 Montero in 2010 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rónald Paolo Montero Iglesias | ||
| Date of birth | (1971-09-03)3 September 1971 (age 54) | ||
| Place of birth | Montevideo, Uruguay | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1] | ||
| Position | |||
| Youth career | |||
| 1990 | Peñarol | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1990–1992 | Peñarol | 34 | (1) |
| 1992–1996 | Atalanta | 114 | (4) |
| 1996–2005 | Juventus | 186 | (1) |
| 2005–2006 | San Lorenzo | 14 | (1) |
| 2006–2007 | Peñarol | 46 | (1) |
| Total | 394 | (8) | |
| International career | |||
| 1991–2005[2][3] | Uruguay | 61 | (5) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2014 | Peñarol (caretaker) | ||
| 2016 | Boca Unidos | ||
| 2016 | Colón | ||
| 2017 | Rosario Central | ||
| 2019–2020 | Sambenedettese | ||
| 2021 | Sambenedettese | ||
| 2021 | San Lorenzo | ||
| 2024 | Juventus (caretaker) | ||
| 2024 | Juventus Next Gen | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Rónald Paolo Montero Iglesias (born 3 September 1971) is a Uruguayanfootball manager and former player, who played as acentral defender orleft-back.
Montero began his career in Uruguay withPeñarol in 1990 before moving to Italian sideAtalanta in 1992. He joinedJuventus in 1996, where he remained until 2005, winning fourSerie A titles, among other trophies; he subsequently moved to Argentine clubSan Lorenzo. In 2006, he transferred back to Peñarol, where he retired in 2007. At international level, he represented theUruguay national football team at the1997 FIFA Confederations Cup, at the2002 FIFA World Cup, and the2004 Copa América.
Montero was born inMontevideo,Uruguay, into a footballing family; his father is formerUruguay internationalJulio Montero Castillo. As a child, Paolo had to maintain good grades at school, otherwise his father would not allow him to attend football practice.[4] As a professional, Montero started his career forPeñarol in 1990 and remained with the club for two seasons, making 34 appearances and scoring one goal before transferring toAtalanta in the ItalianSerie A in 1992.
After transferring to theBergamo-based club, Montero became an instant fixture in the club's starting eleven and was a key member of their defence. He managed 27 league appearances and two goals in his debutSerie A season. In his second season with the club, he managed 30 starts, however the club's season ended in relegation toSerie B. In the second division, Montero appeared in 34 games, scoring two goals, helping his team to immediate promotion back to Serie A. During the 1995–1996 Serie A season, Montero struggled with injuries, only making 23 appearances. After impressing greatly during his four-year stay in Bergamo, Montero made the highly anticipated switch to the Italian and European powerhouse,Juventus.[citation needed]
Following the big switch toTurin in 1996, Montero made over 30 appearances in his first season withJuventus in all competitions. It was here, even after an impressive first season, that he achieved great success, winning fourscudetti with the club, along with other honours;[5] Montero also won threeItalian Supercups, and reached threeChampions League finals and twoCoppa Italia finals with the club during this period. Montero was believed to have been the best friend ofZinedine Zidane during the pair's time together at Juventus, which ended when Zidane was sold toReal Madrid in 2001.[4]Juventus were extremely dominant both domestically and internationally during this period and had what was considered to be the best defence in the world at the time, and teams strongly regretted ever going down a goal to the club, as they knew how hard it would be to score one back for themselves. Montero played at both center back and left back during this period, forming impressive defensive partnerships with the likes ofCiro Ferrara,Mark Iuliano,Gianluca Pessotto,Lilian Thuram,Alessandro Birindelli,Igor Tudor,Gianluca Zambrotta,Nicola Legrottaglie andFabio Cannavaro during his ten-year tenure with the club. After the2004–05 Serie A triumph, Montero and teammate Ferrara called it quits on their Juventus careers. The Uruguayan opted to return to South America, while Ferrara retired. Montero made over 200 appearances fori bianconeri, scoring one league goal. In the2003 UEFA Champions League final, Montero was one of the three Juventus players to have their penalty saved byAC Milan keeperDida in the shootout defeat. With his three Champions League final defeats, Montero is the player with the most Champions League final appearances not to win a Champions League medal, alongside former Juventus teammatesAlessio Tacchinardi andGianluigi Buffon.[6]
After his tenure at Juventus, Montero moved to Argentinian clubSan Lorenzo. However, his time at the club was short-lived, as he constantly missed games due to injuries. He left the club after just 14 appearances and scored one goal againstRacing Club. In 2006, offers came in from clubs such asOlympiacos and newly promoted Serie A clubCatania;[7] however, Montero chose to return to his childhood club where he began his career,Peñarol.
