Luca Marchegiani

Italian footballer

Luca Marchegiani (; born 22 February 1966) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He represented several Italian clubs throughout his career, in particular Torino and Lazio, where he won various titles. At international level, he played for the Italy national team in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, where they reached the final. He holds the longest unbeaten streak in Lazio's history, as well as the joint eighth highest unbeaten streak in Serie A, alongside Gianluigi Buffon, having gone 745 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal in the Italian top division.

After beginning his professional career with Jesi in 1986, for one season in the lower divisions, and subsequently Brescia for a season, in Serie B, Marchegiani spent the majority of his career at Torino F. C. and S. S. Lazio. With Torino (1988–1993), he won the Coppa Italia in 1993, and a Serie B title and a Mitropa Cup in 1991, earning promotion to Serie A; he also finished runner up in the 1993 Supercoppa Italiana and the 1991–92 UEFA Cup, and managed a third place finish in Serie A during the 1991–92 season, whilst playing for the club. At one point in his career, Marchegiani was the most expensive goalkeeper in the world, when he joined Lazio from Torino in 1993 for £6m; during this period he was regarded as one of the best and most reliable goalkeepers in Italy and in world football. During his time with Lazio he won the Serie A, two Italian Cups, two Italian Supercups, an UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, and an UEFA Super Cup, also reaching another UEFA Cup Final in 1998. In 2003, he moved to and ended his playing career at Chievo Verona, where he remained until retiring in 2005. but lost his place after a mediocre performance in a 2–2 draw against Switzerland during the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification: he conceded the first goal, scored by Christophe Ohrel, after failing to catch a cross, an unusual mistake for him, and then poorly controlled a back pass with his feet, enabling the opposing striker Stéphane Chapuisat to score for the second time. At the 1994 FIFA World Cup he was selected as Italy's second choice keeper behind Gianluca Pagliuca, who was more skilled with the ball at his feet, but still managed to play three matches: his first appearance was as a substitute against Norway, following the sending off of Pagliuca, coming on for Roberto Baggio, and helping the 10 man Italian squad to keep a clean sheet and win the match 1–0; he also appeared in the final group match against Mexico (a 1–1 draw), and in the 2–1 extra time victory over Nigeria in the round of 16. Despite Marchegiani's excellent performances, which led some pundits to advocate his confirmation, Pagliuca recovered the starting spot after his two game suspension, and played the remaining games. Italy reached the final, where they lost to Brazil on penalties.

A consistent, elegant, intelligent, composed and complete goalkeeper, Marchegiani is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation. He was known in particular for his agility, positional sense, reactions, and his speed when rushing off his line, as well as his efficient technique, reliable handling, movement, and his ability to read the game; in particular, he stood out throughout his career for his outstanding ability to come out and claim crosses and high balls. In addition to his shot stopping abilities, he was also remembered for his professionalism, as well as his dedication. In spite of his reserved character, he was a resolute goalkeeper, who inspired confidence in his defenders. Although he was not particularly adept or confident with the ball at his feet following the establishment of the back pass rule, and later worked to improve this aspect of his game throughout his career. He was also effective at stopping penalties: in his career, he stopped 18 penalties in Serie A from 69 attempts in 422 appearances between 1988 and 2005, with a career save percentage of 26.1%; he has saved the fourth–highest number of penalties in Serie A history. During the 2003–04 season, he saved five spot kicks. Because of his calm and composure, he was nicknamed Il Conte ("The Count"). He has cited Giovanni Galli as one of his major influences as a goalkeeper.

Marchegiani works as a pundit for Sky Italia. He features in Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer series as a technical commentator; from the 2012 edition to the 2014 edition, he featured alongside Pierluigi Pardo, while he was subsequently partnered with Fabio Caressa from the 2015 edition onwards.

His son Gabriele Marchegiani made his professional debut as a goalkeeper in 2016.