — he scored 21 goals in the promotion to Serie B in 2015 — but Parma finally decided to do without him and in July 2015 he arrived as a free player at Pescara to play the second championship. division. That was the site of their ultimate football explosion: he scored 27 goals in 40 matches and then scored three goals in his four play-off matches, leading the Dolphins to Serie A.

Gianluca Lapadula signed for AC Milan in mid-2016 after a great season at Pescara (Reuters)

By that time he was already on the radar of Ricardo Gareca and his coaching staff for the 2016 Copa America Centenario, a tournament that was a turning point for the cycle: it was the event where Peru made its generational replacement, without heavyweights like Juan Manuel Vargas and Claudio Pizarro. But finally, as his mind was set on achieving promotion with Pescara and there were rumors that he was intended by several Serie A clubs, he decided to dismiss the call.

However, his great performance at that time earned him his signing for AC Milan, which paid 9 million euros for his pass, in a market where Argentines Vangioni, Ocampos and José Sosa, as well as Paraguayan Gustavo Gómez, also arrived. And at the end of that year, while turning his first goals into

He was recalled to represent Azzurra in May 2017 and had a very good performance in a friendly against San Marino: he played the 90 minutes and scored a high-flying hat-trick in the 8-0 victory at the Empoli stadium. As that match was not an official match, Lapadula was still fit to process obtaining Peruvian nationality, according to FIFA rules. His name was still in the folder of the White Red Coaching Staff and his performances were followed with a magnifying glass, especially since he had managed to establish himself as a permanent footballer in Serie A.

From AC Milan he went on loan to Genoa, then played for Lecce and this season he fell to the newly promoted Benevento. It was held in the top category of Calcio and became a great option for Gareca in the face of Guerrero's loss.

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