Luciano Spalletti is a former Italian player. Today is a coach. He was a mentor in a number of clubs in Italy, including in “Roma”, with which he achieved the best success. Coached by Zenit from St. Petersburg. In the winter of 2016 he headed the "Roma".
Biography
Luciano Spalletti was born on March 7, 1959. Place of birth is the Italian city of Certaldo. However, he spent his childhood in Empoli.
Childhood
As already mentioned, Luciano Spalletti's childhood passed in Empoli, where he went to school and played football. After classes, he attended training at the Fiorentina football school. Despite the perseverance, the player was recognized by the leadership as hopeless. The footballer left school and joined the Castelfiorentino youth team. He became a midfielder.
Player career
In “Castelfiorentino” Luciano Spalletti spent one season and received an offer to go to “Entella”. Here he also lingered for a short while. Already in 1986, he ended up in La Spezia, where he spent 4 years. He managed to perform in 120 matches and score 7 goals. He spent the last years of his football career at Empoli.
Career coach
Luciano Spalletti finished playing in 1994. Empoli at that time played in Serie C of the Italian Championship. Spalletti took the post of coach of the youth team, and after a season he stood at the helm of the main team. I must say, he was much better at training than playing. In just two years, he managed to bring the humble Empoli to Serie A and attracted the attention of many clubs.
Sampdoria and Venice
In 1998, the hero of our story led a rather powerful Sampdoria. But here Luciano Spalletti, whose photo was then in all Italian newspapers, was unlucky. The club failed the season, and the coach had to give up work before it ended. “Sampdoria” is located at the bottom of the standings and flew out of the elite Italian division.
Luciano Spalletti in his youth managed to work with many teams in Italy. In 1999-2000, he tried himself in the "Venice". And again he was remembered as the main loser of Italian football.
Udinese and Ancona
In 2001, Luciano had the opportunity to train the more famous Italian club Udinese. Not fulfilling the wishes of the leadership, he left the post after one season.
The next stop was the nondescript “Ancona”. In the coaching staff, the Italian spent the season and got a second chance from “Udinese”, which then experienced difficulties. The middle peasant of Italy with Luciano Spalletti, whose biography is full of interesting details, managed to rise to 5th place. The next season turned out to be less successful, and the club was on the 7th line. The most successful was the third year Spalletti stayed in the club. “Udinese” took 4th place and got into the Champions League. Despite significant success, Luciano decides to leave the coaching bridge, as he doubts that he will be able to lead the club to the trophies that the management wanted.
Roma
In those years, the team was in a deplorable state. Miraculously, she managed to avoid demotion. Two weeks after leaving Udinese, Italian newspapers published the news: “Spalletti Luciano is the coach of Roma.” The 2005/2006 season started with failures for Luciano, but in the end the team scored points and finished on the 5th line. scandals surrounding contractual matches in which Roma was not involved, and at all raised the team to 2nd place, which allowed them to play in the Champions League.
In the European Cup, “Roma” reached the quarterfinals, where they lost to Manchester United. The club completed the next 2 seasons in the status of vice-champion of the country. In the Champions League, he met again with Manchester United in the quarterfinals and lost, and a year later flew to the 1/8 finals from London's Arsenal.
Under the leadership of Spalletti, the Roman club twice managed to win the country's cup, as well as the Super Bowl. In 2006 and 2007, Luciano received the title of best mentor in Serie A.
"Zenith"
The beginning of the 2009/2010 season for “Roma” was unsuccessful. Luciano Spalletti leaves the place of coach. Until December, the Italian specialist did not work anywhere and negotiated with Zenit from St. Petersburg. Soon, Spalletti climbed the coaching bridge and started working with the team. The contract was signed for three years. The salary of the Italian mentor at Zenit was, according to one source, about 4 million euros per year. Other sources indicate an amount of 2.5 million euros.
Success in the new club came to Luciano immediately. The Italian fell in love with the public and found a common language with the players. “Zenith” under the leadership of a new coach did not lose in 23 matches in a row. The first offensive defeat happened in the qualifying round of the Champions League. Auxerre was able to interrupt the series. “Zenith” did not get into the group stage of the Champions League and went to conquer the second most powerful European Cup.
In the LE group, the club from St. Petersburg won 6 times and reached the 1/16 finals from the first line. May 2010 brought the team the Country Cup.
In November of the same year, the team became the owner of the champion title, beating “Rostov” with a large score of 5: 0. Until the end of the season there were two more rounds. The team led by Spalletti devoted the victory in the tournament to St. Petersburg, the fans and the leadership of the club. The success of the specialist did not go unnoticed in the homeland. Italian players and coaches congratulated the compatriot on the trophy.
In early March 2011, the club received the country's Super Bowl, beating CSKA from Moscow with a minimum score.
In 2011, a team led by an Italian coach took part in the Champions League. “Zenith” showed a decent game and for the first time in its history hit the playoffs of the tournament. The group’s final match was held against Porto away, where they kept a draw, which allowed them to take second place.
In early 2012, the leadership of the team extended the contract with the coach for 3.5 years. Under the terms of the contract, Spalletti could now deal with matters related to transfers of players.
At the end of April, Zenit defeated Dynamo Moscow and won the champion cup three rounds before the tournament ended. Thus, Luciano Spalletti managed to take the Cup of the Russian Championship for the second time in a row. In May of the same year, information appeared in the media that the Italian could take the post of coach of the Russian team.
Championship 2012/2013, the specialist began with a change in image, growing a mustache. The team included the Brazilian Hulk and the Belgian Axel Witsel. Transfers were a record for Russian football. Nevertheless, Zenit could not leave the group in the Champions League, taking third place, and CSKA lost the title of champion of the country.
In early March 2014, management decided to remove Spalletti from managing the team. Despite this, the specialist continued to receive a salary. At the post he was replaced by the Portuguese Andre Vilash-Boash.
After that, there were many rumors about Luciano's new job. In early 2016, the mentor again accepted “Roma”, where he is building a new football.
Personal life
The coach has a wife. Luciano Spalletti has three children. Engaged in collecting hammers. True, only hand-made tools are assembled; they are not interested in making a conveyor made on a conveyor.