Кристиан Пануччи: Итальян футболшысының мансабы мен жетістіктері

Italian footballer

Christian Panucci (; born 12 April 1973) is an Italian former footballer and manager. In his playing career he played as a defender. A versatile footballer, he began his career as a right back, but was also capable of playing on the left; as he lost his pace in his later career, he was usually deployed as a centre back, due to his strength in the air. Panucci began his playing career with Italian club Genoa in 1990, and moved to AC Milan in 1993, where he won several titles, including two Serie A titles and the UEFA Champions League in 1994, appearing in the final 4–0 victory over Barcelona as a left back. Although he initially served as a back up to the starting defensive line up of Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta, and Mauro Tassotti, which is regarded as one of the greatest defences of all time, his precocious performances enabled him to break into the starting line up, and earned him the Bravo Award in 1994. In 1996, he followed his former Milan coach Fabio Capello to Real Madrid, and was a starting right back for the Spanish side, winning a La Liga title in 1997, and his second UEFA Champions League in 1998. He returned to Italy to join Inter Milan in 1999, but with less success, and was subsequently sent on loan to Premier League side Chelsea the following season, before joining French side Monaco. He transferred to Roma in 2001, where he was once again reunited with manager Capello, and remained at the club until 2009. His leadership and experience saw him play a key role for the club in his centre back role, as he won two consecutive Coppa Italia titles in 2007 and 2008, as well as the Supercoppa Italiana. He retired in 2010, after a season with Parma. After a successful international career at youth level, which saw him win consecutive under 21 European Championships, Panucci was a member of the Italian senior national team at the 1996 Olympics, 2002 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2004, and UEFA Euro 2008, playing 57 matches with Italy in total between 1994 and 2008, scoring 4 goals. Following his retirement, in 2012 Panucci took up a position as an assistant manager to Fabio Capello with the Russia national football team. In 2015, he was appointed as head coach of Livorno, before joining Ternana in 2016. Amongst his greatest achievements in management so far is the accolade, in 2014, of the Italian udette 'del a sorta', Seria B's equivalent of the best newbie manager award. In July 2017, he was appointed as Albania national team coach.

After playing for the Veloce Calcio di Savona youth side, Panucci started his professional career with Genoa in 1990, and made his Serie A debut with the club during the 1991–92 Serie A season; following his impressive performances during the 1992–93 season, which saw him score 3 goals in 30 appearances.

Panucci moved to AC Milan in July 1993, at the age of 20. A talented prospect, he was originally brought in as a younger, more attack minded alternative to the incumbent right back Mauro Tassotti, who had held the position for over a decade, and was expected to be a back up. However, Panucci began to work his way into the starting lineup under manager Fabio Capello, appearing in 19 league matches and scoring twice as Milan won domestic and European titles. He also demonstrated his versatility by lining up at left back in the 1994 UEFA Champions League final, while Tassotti played on the right, and Paolo Maldini and Filippo Galli in the centre, filling in for the injured Franco Baresi and the suspended Alessandro Costacurta, who were normally the club's starting central defensive pair; despite several important absences, Milan defeated Barcelona 4–0 to win the title. Nonetheless, it was Tassotti, not Panucci, who traveled to the United States that summer as part of the Italian World Cup selection under Arrigo Sacchi. For his performances, Panucci won the Bravo Award, as the best Under 23 player in Europe. In the following season, Panucci established himself as the club's first choice right back, starting 28 of 34 matches in Serie A, and fully broke into the senior national team. Milan started the season strongly, winning both the Supercoppa Italiana and the UEFA Super Cup, but finished fourth in the league, behind champions Juventus, while they lost out to Vélez Sársfield in the 1994 Intercontinental Cup final, and to Ajax in the Champions League final that season. Panucci had one of his best offensive seasons in 1995–96, scoring five goals, while helping to form the league's tightest defence, and one of the greatest of all time, alongside internationals Baresi, Maldini, and Costacurta, as Milan regained the Italian championship. The sweeping changes across Europe as a result of the Bosman ruling, however, opened up new opportunities. After winning 6 titles with AC Milan, midway through the 1996–97 season, Panucci left the club for Real Madrid, joining former AC Milan coach Fabio Capello at the Spanish giants. where he scored once in the UEFA Cup against St. Gallen, but only made 8 appearances in the Premier League, failing to find the back of the net. making 9 league appearances and scoring 3 goals. He made 5 league appearances for the club the following season, before returning to Italy to play for Roma in 2001. Panucci, a reliable leader both on and off the field, often took the responsibility to speak for the team in moments of difficulty, as seen after Roma's shock elimination from the Champions League in 2007. He proved to be a decisive player for the club during the 2006–07 season, scoring several goals, and contributed to Roma's Coppa Italia victory with his performances, scoring a brace in a 6–2 win in the first leg of the final against Inter. He was sent off in the second Derby della Capitale of the 2008–09 season after a heated on pitch clash with Lazio player Stephan Lichtsteiner following his hard challenge on the Swiss defender. His contract with Roma ended on 30 June 2009, which he had signed in October 2005, making him a free agent.

