Italian football has always been famous for its unrivaled defense. And that is why in the nineties so many high-class Italian defenders appeared on the world stage, many of which are still considered to be among the best in history. Maldini, Nesta, Zambrotta - all these names delight football fans. However, not only they deserve attention - for example, it is worth recalling such a player as Christian Panucci. He was among the galaxy of Italian football stars of those times and was able to spend as many as 57 matches for the Italian national team from 1994 to 2008. This demonstrates that he was actually an impressive player - and became a true football legend. So, what was Christian Panucci's career path? Which clubs did you change and what did you achieve with them?
Carier start
Christian Panucci was born in 1973 in Italy, and at the age of 12 he ended up at the academy of a local large club called “Genoa”. There he stayed the whole time while he was a minor, unlike many players who still have time to change many football academies as a child. As a result, when he was 18 years old, Genoa offered Christian a professional contract, which he gladly signed.
Naturally, in the first season, the young talent did not manage to break into the foundation of a serious club - he played only one match, but constantly got practice in the second team. As a result, in his second season in Genoa, Christian Panucci became a base player, having spent 30 matches on the field and even having marked three goals. Naturally, such a talent was immediately noticed by a larger club - Milan. At that time, it was not just one of the strongest clubs in Italy - it was one of the strongest clubs in the world. Therefore, it was a great honor for Panucci that it was Milan who called him to him. And also it became a proof of the talent of the young defender.
The heyday of Milan
Christian Panucci, whose statistics in Genoa surprised many, ended up in Milan, where at that time stars like Paolo Maldini, Franco Barezi, Alessandro Costacurta played . Panucci loved to play on the right flank, but there he competed with Mauro Tassotti. So there is nothing surprising in the fact that in the first season Christian played only 19 matches.
But Tassotti was already aging, he was 33 years old at the time of Panucci's arrival, so in the second season Christian supplanted the legend from the foundation, becoming a key player in Milan at such an early age. In total, he played for this club for three and a half seasons, having chalked up more than ninety matches. After that, he received another offer, which was impossible to refuse, because Real Madrid himself wanted to see the young defender in his ranks.
Christian Panucci, whose photographs have been on the covers of football magazines for several years in a row, made an incredible climb by joining one of the three strongest clubs in the world. With “Milan”, he won the Italian championship twice, and also once won the honor of raising the Champions League Cup, the most prestigious football tournament in the world, over his head. But what awaited him in the new club?
Transition to Real
Christian Panucci is a footballer who has always tried to get his way and get the most out of the game. And “Real” needed such a performer - the “royal club” was especially attracted to its versatility, because Christian could play both in the center of defense and on the right flank. Not immediately, the young talent managed to become the main player - for two years he fought for a place in the starting lineup, periodically falling into it, but often remaining on the bench. Only in his third season he won an impressive number of matches - as many as 42. Having won the Spanish championship and another Champions League in three years, Christian Panucci, whose biography turned out to be incredibly saturated already by the age of twenty-five, decided to return to Italy. However, this time he joined another Milan club, Inter.
Return to Italy
In 1999, the 26-year-old Christian Panucci, whose achievements were ahead of him, returned to Italy, where Inter was already waiting for him. The club paid nine million euros for a football player, that is, half a million more than Real did three years ago. But at the same time, everything went completely wrong as planned - Panucci could not regain his lost form, because of this he had a conflict with the club’s head coach. As a result, having played the rest of the season, Christian went on loan to London Chelsea.
Rent
Panucci, having lost his former form, tried to start everything from scratch at Chelsea, but even there he was not particularly lucky. He played only ten matches, after which he returned to the location of Inter, who was not ready to take him back. Therefore, the leadership of the Milan club decided to send the defender to another lease - to France, where he gladly agreed to take the “Monaco” for the remaining half, having paid three million euros for the lease. Naturally, the Monegasques expected to use the redemption right after the lease expired, otherwise they would not have paid that kind of money for six months. But Panucci for Monaco played even worse than for Chelsea, which is why the French club refused to acquire the rights to the player. As a result, in 2001 Christian and his club Inter faced the question - what to do next?
A new beginning in Roma
Fortunately for both sides, the Roma metropolitan club was extremely interested in the services of a 28-year-old defender. Inter agreed to release the player for five million euros, and it was here that Christian was finally able to re-bloom. He spent eight seasons at Roma, during which he played in more than 300 matches. Panucci was the leader of the Roman club, returned to his previously lost form and helped the club in 2007 and 2008 to take two Italian Cups in a row. Unfortunately, the Romans did not become champions of the country, but Panucci was enough of these achievements. After all, it was in Roma that he spent most of his time in his career, even if he did not achieve the successes that he had at Milan and Real Madrid. Until now, it is Christian who remains the most driven defender in the history of the Roman club.
Retirement at Parma
In 2009, the contract of the 36-year-old defender came to an end, and he said goodbye to the club, which gave him so many years of happiness. Everyone understood that Panucci did not betray Roma - he just wants to end his career, but before that he wants to play a little more based on what he was less and less able to do in one of the strongest clubs in the country. Therefore, Christian signed a one-year contract with Parma and played 19 matches for her, scoring one goal. However, he did not work out his contract to the end - in February 2010, Panucci announced that he was leaving the sport.
Coaching career
In 2010, Christian Panucci ended his football career, and two years later decided to become a coach. In July 2012, Fabio Capello was appointed head coach of the Russian national football team, and Panucci entered his coaching staff as an assistant. Christian wanted to gain experience before taking on a particular club. Two years later, Panucci left the Capello coaching staff and in March 2015 became the head coach of the Italian Livorno. In October of that year, he was dismissed, but then, after several months, he was reinstated. Only in March 2016 did Panucci lose his job permanently. At the moment, he is the coach of the Serie B club under the name Ternana, with whom he has already managed to achieve his first success by defeating Pordenone in the Italian Cup.
Interesting Facts
What else can a biography of a player like Christian Panucci offer you? Interesting facts about him are not so numerous, but they can amaze you. As you already learned, Christian played equally well both in the position of the central defender and in the position of the right wingback. Together with the national team, in which he spent the whole 14 years, Panucci could not win a single award - his only achievement at the international level was two victories at the European Youth Championships in 1994 and 1996. If we ignore football, then an extremely unusual case occurred with a football player in 1996 when he returned from the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Panucci planned to return in one flight, but his baggage was lost, so he had to linger and fly out to another, from a neighboring city. And all the passengers who were on board the plane on which Christian was supposed to fly initially, died in a plane crash.