For the 2006–07 season, Montero re-joined former clubPeñarol for one last season before officially announcing his retirement. He scored one goal in 26 matches during his last season as a professional footballer.
An important member of theUruguayan national side, Montero first represented his team in an international tournament at the1997 FIFA Confederations Cup, finishing in fourth place. He had previously played for theUruguay U-20 side in the1991 Under-20 World Championship. He also appeared for the senior side in the2002 World Cup, after helping his side to qualify for the tournament, where the talentedUruguayan squad were disappointingly eliminated in the group stage. In the2004 Copa América, Montero and Uruguay reached the semi-finals, finishing the tournament in third place. Montero alsocaptained his country in their bid to qualify for the2006 FIFA World Cup in anintercontinental playoff againstAustralia, the country the Uruguayans defeated by a very convincing margin of 3–0 to qualify for the2002 FIFA World Cup tournament four years before. Sadly for Montero, he limped off with a hamstring injury during the second game inSydney, and later, Australia went on to narrowly snatch the win and the World Cup qualification via penalties. After the defeat, Montero immediately announced his international retirement, saying "what happened today was such a pity as this group of players deserved to be at the World Cup finals."[8] Montero made over 60 appearances for his country in between 1991 and 2006, scoring 5 goals.
Paolo Montero reportedly retired in late May 2007 after attending a team training session in order to say goodbye to his teammates. His current squad had tried to persuade him to come back tofootball, with teammateRubén Capria saying that "it's a tough blow to lose our captain".[9][10]
He played his final match in what was alsoMarcelo Salas' farewell match, a former Juventus teammate of Montero's.
In August 2019, Montero enrolled in theUEFA Pro Licence courses atCoverciano.[11]
Considered to be one of the best defenders of his time, and one of Juventus's greatest ever centre-backs, Montero has been described as "skilful on the ball and calm under pressure",[12] and a "wonderfully talented and intelligent footballer".[13] In his prime, he was regarded as one of the best defenders in the world. His international reputation is one of a man who was "fearsome, immovable and essential, in a back line that conquered Italy and Europe".[4] A versatiledefender, he was capable of playing in thecentre (both as a stopper or as asweeper) or on theleft (although this was not his favoured position), and was known for his strength, consistency, leadership and organisational skills. Montero also stood out during his career due to his aerial ability, timing, technical ability, and distribution.[14][15][16][17][18]
A combative, tenacious, complete and talented defender,[19] he was also frequently criticised for his aggression and hard tackling playing style throughout his career,[19] as well as his knack for picking up unnecessary bookings.[20] He holds therecord for the most red cards received by a player in Serie A history, being sent off 16 times,[21][22] and was sent off a total of 21 times throughout his career.[23] In 2007,The Times placed him at number 39 in their list of the 50 hardest footballers in history.[24] Welsh former wingerRyan Giggs described Montero and his defensive teammate at JuventusCiro Ferrara as "...the toughest defenders [he] played against", also adding that they were often very hard in their challenges.[25]
After retirement, Montero embarked on a career as a manager, working in his nativeUruguay withPeñarol, and inArgentina withBoca Unidos,Colón, andRosario Central. On 6 June 2019, he returned to Italy, being unveiled as the new head coach ofSerie C clubSambenedettese for the club's 2019–20 season.[26] He was sacked on 27 October 2020 after a string of defeats in the2020–21 Serie C season.[27] He was reinstated as Sambenedettese head coach on 11 February 2021, following the resignations ofMauro Zironelli.[28] On 28 June 2022, Montero was appointed as head coach ofJuventus U19.[29] On 19 May 2024, days after the dismissal of first team head coachMassimiliano Allegri, Juventus announced that Montero would serve as caretaker head coach for the remaining two games of the2023–24 Serie A season.[30] He was successively promoted in charge of the Under-23 team,Juventus Next Gen, playing in theSerie C league.[31] However, Montero was dismissed from his role on 12 November 2024, leaving Juventus Next Gen dead last in the league table.[32]
