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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Aldo Serena[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1960-06-25)25 June 1960 (age 65) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Montebelluna, Italy | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Forward | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1977–1978 | Montebelluna | 29 | (9) | ||||||||||||||
| 1978–1985 | Internazionale | 51 | (11) | ||||||||||||||
| 1979–1980 | →Como (loan) | 18 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 1980–1981 | →Bari (loan) | 35 | (10) | ||||||||||||||
| 1982–1983 | →A.C. Milan (loan) | 20 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
| 1984–1985 | →Torino (loan) | 29 | (9) | ||||||||||||||
| 1985–1987 | Juventus | 51 | (21) | ||||||||||||||
| 1987–1991 | Internazionale | 114 | (45) | ||||||||||||||
| 1991–1993 | A.C. Milan | 10 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 357 | (115) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1984–1990 | Italy | 24 | (5) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Aldo SerenaCavaliere OMRI (Italian pronunciation:[ˈaldoseˈreːna]; born 25 June 1960) is an Italian former professionalfootballer, who was usually deployed as aforward. He played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, winning fourSerie A titles, among other trophies. Serena won several trophies withInter, including a league title and theUEFA Cup.
At international level, Serena played for theItaly national team in the1986 FIFA World Cup and the1990 FIFA World Cup, helping the team to a third-place finish in the latter tournament. He works as a pundit forMediaset.[2]
During his career, Serena played for numerous Italian clubs, including Montebelluna,Inter,Como,Bari,A.C. Milan,Juventus andTorino. Born in Montebelluna, in the province of Treviso, he spent his youth playing with his hometown side's youth academy. After making his professional debut with the Montebelluna senior team inSerie D in 1977, and scoring nine goals in 29 appearances during his debut season, Serena first joined Inter thefollowing season in 1978. He made hisSerie A debut the same year on 19 November in a 4–0 home victory againstLazio, marking the occasion with his first Serie A goal, as well as making another league appearance later that the season.[3]
Although Serena initially won the1981–82 Coppa Italia during his first spell with the club, he mainly served as a back-up, and was initially loaned out to several other Italian clubs, spending seasons on loan with Como, Bari, cross-city rivals Milan, and Torino. He also enjoyed a successful two-season spell withrivals Juventus between 1985 and 1987, scoring 21 Serie A goals in 51 appearances, as well as winning the1985 Intercontinental Cup and the1985–86 Serie A title. In total, Serena scored 36 goals in all competitions for the Turin side in 71 appearances.
Serena enjoyed greater success after returning to Inter for his second spell in 1987. His best season with the Milan-side came during the1988–89 campaign under managerGiovanni Trapattoni, when he won theScudetto with Inter with a record 58 points (the club's thirteenth Serie A title overall), and was crownedtop scorer of the league, scoring 22 goals. He also later won the1989 Supercoppa Italiana and the1990–91 UEFA Cup during his second spell with the club.[4][5][6][7]
After his second move to local rivals Milan in 1991, Serena's reputation as an Inter legend was somewhat tarnished, however; this was shown recently when Serena's name was booed by some of Inter's Ultras supporters when it was announced that he was to be part of an Inter Legends gathering after the final game of the2006–07 league trophy presentation. Although Serena's first spell with Milan saw him help the team win theSerie B title and achieve Serie A promotion in1983, as he scored eight goals in 20 appearances, his second spell with Milan was less successful; despite winning anotherSupercoppa Italiana in 1992, and another twoSerie A titles in1992 and1993 under managerFabio Capello, he was used with less frequency due to several injury struggles, only making tenappearances over his two final seasons, and he failed to score in Serie A during his second spell with the club, ultimately retiring from professional football in 1993.[5][6]
In 2005, Serena andChristian Vieri were the only footballers to have played for both of the rival teams of Turin and Milan,[5] The former is also one of six footballers to win the Serie A title with three clubs, a feat he managed with Juventus, Inter, and Milan, whilst the others to have achieved the same feat areGiovanni Ferrari, Filippo Cavalli,Pietro Fanna,Sergio Gori andAttilio Lombardo.[8][9]
Serena played for theItaly national football team in two World Cups: the1986 FIFA World Cup and1990 FIFA World Cup on home soil, where Italy finished in third place, but he did not make a single appearance in the former tournament. Serena also played for the Italian under-23 team at the1984 Summer Olympics, helping the team to a fourth-place finish.[10] On 8 December 1984, he debuted in a 2–0 friendly victory againstPoland inPescara.[11] Serena scored his first goal for Italy on 5 February 1986, in a 2–1 friendly victory againstWest Germany inAvellino.[12] In total, he earned 24appearances and scored five goals for the Italian senior squad.[5][7]
At the 1990 World Cup in home soil, Serena scored with a header on his 30th birthday in Italy's 2–0 round of 16 win overUruguay on 25 June.[6] In the semi-final match, he left the pitch in tears after he missed a crucial spot kick in the semi-final shoot-out againstArgentina, with the goalkeeperSergio Goycochea saving the ball to his left, a game the home nation lost on penalties following a 1–1 draw after extra-time. Serena later insisted that he did not want to take a penalty in the shootout, but that he was forced to be included as Italy's final penalty taker by managerAzeglio Vicini, as no one else had volunteered.[7] Italy won the third place match againstEngland 2–1, however, capturing the bronze medal.[6] Serena made his final appearance for Italy on 22 December 1990, scoring two goals in a 4–0 win overCyprus.[7]
Serena was a fit, strong, dedicated, hard-working, and athleticcentre-forward who excelled in the air; a formerdefensive midfielder and abasketball player in his youth, he was known in particular for his powerful and accurate heading ability, due to his height, strength, and elevation, as well as his positional sense, and his tenacious, intelligent, and physical style of play with his back to goal, which enabled him to shield the ball from defenders, create space in the area, anticipate opponents, and win aerial challenges, despite his lack of notable pace. He was also capable of finishing well with his powerful and accurate left footed shot. Although he was not particularly skilful from a technical standpoint, or particularly refined with his feet, he was able to improve his technique over his career. Primarily a striker who mainly operated in the penalty area, he was a versatile player, who was also capable of playing as asecond striker or as awinger.[4][5][6][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]
Juventus[4]
Inter[21]
Milan[21]
Italy[6]
Individual
Orders
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