Attilio Lombardo

For the Uruguayan botanist, see Atilio Lombardo.
Attilio Lombardo

Attilio Lombardo with Galatasaray
Personal information
Date of birth26 December 1966
Place of birthSanta Maria la Fossa, Italy
Height1.77 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Playing positionWinger
Club information
Current team
Schalke 04 (assistant manager)
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1983–1985Pergocrema38(9)
1985–1989Cremonese141(17)
1989–1995Sampdoria201(34)
1995–1997Juventus35(2)
1997–1999Crystal Palace43(8)
1999–2001Lazio33(2)
2001–2002Sampdoria34(4)
Total525(76)
National team
1990–1997Italy19(3)
Teams managed
1998Crystal Palace
2002–2006Sampdoria Reserves
2006–2007FC Chiasso
2008Castelnuovo
2008–2009Legnano
2009Spezia
2010–2012Manchester City (co-assistant manager)
2012–2013Manchester City Reserves
2013–2014Galatasaray (assistant manager)
2014–Schalke 04 (assistant manager)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Attilio Lombardo (born 6 January 1966) is a retired football player turned manager, best known for his two spells at Sampdoria; throughout his career he was usually deployed as a wide midfielder, or as an offensive right winger, although he also played as a fullback or wingback on occasion later in his career. He is currently the assistant manager at Schalke 04.[1]

Lombardo is one of the few players that has won the Serie A title with 3 different teams. He was given the nicknames "Popeye" during his career, due to his appearance, as well as "the Ostrich", due to his physique, pace, stamina, and work-rate.[2] Although not gifted with particularly notable technical ability, he possessed good control when dribbling, and he frequently used his acceleration and agility to beat opponents in one on one situations; a versatile team player, he was also known for his accurate crossing ability as a winger, as well as his contribution in front of goal.[3]

Career

Playing

Lombardo started his career at Pergocrema, having been promoted from the youth squad, in Italy's Serie C2, in 1983, only 18 years old, before moving up to the Serie B side Cremonese, in 1985, where he made a name for himself, as a more-than-capable right sided winger under the guidance of manager Tarcisio Burgnich.[1][2]

Sampdoria

He was then sent to Serie A side U.C. Sampdoria for a total fee of 4 billion liras. Playing alongside talented players such as Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Mancini, Pietro Vierchowod, Gianluca Pagliuca, and Ruud Gullit, under manager Vujadin Boskov, Lombardo won several domestic and continental trophies with Sampdoria, such as Serie A, the Coppa Italia, the Italian Super Cup, and the Cup Winners' Cup. In the 1988–89 season, he picked up medals for the Coppa Italia in 1989, facing a rejuvenated Napoli side with legendary Argentine attacking midfielder Diego Maradona, only to defeat the Partenopei 4–0. In 1990, he lifted his side to victory in the Cup Winners' Cup, retaining impressive wins against Borussia Dortmund, AS Monaco, and R.S.C. Anderlecht in the final.[1][2]

The following season, Lombardo won the Supercoppa Italiana in 1991 against previous Serie A champions A.S. Roma, as well as the Serie A title. In fact, Lombardo also played in the Sampdoria side that reached but narrowly lost the European Cup Final in overtime to Cruyff's F.C. Barcelona under Vujadin Boškov. He also enjoyed a successful season in 1993–94, where he scored 8 times in Serie A, and 5 in the Coppa Italia, enough to lead his team to a second Coppa Italia win in 1994, where he scored twice in the final.[1][2]

Juventus F.C.

In 1995, Lombardo made a move to defending Serie A champions Juventus under coach Marcello Lippi, joining former Sampdoria teammate Gianluca Vialli at the Turin based club. Unfortunately, Lombardo had problems with injuries during his two-year spell, but still picked up medals for Serie A, UEFA Champions League the Intercontinental Cup, and the European Super Cup. In his first season with the Bianconeri, Lombardo only scored 2 goals in the league, starring sporadically in the first team, competing with players such as Antonio Conte and Didier Deschamps for a place in the lineup. Juventus, however, won the UEFA Champions League during the 1995–1996 season, regardless of having placed second in the domestic league, followed by the Intercontinental Cup. In Lombardo's second season with Juventus, he also won his second Serie A title and his first European Super Cup title, scoring a goal in the first leg against Paris Saint Germain, at the Parc des Princes.[1][2] He also reached a second consecutive UEFA Champions League final with Juventus that season, only to lose out to Borussia Dortmund.

