Luigi De Agostini

Luigi De Agostini
Personal information
Date of birth7 April 1961
Place of birthUdine, Italy
Height1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing positionCentre-back / Left-back
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1978–1982Udinese7(0)
1981Trento28(3)
1982–1983Catanzaro24(4)
1983–1986Udinese80(3)
1986–1987Hellas Verona30(3)
1987–1992Juventus146(20)
1992–1993Internazionale31(1)
1993–1995Reggiana61(2)
Total402(36)
National team
1987–1991Italy36(4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Luigi De Agostini (born April 7, 1961) is an Italian former football defender, primarily in the role of an attacking full-back, due to his pace, stamina, marking, crossing, positional sense, technical ability, and his capacity to read the game.[1] He represented the Italian national football team at Euro 1988 and the 1990 FIFA World Cup. His son, Michele, plays for Prato.[2][3] After retiring, De Agostini worked as a team manager for his former club, Udinese, between 2007-09.[4] His job entailed acting as a middleman between the team's manager, Giovanni Galeone, and the squad of players. He now dedicates himself to training young Italian football players.[5]

Career

Club

De Agostini was born in Udine. His professional career began with his hometown club, Udinese, making his debut in a 0-0 draw against Napoli on 23 March 1980. He was rarely played during his time at the club, forcing him to move to Serie C1 for Trento for a year. He was immediately back in the Serie A next year, however this time for Catanzaro before he moved back to Udinese, this time much more prominent. In 1986, he was signed on for Hellas Verona, though it would only be the following year that he would achieve his greatest success, signing with Juventus in 1987.[1]

During his five-year stay with Juventus, as well as taking on his usual defensive role, he was also often employed as a hardworking box-to-box midfielder, due to his anticipation and tenacious style of play, which enabled him to aid his time both offensively and defensively.[1] With the club, he won both the Italian Cup and the UEFA Cup during the 1989-90 season. He scored for Juventus as they beat rivals Fiorentina in the 1990 UEFA Cup Final.[1] Despite being an accurate penalty taker,[1] he is also remembered for missing a penalty against Fiorentina the following season, after Roberto Baggio had refused to take a penalty against his former club.[6] With Juventus, he managed 28 goals in 217 appearances.[1]

After his time with Juventus, Luigi moved to Inter Milan for a year, then transferred to Reggiana in 1993, ending his professional career after two seasons with the club.[1] In total, over his 15 seasons of his professional career, he made 378 appearances in Serie A, scoring 33 goals.[1]

International

During his time with Juventus, De Agostini achieved his first senior international cap in a 0-0 draw against Norway on May 28, 1987. With Italy, he participated in Euro '88, scoring against Denmark,[7] as Italy went on to reach the semi-finals. He also took part in Italy's footballing campaign at the 1988 Summer Olympics, where they managed a fourth place finish after reaching the semi-finals yet again. He was also a substitute member of Italy's squad at the 1990 World Cup on home soil, where the team managed a third place finish following a penalty-shootout defeat to defending champions Argentina. Under manager Azeglio Vicini, he was also often deployed as a wide midfielder or as a wing-back, in addition to his more regular full-back role, due to his tactical versatility, which enabled him to play anywhere in midfield.[1] Unfortunately, his time with Juventus also included his last game for the Italian national team on September 25, 1991, in a 2-1 home loss to Bulgaria, during Italy's qualifying campaign for Euro 1992. In total he made 36 appearances for Italy, scoring 4 goals.[1][8][9]

Honours

Club

Juventus[1]
Udinese

International

Italy[1]

Orders

5th Class/Knight: Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: 1991[10]

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 "Gli eroi in bianconero: Luigi DE AGOSTINI". Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "Scheda di Michele De Agostini". Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Pro Patria scatenata: tre acquisti e tre conferme". Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "Udinese: De Agostini e' il nuovo team manager". Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  5. ↑ "De Agostini: "Udinese? E' ora di vincere qualcosa"". Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "Quell'antica ruggine tra Juve e Fiorentina". Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "UEFA Euro 1988: Italia-Danimarca (2-0)". Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "Luigi DE AGOSTINI". Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "Nazionale in cifre: De Agostini, Luigi". http://www.figc.it'' (in Italian). FIGC. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "Onoreficenze". http://www.quirinale.it'' (in Italian). 30 September 1991. Retrieved 19 March 2015.

External links