 Oriali in 2011 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1952-11-25)25 November 1952 (age 73) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Como, Italy | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft9+1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Defensive midfielder,right-back | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Napoli (sports coordinator) | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1966–1971 | Inter Milan | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1970–1983 | Inter Milan | 277 | (33) | ||||||||||||||
| 1983–1987 | Fiorentina | 105 | (7) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 382 | (40) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1971–1974 | Italy U21 | 4 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 1978–1983 | Italy | 28 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1988–1994 | Solbiatese (sporting director) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1994–1998 | Bologna (sporting director) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1998–1999 | Parma (technical director) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2010 | Inter Milan (technical director) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2014–2023 | Italy (team manager) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2019–2021 | Inter Milan (team manager) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2024– | Napoli (sports coordinator) | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Gabriele "Lele"OrialiCommendatore OMRI (Italian pronunciation:[ɡabriˈɛːleˈlɛːleoˈrjaːli]; born 25 November 1952) is an Italian former professionalfootballer who primarily played as adefensive midfielder but also played as aright-back, who is currently sports coordinator atSerie A clubNapoli.
As a player, he was known in particular for his stamina, work-rate, ball-winning ability, and for his adeptness at breaking down opposition plays.[1]
Oriali spent his club career initially withInter Milan, and subsequently withFiorentina. At international level, he representedItaly at the1980 European Championship, and was also a member of the team that won the1982 FIFA World Cup. Following his retirement, he worked as a sporting director and as a team manager.[1]
A native ofComo (Lombardy), son of anItalian father and aRomanian mother, Oriali played for theInter Milan youth team for four seasons before being promoted to the senior Inter squad; he would spend most of his career with Inter, making his professional debut for the club during the1970–71Scudetto winning season, and was an integral part of theInter squad of the 1970s and early 1980s.[2]
WithInter, he won thescudetto again during the1979–80 season (scoring 6 goals), and theCoppa Italia twice; his first Coppa victory was during the1977–78 season, whilst his second came during the 1981–82 season. In all he played 70 matches and scored 8 goals forInter in theCoppa Italia competition.[2][3]
Oriali played 45 matches and scored 3 goals forInter in European cup competitions. He was part of the team that lost toAjax in the1971–72 European Cupfinal.[2]
Oriali is also remembered for a heroic performance in aMilan Derby, played on 25 October 1981. In that game he scored the winning goal but also required thirty stitches having been booted in the face by theA.C. Milan defenderMauro Tassotti.[4] That yearInter won both of its derby games, a feat that would not be repeated until 2007, 26 years later.[2]
After winning the1982 FIFA World Cup with Italy, and following the end of the1982–83 season, he moved toFiorentina where he played for four seasons. He retired from football in 1987 after 382 games (40 goals) inSerie A.[2]
Oriali was called up to theItaly national football team for the first time on 21 December 1978, under managerEnzo Bearzot, in a friendly againstSpain, quickly earning a starting spot. His one and only goal for Italy came in a friendly againstSweden, which was played inFlorence on 26 September 1979; the game finished in a 1–0 Italian victory.[5]
Oriali played for Italy in the1980 European Championship, whereItaly finished in fourth place on home soil, losing toCzechoslovakia in a penalty shootout in the third-place match, after reaching the semi-final.[2][5]
In 1982, he was a key member of theItaly National team that in Spain won the1982 World Cup. Oriali appeared in five games at the tournament, including the victoriousfinal againstWest Germany, whichItaly won 3–1, to win their thirdFIFA World Cup. He was also featured in Italy's second round matches againstArgentina andBrazil, in the "group of death", and he also appeared as Italy defeatedPoland in the semi-final.[2][5]
Oriali's last game forItaly was on 29 May 1983 againstSweden, played inGothenburg, as part of the qualifying for the1984 European Championship. Italy lost the game 0–2. In total, he made 28 appearances for Italy between 1978 and 1983, scoring 1 goal.[5]
After finishing his playing career Oriali moved into the managing side of Italian football. First becoming a sporting director atBologna, then atParma. He returned toInter in 1999 to become its technical director. He held that position until 2010 when it was taken over by another formerInter player,Marco Branca (who held the position until January 2014). In 2001, as technical director, he was sanctioned for his part in theÁlvaro Recoba fake passport incident.[6] Oriali returned to the role as technical director at Inter in 2019,[7] and was also appointed as team manager of theItaly national team concurrently.[8]
Oriali did not have the best technical ability, but he was a tenacious and hard-working player, who was both tactically intelligent, and versatile; this allowed him to play anywhere inmidfield, and also indefence, mainly as afull-back. Throughout his career, he distinguished himself for being acentral ordefensive midfielder with notable stamina, who excelled at reading the game and stopping opposing players; he was also an excellent man-marker. In addition to his work-rate, energy, and defensive abilities as a ball-winner, he was also known for his reliable distribution, and for having a tendency to receive and play many balls during matches. Due to his playing style, he was labeled an "incontrista" by the Italian press, a player whose sole responsibility was to break up plays and distribute the ball to another player to start an attack after winning back Possession. Considered one of the best Italian players of all time.[1][9] He was also highly regarded for his positional sense, as well as his ability to interpret the game and time his attacking runs, which allowed him to contribute to his team's offensive play with occasional goals.[10]
In 2012, Oriali stated that the player who currently most resembled him in terms of his playing style wasDaniele De Rossi, although, unlike De Rossi, Oriali was never sent-off throughout his career.[11]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italy | 1978 | 1 | 0 |
| 1979 | 5 | 1 | |
| 1980 | 8 | 0 | |
| 1981 | 4 | 0 | |
| 1982 | 8 | 0 | |
| 1983 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 28 | 1 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 September 1979 | Stadio Comunale,Florence, Italy |  Sweden | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
Inter Milan
Italy
Individual
Orders
3rd Class / Commander:Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: 2021[14]Italy squads | |||||||
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