Nevertheless, he failed to score once in his second season; with only 2 goals in 35 appearances, and due to a string of poor performances, injuries, and inconsistency in Turin, he was released by the club, having been unable to return to the form he had experienced at Sampdoria during his time at Juventus.[1][2] In total, he managed 51 appearances and 4 goals in all competitions during his time with Juventus.[4]

Crystal Palace

In 1997, Lombardo was on the move again, joining Premiership new-boys Crystal Palace. He instantly became the star-player, and scored on his debut at Everton. In early 1998, Mark Goldberg assumed control of the club, and manager Steve Coppell moved to the Director of Football post. Lombardo, along with Swedish international Tomas Brolin as an interpreter, was appointed as caretaker player-manager, for the rest of the season.[1]

Lombardo's season was curtailed by injury whilst with the Italian national squad in November (a recall came his way due to sparkling form with the Londoners). At the time of the injury Palace were 10th in the table, but by the time he came back to the first team, in April, they were bottom of the league. Palace were subsequently relegated to the First Division (now The Championship), even though Lombardo's return lead them to their only two home league wins of the season.[1]

Lombardo decided to stay following relegation as Palace started poorly under new manager Terry Venables. A severe financial crisis and a need to cut Palace's wage bill resulted in Lombardo leaving in January 1999 to join a S S Lazio team managed by Sven-Goran Eriksson. In 2005, Lombardo was voted into Palace's Centenary XI, despite having only made 49 appearances for the Eagles (far fewer than any of the other ten players, showing how highly Palace fans held The Bald Eagle).[1]

Later years at Lazio, and return to Sampdoria

At Lazio, he resumed his streak of domestic and European cup competition victories, gaining second medals for the Cup Winners Cup (1999), Serie A (2000), the Supercoppa Italiana (2000), the Coppa Italia (2000), and the European Super Cup (1999).[1]

In January 2001, Lombardo left Lazio, to re-join Sampdoria, where he would finish his career and go into coaching at the youth level.[1]

International

During his career, Lombardo gained 19 caps for the Italian national side, between 1990 and 1997, scoring 3 goals, but injury and competition from other wide players, such as Donadoni, Di Livio, Pessotto, and Moriero, meant he was rarely a regular member of the national side, and he was never called up for a major tournament with Italy.[1][5]

Manager

Following his retirement from active football, he remained at Sampdoria until June 2006 as the youth team manager. In the next two years, however, the Primavera squad would achieve reasonable success in the Campionato Nazionale Primavera. In 2006, he was appointed manager of Swiss side FC Chiasso in the Swiss Challenge League. He resigned in May 2007, citing a lack of motivation.[6] The team was relegated into the third tier of Swiss Football the following season.

In April 2008, he was appointed at the helm of Tuscan Serie C2 club U.S. Castelnuovo.[7] He stayed at the club for the remainder of the season, leading the small Tuscan club to escape relegation through the playoffs. Lombardo then moved to Lega Pro Prima Divisione club A.C. Legnano for the entire 2008–09 season,[8] and was unable to save his side from relegation to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione, the fourth level of Italian Football.

Lombardo was appointed in July 2009 as the new head coach of Spezia Calcio in the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione, but unexpectedly resigned later on October despite his team having retained a third place in the league table.[9] Eventually, at the end of the season, Spezia would automatically garner promotion to Serie C1 as runners up to the title.

In July 2010, Lombardo joined the coaching staff at Manchester City, linking up again with compatriot Roberto Mancini.[10] In 2012, following the departure of Andy Welsh, he was appointed manager of the club's reserve squad however after the sacking of Roberto Mancini on 13 May 2013, Lombardo resigned from his posision at Manchester City on Wednesday 15 May.

In Autumn 2013 he re-joined Roberto Mancini at Galatasaray S.K., working again as assistant coach.

In October 2014, Lombardo became the assistant coach of Schalke 04

International goals

Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 22 December 1990 Tsirion Stadium, Limassol  Cyprus 3–0 4–0 Euro 1992 qualifying
2. 21 December 1994 Stadio Adriatico, Pescara  Turkey 2–0 3–1 Friendly
3. 29 March 1995 Republican Stadium, Kiev  Ukraine 1–0 2–0 Euro 1996 qualifying

Crystal Palace career statistics

Club League Season League FA Cup League Cup Continental1 Total Discipline2
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals A yellow card A red card
Crystal Palace Premier League 1997-98 245 0 0 0 0 — — 245 30
First Division 1998-99 193 0 0 4 2 2 0 255 20
Total 438 0 0 4 2 2 0 4910 5 0

1 - Intertoto Cup
2 - all of Lombardo booking record, but coincidental all of the record from league appearances

Honours

Player

U.C. Sampdoria

Juventus F.C.

S.S. Lazio

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 "MB – Meteore Bianconere: Attilio Lombardo". Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Gli eroi in bianconero: Attilio LOMBARDO". Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Storie di calcio: Attilio "Popeye" Lombardo". Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "Attilio LOMBARDO". Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  5. ↑ "Nazionale in cifre: Lombardo, Attilio". http://www.figc.it/'' (in Italian). FIGC. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  6. ↑ (Italian) Chiasso, Lombardo presenta le dimissioni
  7. ↑ Bardelli, Paolo (24 April 2008). "UFFICIALE: Lombardo è il nuovo allenatore del Castelnuovo Garfagnana" (in Italian). TuttoMercatoWeb. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  8. ↑ "Attilio Lombardo: Ex Samp, Juve e Lazio sulla panchina del Legnano" (in Italian). Yahoo! Sports Italia. 29 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
  9. ↑ "Sampdoria legend Lombardo resigns as Spezia coach". Tribalfootball.com. 13 October 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
  10. ↑ "Lombardo joins City coaching staff". ESPNsoccernet (ESPN). 17 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-17.