Marco Verratti was born in Pescara on 5 November 1992. He spent his youth career with his hometown team and during the 2011/12 season he burst onto the footballing scene. Pescara won Serie B and returned to Serie A after a 19 year hiatus. He made the headlines as one of the exceptional young talents in Europe and in the summer of 2012 he signed for Paris-Saint Germain. He was less than 20 years old when he moved to the French capital but he was a great success as he won six league titles, seven French Supercups, five League Cups and four French Cups, as well as playing regularly in the UEFA Champions League.

His first experience representing Italy on the international stage came in February 2012 when he made his debut for the Under-21s. His progression continued as on 12 May that year he was called up by Coach Prandelli to pre-tournament squad ahead of the European Championships. Verratti didn’t make the final cut for the senior team, but he was key figure in the U21s second place finish at the Under-21 European Championships in Israel. His performances led to him being selected in UEFA’s team of the tournament. He made his debut for the senior National Team on 15 August 2012 in a 2-1 friendly defeat against England played in Bern, Switzerland: Verratti came on in the 59th minute as a substitute for Diamanti. He scored his first goal for the Azzurri during his third appearance on 6 February 2013; he scored Italy’s only goal in a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands in a friendly in Amsterdam. He featured twice for Italy during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and became a key figure in Antonio Conte’s Italy team which qualified for the 2016 European Championships, but he missed the tournament due to injury.

Marco has made 36 appearances and has scored 3 goals for the National Team.