His son,Alfonso, representedUruguay'sU17 squad from 2022 to 2023, and subsequently signed for his father's old club,Juventus.[33]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Italy | League | Coppa Italia | Europe | Total | ||||||
| Atalanta | 1992–93 | Serie A | 27 | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | 29 | 2 | |
| 1993–94 | 30 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 33 | 0 | |||
| 1994–95 | 34 | 2 | 3 | 0 | — | 37 | 2 | |||
| 1995–96 | 23 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | 29 | 0 | |||
| Total | 114 | 4 | 14 | 0 | — | 128 | 4 | |||
| Juventus | 1996–97 | Serie A | 26 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 421 | 2 |
| 1997–98 | 26 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 392 | 0 | ||
| 1998–99 | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 353 | 0 | ||
| 1999–00 | 28 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 40 | 0 | ||
| 2000–01 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 | ||
| 2001–02 | 16 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 27 | 1 | ||
| 2002–03 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 344 | 2 | ||
| 2003–04 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 26 | 1 | ||
| 2004–05 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 0 | ||
| Total | 186 | 1 | 18 | 1 | 68 | 4 | 278 | 6 | ||
| Total for Atalanta and Juventus | 300 | 5 | 32 | 1 | 68 | 4 | 406 | 10 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uruguay | 1991 | 4 | 0 |
| 1992 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1993 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1994 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1995 | 4 | 0 | |
| 1996 | 5 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 10 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1999 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 5 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 9 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 6 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 7 | 0 | |
| Total | 60 | 5 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 15 December 1996 | Estadio Centenario,Montevideo, Uruguay |  Peru | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1998 World Cup qualification |
| 2. | 2 April 1997 |  Venezuela | 2–0 | 3–1 | ||
| 3. | 3 June 2000 |  Chile | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2002 World Cup qualification | |
| 4. | 7 July 2004 | Estadio Elías Aguirre,Chiclayo, Peru |  Mexico | 2–2 | 2–2 | 2004 Copa América |
| 5. | 17 November 2004 | Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay |  Paraguay | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2006 World Cup qualification |
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Peñarol (Caretaker) |  | 11 November 2014 | 23 December 2014 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 066.67 |
| Boca Unidos |  | 10 March 2016 | 30 June 2016 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 060.00 |
| Colón | 1 July 2016 | 22 December 2016 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 046.67 | |
| Rosario Central | 3 January 2017 | 10 November 2017 | 29 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 041.38 | |
| Sambenedettese |  | 6 June 2019 | 27 October 2020 | 37 | 12 | 9 | 16 | 032.43 |
| 11 February 2021 | 9 May 2021 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 025.00 | ||
| San Lorenzo | | 17 June 2021 | 21 October 2021 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 023.53 |
| Juventus U19 | | 28 June 2022 | present | 77 | 30 | 18 | 29 | 038.96 |
| Juventus (Caretaker) | | 18 May 2024 | 30 June 2024 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 050.00 |
| Total | 211 | 81 | 55 | 75 | 038.39 | |||
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)| Goalkeeper | |
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| Midfielders | |
| Forwards | |
| Substitutes | |
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