.jpg) Schiaffino withMilan in 1960 | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Juan Alberto Schiaffino Villalba[1] | |||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1925-07-28)28 July 1925 | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Montevideo, Uruguay | |||||||||||||
| Date of death | 13 November 2002(2002-11-13) (aged 77) | |||||||||||||
| Place of death | Montevideo, Uruguay | |||||||||||||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2] | |||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Attacking midfielder,forward | |||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 1943–1954 | Peñarol | 227 | (88) | |||||||||||
| 1954–1960 | AC Milan | 149 | (47) | |||||||||||
| 1960–1962 | Roma | 39 | (3) | |||||||||||
| Total | 415 | (138) | ||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||
| 1946–1954 | Uruguay | 21 | (9) | |||||||||||
| 1954–1958 | Italy | 4 | (0) | |||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||
| 1974–1975 | Uruguay | |||||||||||||
| 1975–1976 | Peñarol | |||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||
Juan Alberto "Pepe"Schiaffino Villalba (Italian pronunciation:[skjafˈfiːno]; 28 July 1925 – 13 November 2002)[3] was a Uruguayanfootball player who played as anattacking midfielder orforward. A highly skilful and creativeplaymaker, at club level, he played forPeñarol in Uruguay, and forAC Milan, andRoma in Italy. At international level, he won the1950 FIFA World Cup with theUruguay national team, and also took part at the1954 FIFA World Cup; he later also represented theItaly national football team.[2][4][5][6][7]
He was ranked as the best Uruguayan footballer of all time by anIFFHS poll, and the 17th greatest player of the twentieth century.[8]
Following his eight successful years inPeñarol in his nativeUruguayan league, Schiaffino was purchased byItalian Serie A clubAC Milan, for anat the time world record fee of 52 million Lire, in September 1954.[5] He played 171 games withAC Milan and scored 60 goals, and participated in the1958 European Cup final, which Milan lost toReal Madrid 2–3 (aet). He was among the crucial offensive players in a Milan team that was dominated by foreign stars such asNils Liedholm andGunnar Nordahl. Schiaffino won three national championships with Milan, the victories being in1955,1957 and1959, and oneLatin Cup in1956.[9] Schiaffino left in 1960 to joinRoma, where he played out his career during two moderately successful seasons, in which Roma finished fifth in the standings.[5]
Schiaffino played for two national teams; first with theUruguyan national team from 1946 to 1954, and later with theItaly national team from 1954 to 1958, courtesy of his paternal grandfather who was a Ligurian from theprovince of Genoa.[5]
He earned 21 caps with theUruguyan national team, scoring nine goals, and four caps with theItaly national team.
Schiaffino participated actively inUruguay's victory in the1950 World Cup, scoring one goal in the final and beatingBrazil inits own stadium, in what was called theMaracanazo. He also played in the1954 World Cup, helping his nation to a fourth-place finish in the tournament.[9]
A tactically versatile player, with a slender physique, Schiaffino was usually deployed as a left-sidedinside forward orsecond striker in the early part of his career, in particular with Peñarol and A.C. Milan, or as an attacking midfielder, although he was also capable of playing as adeep-lying playmaker inmidfield, a role which he occupied more frequently as his career progressed. Schiaffino was renowned for his creative ability and for having a unique capacity to read the game, organise his teammates, orchestrate goalscoring opportunities, and dictate the tempo of his team's play in midfield, which made him a highly proficientplaymaker andassist provider; as a footballer, he was best known for his excellent technical ability, passing range, intelligence, positional sense, leadership and vision. A well-rounded and hard-working player, who is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest footballers of all time, in addition to his skill, elegance and creativity on the ball, Schiaffino was also known for his defensive contribution and willingness to track back, put pressure on opponents and challenge them for the ball, often with sliding tackles; his wide range of skills also enabled him to play as asweeper with Roma in his later career.[2][4][5][6][7][10]
Schiaffino died on 13 November 2002. His remains are buried at theCementerio del Buceo, Montevideo.[11]
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