One-club players are rare and precious.

The likes of Paolo Maldini, Raul, Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes might be handsomely paid by their clubs, but the fact they have spurned chances to get even richer elsewhere suggests they share at least some of the fans’ devotion to the colours they wear.

Inter Milan’s Patrick Vieira recognised this recently when talking about his former Juventus team mate Alessandro Del Piero.

“What I like about him, and envy a little, is that he has played all his career for the same team and won everything with that team,” Vieira told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Indeed, Del Piero has a good claim to being the world’s top one-club man.

Five Serie A titles and a Champions League are part of the 34-year-old’s trophy haul at Juventus. He also holds the Turin club’s record for appearances and goals — he netted his 250th for Juve in Saturday’s 4-0 win at Reggina.

AC Milan’s Maldini has more Serie A and Italy appearances than Del Piero, Real Madrid’s Raul has scored more European goals and both have won more Champions Leagues, as have Scholes and his Manchester United team mate Ryan Giggs.

Del Piero probably trumps them all though because he has a World Cup-winner’s medal in his cabinet.

What’s more, Del Piero gets bonus club-loyalty points because he stuck with Juve when they were relegated for match-fixing in 2006, scoring 21 goals to help them to immediate promotion and finding the net as many times last season to fire them to a third-place finish on their return to the top flight.

Sticklers might argue that, strictly speaking, Del Piero is not a one-club man. He also played for Padova in Serie B before joining Juve in 1993, but I think it would be churlish to count a few seasons outside the big time when he was a teenager (if you’re too rigid Raul would fail the one-club test too as he played for Atletico Madrid’s academy before it was closed and he moved across town).

Nevertheless, my vote does not go to Alex but to another 2006 World Cup winner, AS Roma’s Francesco Totti.

Del Piero is a wonderful player but he has a tendency to blow hot and cold, while Totti has consistently been excellent in Serie A when fit.

And, unlike the other footballers I’ve mentioned, Totti did not have the fortune to start his career at a club regularly vying for domestic and European trophies.

He has less honours to his name, but only because he stayed true to Roma rather than succumbing to the courtship of clubs such as Real and Milan. In my book that sacrifice more than makes up for the European club trophy missing from his CV.

And if Roma are now a force to be reckoned with outside Italy, Totti deserves a large slice of the credit.

What do you think? Who would you give the top one-club player award to? Is there anyone I have overlooked altogether who’s more worthy?

PHOTO: Juve’s Alessandro Del Piero celebrates after scoring as AS Roma’s Francesco Totti watches during their Serie A match in Turin Feb. 16, 2008. REUTERS/Max Rossi

The above question came up in Mark’s blog about Del Piero (see below) and it stuck in my mind after my colleague Andre Assier interviewed Juninho this week.

Here’s an extract from Andre’s piece, which you can read in full here:

Olympique Lyon’s dead ball specialist Juninho scored his 40th free kick goal for the club against Steaua Bucharest in a Champions League game on Wednesday to make his mark on the French side’s scoring records.

The strike in a 2-0 home win meant the Brazilian midfielder joined compatriot Sonny Anderson as the club’s all-time top scorer in European competition with 16 by netting his 94th goal in all competitions for the French champions.

 ”I knew the goalkeeper would try and anticipate on one side so I just shot and wrongfooted him,” the 33-year-old told Reuters in an interview.

So, to get back to the question in hand, is Juninho the best free kick taker out there, or is Mark right in plumping for Del Piero?

It’s interesting that from January, AC Milan will have three of the best dead ball specialists, at least by repute. David Beckham, Ronaldinho and Andrea Pirlo will all be lining up for Milan in the New Year, meaning a lot of pushing and shoving when free kicks are awarded, I’d expect.

If the field is limited to the players already mentioned, I’d go for Juninho, but then again, I bet there are loads of other gifted free kick takers out there who just don’t get the credit that goes to that Famous Five.

So who deserves to be on the list? And is there anyone better than Juninho? Let us know in the comments.

PHOTO: Olympique Lyon’s Juninho (L) celebrates after scoring against Steaua Bucharest during their Champions League soccer match at the Gerland stadium in Lyon, Nov. 5, 2008. REUTERS/Robert Pratta

Italy coach Marcello Lippi doesn’t want him, his predecessor Roberto Donadoni wasn’t keen, but Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero just keeps on coming up with the goods.

Few visiting players get standing ovations at the Bernabeu, but Il Capitano deserved it after two sublime strikes in Juve’s shock 2-0 win over Real Madrid on Wednesday which sent the in-form Turin club to the Champions League last 16.

Del Piero had already outshone that other great talisman Raul by scoring another beauty in Juve’s 2-1 home win over Real two weeks ago.

He is surely in the best form of his long and successful career, which kicked off when he played in Juve’s 1996 Champions League-winning side.

He is undoubtedly the most famous Italian still playing the game and yet he has only ever been a bit part player for Italy, playing as a substitute for most of their triumphant 2006 World Cup campaign and sneaking into the Euro 2008 squad after finishing top of the Serie A scoring charts last term.

Lippi has said he wants to look at other players during Italy’s 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, but where will he find better than Ale?

Wednesday’s glorious free kick past Iker Casillas followed another deadball special in last weekend’s 2-0 win over AS Roma.

With Roberto Carlos winding down at Fenerbahce (and never actually that accurate), Ronaldinho feeling his way at AC Milan and David Beckham flitting between clubs, Del Piero in my mind is the best free kick taker in the world. You always think he is going to score or force the keeper into a mighty fine save. 

Many pundits have criticised Del Piero by saying he is now too slow, I have done it myself, but every time he roars back and silences the doubters.

Even Juve fans have been known to knock him, yet this was the man who stuck with the club in their darkest hour when they were demoted to Serie B in 2006 for a match-fixing scandal. He is also Juve’s record goalscorer and appearance holder.

He was not included in this year’s nominations for the Ballon D’Or or FIFA World Player, and surprisingly has never come close to winning either. 

On Sunday Del Piero celebrates his 34th birthday and will play for Juve at struggling Chievo Verona.

The travelling Juve fans should give him a standing ovation of their own.

PHOTO: Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero celebrates his second goal against Real Madrid during their Champions League match at the Bernabeu, Nov. 5, 2008. REUTERS/Andrea Comas

Wow, Donald Sutherland seems very upset by that penalty decision!      

A lot of people in football look like a lot of other people but more people in Euro 2008 seem to have doubles than in any other tournament.     

It’s well known by now of course that Portugal and soon to be Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari is the spitting image of Hollywood actor Gene Hackman. 

But has anyone else noticed the incredible similarity between Italian striker Alessandro Del Piero and rock legend Bruce Springsteen. I went to see Springsteen at the Emirates stadium the other week and when he did his knee slides I thought I was watching Del Piero celebrating a goal against Arsenal.      

George Clooney has been in goal for Greece here, or rather George Clooney-alike Antonios Nikopolidis while Donald Sutherland has temporarily left his role in the TV series Dirty Sexy Money to coach the Polish team, or was that Leo Beenhakker complaining about Howard Webb’s refereeing decisions?      

Fatih Terim, the dashing Turkish coach could, I reckon, walk into Hollywood passing himself off as either Robert de Niro’s older brother, or Joe Pesci’s taller brother. And while we are with the Turks Nihat Kahveci is a dead ringer for Mads Mikkelsen, who played the villain Le Chiffre in the latest 007 movie Casino Royale.

I know they are different people though, because Nihat didn’t cry tears of blood when he scored twice as Turkey beat the Czechs, just tears of joy.      

Any others?

PHOTOS: REUTERS/Tony Gentile and Brendan McDermid