5 famous players who donned the No.7 jersey at Juventus before Cristiano Ronaldo

#4 Gianluca Pessotto

Gianluca Pessotto

Juve legend Gianluca Pessotto was born on the 11th of August 1970 and started his footballing journey with 7-time Champions League winners AC Milan, but failed to earn a starting place in the strong AC Milan forcing the Italian giants to sell the then AS Varese in 1989.

After 2 impressive seasons with AS Varese, Pessotto joined 4 different in as many years joining Massese, Bologna, Verona and Torino in successive years before finally joining Torino's arch-rivals Juventus in 1995/96 season taking over the No.7 from Angelo Di Livio upon his move to Fiorentina in the 1999/2000 season.

One of the greatest fullbacks of his generation and one on the greatest ever fullbacks in Juventus history, Pessotto was a versatile defender capable of playing in the centre or either side of the defence and while also being deployed as a midfielder. The now 49-year old was a technically gifted player with immaculate defensive positioning and an excellent man-marker, not many attackers found it easy to beat the Italian.

II Professorino or the Little Professor as he was called by the fans due to his glasses and unprecedented seriousness and professionalism, he even earned a law degree while playing for Juventus, made almost 250 appearances winning 4 Seria A, 4 Supercoppa Italiana, 1 UEFA Super Cup, 1 UEFA Intertoto Cup and 1 UEFA Champions League before finally retiring at the end of the 2005/06 season.

The Italian undying love for the club was very evident from the fact that the defender even tried to take his own life when Juventus was stripped of their 2 Seria A due to the Calcipoli scandal.