When Alberto was replaced at half time by a certain Antonio Di Natale exactly 20 years ago on the opening day of the 2004/05 season, who could have guessed how big an impact the Italian would have as Luciano Spalletti’s side went on to finish in the Champions League qualifying position? Toto did not manage to get on the scoresheet in the goalless stalemate against Reggina, but he got off the mark a week later in a convincing 4-0 victory over Parma.
In his first season in Friuli, he only scored seven Serie A goals (as well as four in the Coppa Italia), but it was the beginning of a beautiful story that would see the former Empoli player stay at Udinese for 12 seasons. He turned down offers from bigger clubs, becoming Udinese’s captain and all-time top scorer and appearance holder. In the 2006/07 season, Di Natale reached double digits in goals for the first time, a feat he would achieve every year until 2014/15. He won the top goalscorer in Serie A in both the 2009/10 and 2010/11 campaigns.
In the final match of the 2015/16 season, Di Natale played the last game of his career, notching his final goal against Carpi in front of his home fans. It was his 209th goal in Serie A, placing the Udinese legend in sixth place for the most goals scored in Italy’s top flight.
While wearing the black and white of Udinese, Di Natale also earned a place in the Italy national team, going on to compete in the 2008 and 2012 European Championships, as well as the 2010 World Cup.