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World Cup winner Luca Toni has announced his intention to retire from professional football at the end of the season and hopes he can sign off by helping keep Hellas Verona in Serie A. Toni, 38, has found the back of the net just once so far in an injury-blighted season which has reduced him to just seven appearances. Having netted 22 and 20 in the past two seasons -- finishing as Serie A's joint-top scorer last season with Mauro Icardi -- the striker is considering whether the time has come to call it a day. "I think that maybe the moment has come for me to quit, celebrating it with a great survival with Hellas," Toni told Sky Sport Italia following Hellas' 1-0 defeat at home to Empoli on Sunday, a result which leaves the club four points adrift at the bottom of Serie A and nine points from safety. Toni's goals were crucial in Hellas finishing 13th and 10th in the past two seasons, with no relegation fears. But since the goals have dried up, the club have started to suffer and all the former Fiorentina and Bayern Munich forward now wants is to help keep them up before ending his playing career. "We played a good game today, but certainly it's not a nice day for us," he added. "That's the way things go, but I still believe we will fight to the end, no matter where we play, and try to pick up the points where people least expect it, like maybe in Milan on Sunday. "But we've got to try because there are still many games to go and we're not that far away." Toni won the 2006 World Cup with Italy and finished as Europe's top scorer that year, before lifting the Bundesliga title with Bayern in 2008. Hellas have three difficult games to come, first visiting AC Milan before hosting one of the surprise packages of the Serie A season, Sassuolo. After the winter break, they face a testing start to 2016 at defending champions Juventus.
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