To celebrate Antonio Cassano's 31st birthday, here are some of his craziest moments from a memorable career.
1. 'Sex Plus Food'
In his hilarious sounding autobiography Telling Everything, released in 2008, Cassano boasted that he had bedded between '600 and 700' women by the age of 25 and of how he would sneak them up to his hotel room while he was playing for Real Madrid. "I had a friend who was a hotel waiter. His job was to bring me three or four pastries after I had sex. He would bring the pastries up the stairs, I would escort the woman to him and we would make an exchange: he would take the girl and I would take the pastries. Sex and then food, a perfect night." His insatiable appetite for pastries proved problematic given that he is a professional athlete and lead to Real fining him for every gram he was overweight.
The former Bari Wunderkind's Lothario days would seem to be over after he married water polo player Carolina Marcialis (pictured above) in 2010 and the couple have had two sons, with the second being named after Lionel Messi.
2. Manager Issues
Cassano was never far away from falling out with a manager or three. In his autobiography, he revealed how he greeted Luciano Spalletti when he became manager of Roma, “You’re not coaching those useless players you had at Udinese, this isn’t your house, it’s my house“.
His relationship with Fabio Capello could be described as complicated and often tempestuous during their time together in Rome and at Real Madrid. So much so that Capello created the phrase "Cassanata" which Italian journalists use for any behavior that is incompatible with team spirit in football. This might have something to do with Cassano being caught on camera doing an impression of the then Roma manager.
Antonio was suspended by Real after he berated Capello over not being selected for a match against Tarragona, "In the locker room I told him ‘you’re a piece of shit, you’re more fake than Monopoly money“. More recently, the 31-year old was left out Inter Milan's clash with Catania last season after a heated argument with Andrea Stramaccioni.
3. The On-Pitch Meltdowns
As you might have deduced, Cassano is a very volatile character and occasionally, his emotions got the best of him with hilarious consequences.
H/T (Italy Offside)
