 Pessotto in 2006 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gianluca Pessotto[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1970-08-11)11 August 1970 (age 55) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Latisana, Italy | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Defender,midfielder | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1987–1989 | AC Milan | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1989–1991 | Varese | 64 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 1991–1992 | Massese | 22 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 1992–1993 | Bologna | 21 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 1993–1994 | Verona | 34 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 1994–1995 | Torino | 32 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 1995–2006 | Juventus | 243 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 416 | (9) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1996–2002 | Italy | 22 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Gianluca PessottoCavaliere OMRI (Italian pronunciation:[dʒanˈluːkapesˈsɔtto]; born 11 August 1970) is an Italian former professionalfootballer who played as adefender ormidfielder. A formerItaly international, he spent the majority of his club career withJuventus, where he won several domestic and international trophies, and is now head of its youth system. He represented his country at the1998 FIFA World Cup, and atUEFA Euro 2000, reaching thefinal of the latter tournament.
After his retirement in 2006, Pessotto remained at Juventus as a member of the coaching staff. He is currently the Sporting Director (Direttore Sportivo) of theclub's youth academy.[2]
Pessotto was given the nicknameIl Professorino ("The Little Professor") by the fans, due to his glasses, his interest in philosophy and literature, and as he was able to obtain a law degree during his career. His stamina and ability to run very quickly – indeed he was often described as almost "flying" on field in the media – also earned him the nickname "Passerotto" ("Little Sparrow").[3][4]
Born inLatisana, in theprovince of Udine, Pessotto started his career in theAC Milan youth system. However, he was instantly sold toAS Varese 1910 in 1989. He never made a professional appearance forMilan.
After joiningVarese in 1989, Pessotto officially began his professional career. In two full seasons with the club, he tallied an impressive 64 appearances, also finding the back of the net on a solo occasion.
In August 1991, Pessotto transferred toUS Massese 1919, although he only remained at the club for one season. In his lone season, he appeared 23 times in the league, netting one goal.
Following impressive spells with bothAS Varese 1910 andUS Massese 1919 he transferred to then-Serie B clubBologna FC 1909 in the summer of 1992. Despite being a highly anticipated transfer, Pessotto made just 21 league appearances and was sold at the conclusion of the season. He also scored one goal for the Bolognese club.
After a season withBologna inSerie B, Pessotto transferred to fellowSerie B clubHellas Verona FC in 1993. Pessotto was an undisputed starter for much of the season, impressing greatly. He made 34 league appearances with a seasonal career high of 3 goals.
After impressing in the second division of Italianfootball, Pessotto transferred toTorino FC in 1994. In his first season inSerie A, Pessotto racked up a starting position along with 32 league appearances and his firstSerie A goal. After greatly impressing in his debutSerie A season, Pessotto moved to city rivals and European giantsJuventus, in 1995, in what was a very highly regarded transfer.[3]
After joining Juventus in 1995, Pessotto instantly became a key part of the first team and helped Juventus form what was considered to be one of the best defences in the world at this time. 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. Pessotto formed impressive defensive partnerships with the likes ofCiro Ferrara,Moreno Torricelli,Paolo Montero,Mark Iuliano,Lilian Thuram,Alessandro Birindelli,Igor Tudor,Gianluca Zambrotta,Nicola Legrottaglie,Fabio Cannavaro,Jonathan Zebina, andGiorgio Chiellini during his 12-year tenure with the club. He was one of many experienced players who had been at Juventus for a lengthy period of time. Injuries and other issues in the closing stages of his career limited his first-team opportunities to mainly being used as a substitute toJonathan Zebina orLilian Thuram. Pessotto retired at the end of the 2005–2006Serie A season, after back to backScudetti. With Juventus he managed well over 250 total appearances scoring 2 league goals in the process. Among his achievements as a Juventus player, Pessotto won theUEFA Champions League in 1996 (scoring a penalty in Juventus's shoot-out victory overAjax), playing in 4 Champions League Finals, theUEFA Super Cup in 1996, theIntercontinental Cup in 1996, aUEFA Intertoto Cup in 2000, fourScudetti (1997, 1998, 2002, 2003), fourSupercoppa Italiana titles (1997, 1998, 2002, 2003) and aCoppa Italia in 1995.[3]
In total, Pessotto was capped 22 times forItaly between 1996 and 2002, under managersArrigo Sacchi (1996),Cesare Maldini (1996–98),Dino Zoff (1998–2000) andGiovanni Trapattoni (2000–2002).[5] He played for his country at the1998 FIFA World Cup, where Italy were eliminated by hosts and eventual championsFrance on penalties in the quarter-finals, and atEuro 2000. At Euro 2000, Pessotto scored a penalty in the semi-final shootout win over co-hoststhe Netherlands, which sent Italy intothe final against France.[6] In the final, Pessotto would set upDelvecchio's goal; however, he only picked up a runners-up medal as Italy lost to France for the second consecutive tournament, after conceding a last minute equaliser, and then subsequently conceding aDavid Trezeguetgolden goal.[7] Trezeguet became his Juventus teammate the following season.[8] He was unable to take part at the2002 World Cup with Italy due to injury.[9]
Despite initially not being known as the most naturally talented, flashy, or technically gifted footballer, Pessotto was considered to be a promising prospect in his youth, and later made a name for himself as a correct, hard-working, reliable, tactically intelligent, efficient, and versatile utility player, with solid ball control and a good positional sense, who was able to play as an attackingfull-back orwing-back, or also as awidemidfielder on either flank. Despite being naturally right-footed, he was capable of playing with either foot, and he usually preferred to play on the left side of the pitch. In this role, he was known for his pace, calm composure, reading of the game, and stamina, as well as his ability to chase and close down opponents, win back the ball with his tackles, and subsequently carry it up the flank, play exchanges with teammates, get forward, and delivercrosses into the area, courtesy of his distribution and ability to make attacking runs, which enabled him to cover the flank effectively. He was also capable of playing as acentral ordefensive midfielder, and was even used as acentre-back on occasion, due to his consistency, awareness, and man-marking ability. He was also an accuratepenalty taker. In spite of his reserved character, his sportsmanship, fair-play attitude, professionalism, discipline, elegant playing style, and gregariousness made him an important, well-liked, and respected figure in the dressing room, among both his teammates and managers.[3][4][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]
Following his retirement, Pessotto was successively appointed as the new Juventus team manager.
Weeks after his retirement as a footballer, he survived a 15-metre fall from a fourth storey window at the headquarters of Juventus, on 27 June 2006. As he was holding arosary, it is believed that he was attempting suicide in the wake of theCalciopoli scandal which led his club to be stripped of twoSerie A titles and relegated inSerie B for their first time in history.[24] He suffered multiple fractures and internal bleeding from the fall. On 17 July 2006, medical staff declared him out of danger and stated that he would not have long-term mental damage or physical paralysis.[25][26] His wife Reana later declared it had not been a suicide attempt, but that Pessotto had blacked-out.[27]
After recovering Pessotto resumed his managerial duties. In the summer of 2009 he was appointedPrimavera (U-20) coach, replacing former teammateCiro Ferrara, who had just been named the new first team manager.
Italy[28]
 | ||
| ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
