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Sydney fans wait six hours to greet Alessandro Del Piero at airport, cheer his luggage

Dirty Tackle

Alessandro Del Piero has arrived in Australia to begin his two-year stint with Sydney FC and the locals are excited. It wasn't quite Didier Drogba's arrival in Shanghai, but according to the local news, about 500 fans greeted the 37-year-old Juventus legend at the airport and some waited as much as six hours for him to arrive. The report also said that even his luggage was cheered (1:05 into the video).

Sydney chairman Scott Barlow called Del Piero "the most important signing in the history of football in this country," and the striker said that he and his family aren't in Australia for the money. They're there for the kangaroos.

From ABC Online:

Del Piero drew laughter when asked what his friends and Juventus fans made of his decision to move to Australia.

"Most of my friends said to me, 'okay, Ale, you want to change... but there's a lot of places closer than Australia!'"

The former Italian international also admitted he convinced his eldest son to move by promising to take him to the zoo.

"(For) my family the first priority is (to see) the kangaroos," he said.

The koalas must be devastated.