After his retirement, Panucci became a football pundit and color commentator for SKY Italia. In 2011, he took part in the Italian edition of Dancing with the Stars.

Panucci left his job as a pundit on 19 March 2012 to accept an offer from Maurizio Zamparini as team manager of Palermo, working alongside director of football and scouting chief Luca Cattani. On 24 April 2012, he resigned from his position just over a month after he took the job. On 23 July 2012, he was invited by Fabio Capello to work as his assistant in his work as a head coach of Russia national football team. He left his position after the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In 2013 he qualified for the UEFA Pro Licence. On 18 March 2015, he was named as manager of Serie B team Livorno replacing Ezio Gelain. In June 2016, he was appointed as head coach of Ternana signing a one year contract.

On 19 July 2017, Panucci was appointed as the Albania national football team head coach signing a 2 years and 4 months contract with the Albanian Football Association, replaced fellow Italian coach Gianni De Biasi which resigned in previous month. He started his work immediately traveling to Basel, Switzerland in July 2017 to watch Taulant Xhaka playing for FC Basel. However Xhaka was an unused substitute in the game and later was forced by Basel's coach along with all fellow unused substitutes in that game to train on the pitch post match. After being in the stadium for the game among his assistant Ervin Bulku, Panucci waited outside to meet Xhaka but unfortunately this meeting did not happen as Xhaka, being unsatisfied with Basel's coach decision, went home immediately and did not notice Panucci's SMS. Panucci then travelled to Zürich to see fellow Albanian midfielder Burim Kukeli who played with FC Zürich. In his first gathering with Albania national team for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Liechtenstein and Macedonia on 2 and 5 September 2017, Panucci brought 3 new players, Iván Balliu, the Spanish born Albanian descent which previously played for Spain under 17 side, Valon Ahmedi and Hysen Memolla, both former Albanian under 21 internationals. In his first match in charge on 2 September against Liechtenstein, he led Albania to a 2–0 victory at the Elbasan Arena After a 2–0 home loss against Turkey in the first UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying match on 22 March 2019, Panucci was sacked the following day; during his tenure as head coach for Albania he only achieved four wins and two draws in 15 matches.

Panucci is half Italian and half Czech, the son of Vittorio, an Italian postman, and Hana, a Czech woman; they first met in Prague while he was there as part of a football team representing the Poste Italiane. His brother Patrick (born 1970) is also a former footballer whose career was spent almost entirely in the amateur divisions of Italy before becoming a scout. Panucci narrowly escaped death in 1996. He had been chosen as captain of the Italy national team at the 1996 Olympics, but was subsequently injured. Planning to return to Italy, he booked a flight on 17 July from New York to Rome — TWA Flight 800. When his baggage from his connecting flight to New York was delayed, he rebooked to a later flight to Milan. The earlier TWA flight exploded over the Atlantic shortly after takeoff, killing all 230 passengers.

Italy score listed first, score column indicates score after each Panucci's goal. # Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition 1. 8 October 1994 Kadrioru Staadion, Tallinn, Estonia 2 1–0 2–0 UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying 2. 17 April 2002 San Siro, Milan, Italy 23 1–0 1–1 Friendly 3. 17 November 2007 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland 51 2–1 2–1 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying 4. 13 June 2008 Letzigrund, Zürich, Switzerland 55 1–1 1–1 UEFA Euro 2008