Claudio Marchisio Retires From Professional Football

Claudio Marchisio has brought his 14-year long professional football career to a decisive end following an announcement at a press  conference on Thursday.

The former Juventus midfielder's last professional spell was at the Russian side St. Petersburg, which he joined as a free agent in a two-year contract last year and after completing a season, he cancelled the contract to allow him to retire.

Before he announced his retirement on Twitter, Juventus - the club where he started his football career from its academy - had teased of his decision to hang his boots in a tweeted message on Wednesday.

Confirming the speculation, the 33-year-old write in a statement update on his official Twitter page, "I'd made a promise to the kid who dreamt to be a football player. I would have played until I had felt the Marvel stepping into the pitch."

Explaining why he decided to retire, he wrote: "I wasn't fulfilling my promise anymore, that's why I prefer to stop. So, thank you dream. You gave me strength, success and joy."

Marchisio's ended his career as a champion by winning the Russian Premier League with Saint Petersburg. During his 13 years reign at Juventus, he enjoyed a trophy-ladden spell winning with the Turin side seven Italian Serie A and four Coppa Italia