ROME (AP) — David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo came to Serie A in the twilight years of their careers.

This year, the list of big-name veterans descending on Italy was even longer than usual. It included Luka Modric (who joined AC Milan at age 39); Kevin De Bruyne (Napoli, 34); Nemanja Matic (Sassuolo, 37); Raul Albiol (Pisa, 40); and Edin Dzeko (Fiorentina, 39).

And when 38-year-old Jamie Vardy signed with promoted Cremonese on deadline day this week, the stereotype of the Italian league being known for older players was reinforced as the former Leicester striker posed next to a Stradivari violin made centuries ago in the city of his new club.

“From dream to reality: StradiVardy is here!” Cremonese said on Instagram, instantly coining Vardy’s new nickname.

While Vardy does not have the star power of Beckham (who was 33 when he was first loaned to AC Milan in 2009) or Ronaldo (who was 33 when he joined Juventus in 2018), he’s still the biggest thing that has happened to Cremonese in recent memory. Thousands of fans greeted the Englishman upon arrival on Monday — including one supporter who already had a tattoo of Vardy’s image on his leg.

Cremonese’s perfect start

The enthusiasm in Cremona, which is little more than an hour’s drive from Milan, coincided with a surprisingly strong start for Cremonese.

After winning the Serie B playoffs to return to the top flight after two years, Cremonese stunned Milan in its Serie A opener then remained perfect after a dramatic late win over Sassuolo in the second round.

Merely avoiding relegation would be an exploit for Cremonese. So the club is overachieving at this rate.

And Vardy is no stranger to overachieving, having led Leicester to an improbable Premier League title in 2016. He scored in a record 11 straight games in Leicester’s historic campaign, which is remembered as one of the great underdog stories in soccer history. The title defied preseason odds of 5,000-1.

For the record, current odds for Cremonese to win Serie A range from 1,000-1 to 2,500-1.

Goal of the season candidate

As the first two rounds have shown, there’s plenty more to Cremonese than Vardy.

Newly hired coach Davide Nicola is an expert at helping teams avoid relegation and has plenty of experience with provincial clubs in the top flight. Back in 2017, he cycled virtually the length of Italy to his home in Turin to maintain a promise after keeping Crotone in Serie A.

Forward Federico Bonazzoli, who started his career at Inter Milan, scored an early contender for goal of the season to decide the match against Milan — connecting with an acrobatic, overhead kick into the bottom corner that silenced the San Siro.

Mussolini’s great grandson

Romano Floriani Mussolini, a great grandson of Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, earned the foul that led to a decisive penalty kick against Sassuolo after also setting up a goal that was annulled by the VAR — in his Serie A debut.

The 22-year-old Floriani Mussolini, a full back who was loaned to Cremonese from Lazio, said upon arrival in July that he was “here to play football,” adding “my last name bothers other people more than me.”

The Mussolini name doesn’t appear on his Cremonese shirt, though. Instead, his first name, “Romano” is printed above the No. 22.

Holdovers from Serie B

Defender Matteo Bianchetti, the club captain, has been with Cremonese since 2019 and was a starter for six seasons in the second division, after also coming up through Inter’s youth system.

Tough center back Federico Baschirotto, who scored the opener against Milan, returned to Cremonese for this season after first signing with the club’s youth squad in 2014.

Then there’s 36-year-old midfielder Franco Vazquez, who has played for Italy and Argentina. He led Cremonese with nine goals last season and scored against Sassuolo.

Forward Manuel De Luca, another holdover from the team that won the second division, converted the winning penalty in stoppage time against Sassuolo.

Vardy can debut at Verona

Up next for Cremonese are matches against two more regional rivals: Hellas Verona and Parma. Then there’s a visit to big-spending Como and another trip to the San Siro to face Inter in early October — plenty of opportunities for Vardy to make an impact before he turns 39 in January.

“We need to keep working hard,” Nicola said, “without being carried away by the current euphoria.”

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer