| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Luigi De Agostini[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1961-04-07)7 April 1961 (age 64) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Udine, Italy | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Left-back /Centre-back,Midfielder | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1978–1982 | Udinese | 7 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1981 | Trento | 28 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 1982–1983 | Catanzaro | 24 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 1983–1986 | Udinese | 80 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 1986–1987 | Hellas Verona | 30 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 1987–1992 | Juventus | 146 | (20) | ||||||||||||||
| 1992–1993 | Internazionale | 31 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 1993–1995 | Reggiana | 61 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 402 | (36) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1987–1991 | Italy | 36 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Luigi De AgostiniCavaliere OMRI (Italian pronunciation:[luˈiːdʒideaɡoˈstiːni]; born 7 April 1961) is an Italian former professionalfootballer. He played as adefender, primarily in the role of an attackingfull-back orwinger on the left flank, although he was also capable of playing in several other positions both in defence and inmidfield.[2] He represented theItaly national team atUEFA Euro 1988 and the1990 FIFA World Cup.
De Agostini was born inUdine. His professional career began with his hometown club,Udinese, making his debut in a 0–0 draw against Napoli on 23 March 1980. He was rarely played during his time at the club, forcing him to move toSerie C1 forTrento for a year. He was immediately back in theSerie A next year, however this time forCatanzaro before he moved back to Udinese, this time much more prominent. In 1986, he was signed on forHellas Verona, though it would only be the following year that he would achieve his greatest success, signing withJuventus in 1987.[2]
During his five-year stay with Juventus, as well as taking on his usual defensive role, he was also often employed as a box-to-box midfielder, due to his offensive and defensive work-rate and contribution.[2] Despite his defensive style of play, he was awarded the covetednumber 10 shirt, followingMichel Platini's retirement.[3] With the club, he won both theCoppa Italia and theUEFA Cup during the1989–90 season. He scored for Juventus as they beat rivalsFiorentina in the1990 UEFA Cup Final.[2] Despite being an accurate penalty taker,[2] he is also remembered for missing a penalty against Fiorentina thefollowing season, afterRoberto Baggio had refused to take a penalty against his former club.[4] With Juventus, he managed 28 goals in 217 appearances.[2]
After his time with Juventus, Luigi moved toInter Milan for a year, then transferred toReggiana in 1993, ending his professional career after two seasons with the club.[2] In total, over his 15 seasons of his professional career, he made 378 appearances in Serie A, scoring 33 goals.[2]
During his time with Juventus, De Agostini achieved his first senior international cap in a 0–0 draw againstNorway on 28 May 1987. With Italy, he participated inEuro '88, scoring againstDenmark,[5] as Italy went on to reach the semi-finals. He also took part in Italy's footballing campaign at the1988 Summer Olympics, where they managed a fourth-place finish after reaching the semi-finals yet again. He was also a substitute member of Italy's squad at the1990 World Cup on home soil, where the team also managed to reach the semi-finals, only to suffer a penalty-shootout defeat to defending championsArgentina, following a 1–1 draw after extra-time; despite the loss, De Agostini was able to net his penalty in the shoot-out. Italy subsequently went on to capture the bronze medal following a 2–1 victory overEngland in the third-place match. Under managerAzeglio Vicini, he was also often deployed as a wide midfielder or as a wing-back, in addition to his more regular full-back role.[2] Unfortunately, his time with Juventus also included his last game for the Italy national team on 25 September 1991 in a 2–1 home loss toBulgaria. In total he made 36 appearances for Italy, scoring 4 goals.[2][6][7]
De Agostini was a tactically versatile and hard-workingdefender, who could play on the left, or even in thecentre of his team's defensive line, although he was capable of playing anywhere along the left side of the pitch, due to his ability to cover the flank effectively and assist his team both offensively and defensively. He started out as aforward, but he was primarily deployed in the role of an attackingleft-back orwing-back throughout his career, due to his pace, stamina, marking,crossing, positional sense, technical ability, and his capacity to read the game. He was also capable of playing anywhere inmidfield, and was frequently used on the leftwing, as well as in thecentre on occasion, either in abox-to-box role as amezzala, or even as adefensive midfielder, due to his anticipation and tenacious style of play. In addition to his defensive attributes, De Agostini was known for his eye for goal and striking ability from distance, and was also an accuratefree kick andpenalty taker; with 33 goals in Serie A, he is one of the league's most prolific defenders ever. Beyond his playing ability, he also stood out for his professionalism throughout his career.[2][8][9][10][11]
After retiring, De Agostini worked as a team manager for his former club,Udinese, between 2007 and 2009.[12] His job entailed acting as a middleman between the team's manager,Giovanni Galeone, and the squad of players. He now dedicates himself to training young Italian football players. He initially worked as a youth coach for several clubs, including Udinese,Milan,Real Madrid, andJuventus, and was in charge of running their youth camps in Italy; he later started his own football school for young players in Friuli, called theDe Agostini Academy.[9][13]
De Agostini's son,Michele, was also a professional footballer mainly playing in the lower leagues of Italy.[14][15][16]
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 December 1987 | San Siro,Milan, Italy |  Portugal | 3–0 | 3–0 | UEFA Euro 1988 qualification | [17] |
| 2 | 27 April 1988 | Stade Municipal,Luxembourg City, Luxembourg |  Luxembourg | 3–0 | 3–0 | Friendly | [18] |
| 3 | 17 June 1988 | Müngersdorfer Stadion,Cologne, Germany |  Denmark | 2–0 | 2–0 | UEFA Euro 1988 | [19] |
| 4 | 31 March 1990 | St. Jakob-Park,Basel, Switzerland |  Switzerland | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly | [20] |
Udinese Primavera
Udinese
Juventus[2]
Italy[2]
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