Carlo Cudicini

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Carlo Cudicini
Personal information
Full name Carlo Cudicini
Date of birth September 6, 1973 (age 33)
Place of birth    Milan, Italy
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club Chelsea
Number 23
Youth clubs
1992-1995
 AC Milan
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1995-1996
1996-1997
1997-2000
1999-2000
2000-		 Prato
Lazio
Castel di Sangro
→ Chelsea (loan)
Chelsea		 030 (0)
001 (0)
014 (0)
001 (0)
129 (0)   
National team
Italy 000 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 17:19, 31 December 2006 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Carlo Cudicini (born September 6, 1973 in Milan) is an Italian footballer. He is the son of A.C. Milan goalkeeper Fabio Cudicini. He currently plays for Chelsea, and is in competition for a first team place with Petr Čech and Hilario.

Contents

[edit] Early career

Cudicini found it hard to follow in his father's footsteps, only making 2 appearances for AC Milan (1991-95), in the Champions League, and none in Serie A. He was loaned to Como for a season in the 1993/94 season, and was subsequently transferred to Prato in 1995, and then to Lazio in 1996 where he suffered a wrist injury, and consequently only made one senior appearance. He then moved to Castel di Sangro in 1997, where his injury problems persisted, and was sold to Chelsea for a fee of £160,000 in 1999, which is when his career really took off.

[edit] 1999-2003

Despite a brief challenge from disgraced ex-Chelsea goalkeeper Mark Bosnich, Cudicini took over from Ed De Goey almost instantly, and retained his first team place with a string of excellent performances.

He was voted Chelsea's Player of the Year for the 2001/02 season by fans, reflecting the great value he added to a team struggling for consistency.

Cudicini was recognised as the best goalkeeper in the English Premier League in season 2002/2003, when he was voted as the goalkeeper in the Team of the Season as chosen by his fellow professionals in the Professional Footballers Association. His cause was helped by a game against Liverpool in December 2002, which Chelsea won 1-0, during which he kept out an excellent shot from Steven Gerrard and a penalty taken by Gary McAllister. Incidentally, Chelsea beat Liverpool to 4th place in the league that season, thus taking the final qualifying berth for the UEFA Champions League.

After a bright start to the 2003/04 season, the old injury problems experienced in his Lazio days came back, leaving him unable to carry on his success from last season. Because of injury he was unable to play for a large portion of the season, and was sorely missed. His value to the team was highlighted when Chelsea's replacement goalkeeper Marco Ambrosio failed to effectively fit into the first team, leading to Chelsea's exit from the Champions League in the Semi Final stage to Monaco.

[edit] 2004-05

The 2004/05 season saw the arrival of new manager José Mourinho, and more crucially, the signing of Petr Čech, who claimed that he would push Cudicini for a first team place. As a result of Čech's excellent form, Cudicini was relegated to become back-up goalkeeper. As a result, he missed out on Premier League winner's medal in the two Chelsea championship-winning seasons due to not meeting the required number of appearances.

At the end of a steady 2005/06 season, he had saved six of the 12 penalties he had faced while between the posts for Chelsea, furthering his reputation as an excellent penalty stopper.

[edit] 2006-07

After Petr Cech was named in the FIFPro and Champions League 2005-06 team of the season, there was a great deal of speculation about Cudicini's future at Chelsea, leading to Cudicini release a statement confirming that he is comfortable at Chelsea, and hopes to help the team capture its first ever Champions League title. He silenced rumours that he was looking for a return to Italy when he signed an extension to his Chelsea contract in February 2006. He is now contracted to Chelsea until the summer of 2009.

Most recently on October 14, 2006, in a league game against Reading F.C., he was knocked unconscious and had to be stretchered off the pitch whilst wearing an oxygen mask after coming on as a substitute for first-choice goalkeeper Čech. Čech was believed to be sidelined for up to a year, leaving Cudicini as the most senior goalkeeper available at Chelsea. However, even though he has fully recovered and returned to training, Cudicini faced a battle to dislodge third-choice goalkeeper Henrique Hilario, who had been playing well in Čech's and Cudicini's absence. After Hilario's latest efforts, conceding four goals in two matches, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho decided to put Cudicini in goal against Aston Villa in their fourth round match of the Carling Cup. Chelsea won that match 4 - 0 and Cudicini has now taken over goal keeping duties from Hilario.

However, Cech has sidelined both Cudicini and Hilario since returning to action in Chelsea's 2-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield in late January 2007.

[edit] Honours

FA Cup winners medal in 2000 (although he did not play in the final)

Charity Shield in 2000.

League Cup winners medal in 2005 (although he was suspended for the final)

[edit] International career

Cudicini has been capped for Italy at Under-18 and Under-21 level, although he has not played competitively for the full national team. That led to speculation over the possibility of Cudicini representing the England national team because he was eligible to do so after spending five years in England. Despite his eligibility, Cudicini has never shown any desire to play for the England team, and has never played for England at any level.

[edit] External links


Chelsea F.C. - Current Squad

1 Čech | 3 A. Cole | 4 Makélélé | 5 Essien | 6 Carvalho | 7 Shevchenko | 8 Lampard | 9 Boulahrouz | 10 J. Cole | 11 Drogba | 12 Mikel | 13 Ballack | 14 Geremi | 16 Robben | 18 Bridge | 19 Diarra | 20 Ferreira | 21 Kalou | 22 Hedman | 23 Cudicini | 24 Wright-Phillips | 26 Terry | 33 Morais | 40 Hilário | 41 Makabu-Makalambay | 47 Sahar | 48 Woods | Manager: Mourinho
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