Lionel Letizi

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Lionel Letizi
Personal information
Full name Lionel Letizi
Date of birth May 28, 1973 (age 33)
Place of birth Nice, France
Height 187cm
Position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club Rangers
Number 21
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1992-1996
1996-2000
2000-2006
2006-Present		 Nice
Metz
Paris Saint-Germain
Rangers		 110 (0)
136 (1)
171 (0)
5 (0)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of August 26, 2006.
** National team caps and goals correct
as of July 27, 2006.

Lionel Letizi (born May 28, 1973 in Nice, France) is a professional football goalkeeper currently playing for Scottish Premier League club Rangers.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] France

He took his first steps as a professional player with OGC Nice where he won the French second division in 1994. Upon reaching the French first division he was spotted by a number of clubs before joining FC Metz in 1996. At Metz he was a runner-up in the French first division in 1998 and finalist of the French League Cup in 1999. The chance to take a step up arrived when he joined Paris Saint-Germain in 2000 in order to be able to play in the Champions’ League. Although capped 4 times for the French national team he never managed to displace Fabien Barthez. He remained first choice at PSG for 6 years but the signing of Mickael Landreau led Letizi to seek a move.

[edit] Move to Scotland

On 16 June 2006 he completed a move to Rangers on a free transfer [1]. In his first three games for the Glasgow club he failed to keep a clean sheet or particularly catch the eye. Since then he has become more prominent for making costly errors. On 13 August 2006 his blunder led directly to Dunfermline's equaliser in a stale 1-1 draw. Letizi recovered in the next game and helped Rangers to a 2-0 win over Hearts before succumbing to injury. After 2 months on the sidelines, Letizi controversially made an automatic return to the side despite impressive performances from his replacement Allan McGregor.

Manager Paul Le Guen had made it clear at the start of the season that Letizi was going to be number one and, as such, this was not entirely unexpected. But the decision was questioned when another fumble on 14 October 2006 gave Inverness Caledonian Thistle a 1-0 win at Ibrox and left Rangers trailing Celtic by 10 points after just ten SPL games [2]. Letizi was heavily booed in some quarters by the fans but defended by others.

[edit] Clubs

[edit] Honours

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Letizi completes move to Rangers", BBC Sport website, 16 June 2006.
  2. ^ "Rangers 0-1 Inverness CT", BBC Sport website, 14 October 2006.

[edit] External links


Rangers F.C. - Current Squad

1 Klos | 4 Buffel | 5 Papac | 6 Ferguson | 7 Hemdani | 8 Clément | 9 Pršo | 10 Novo | 11 Rae | 14 Sionko | 15 Boyd | 16 Bardsley | 17 Burke | 18 Murray | 19 Svensson | 20 Hutton | 21 Letizi | 22 McGregor | 23 Šebo | 25 Adam | 26 Smith | 27 Rodriguez | 28 Ponroy | 29 Stanger | 30 N'Diaye | 32 Martin | Manager: Le Guen
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