Pierino Prati

Pierino Prati
Personal information
Date of birth13 December 1946
Place of birthCinisello Balsamo, Italy
Height1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing positionStriker
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1965–1966Salernitana19(10)
1966–1973Milan143(72)
1966–1967→ Savona (loan)29(15)
1973–1977Roma82(28)
1977–1978Fiorentina8(0)
1978–1979Savona25(10)
1979Rochester Lancers6(3)
1979–1981Savona54(24)
National team
1968–1974 Italy14(7)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Pierino Prati (born 13 December 1946 in Cinisello Balsamo) is a retired Italian footballer who played mainly as a forward. Prati was capable of playing anywhere along the front-line, as a striker, supporting forward, and as a winger. At Milan, he was often deployed on the left wing due to his pace, technique, distribution, and his powerful and accurate shot.[1] He began his career playing in Serie C1 with Salernitana, winning the title and promotion to Serie B during the 1965-66 season.[1] His son, Cristiano, is also a footballer, who plays in the lower Italian divisions.[1]

Club career

Also known as "Pierino the pest",[1] Prati is mostly remembered for his highly successful and prolific stint with Italian club A.C. Milan under manager Nereo Rocco in the 60s and 70s, during which he achieved great international and domestic success, winning a Serie A title, a European Cup, two Cup Winners' Cups, an Intercontinental Cup, and two Coppa Italia titles, forming an excellent partnership with Gianni Rivera.[1] He made his Serie A debut with the club during the end of the 1965-66 season, on 18 September 1966, in a 2-1 win over Venezia, but was briefly loaned to Serie B club Savona during the 1966-67 season. He later helped Milan to win the 1967-68 Serie A title, finishing the season as the top goalscorer in the Italian league, with 15 goals. He was also notably part of their European Cup victory in 1969, scoring a hat-trick in the 4-1 defeat of Ajax in the final, and six goals in total throughout the competition. He is the last man to have scored a hat-trick in the Champions League/European Cup Final. Ferenc Puskas (twice) and Alfredo Di Stefano (both of Real Madrid) are the only other players to have achieved this.[2] Overall, he played for 12 seasons (233 games, 100 goals) in the Serie A for A.C. Milan, A.S. Roma and ACF Fiorentina.[1] He also played for Savona one again in Serie C2 in his later career, as well as the Rochester Lancers in the NASL.[1]

International career

Prati also played for the Italy national football team. He was most notably a member of the Italian side that won the 1968 UEFA European Football Championship on home soil, during which he made his debut on 6 April, scoring a goal in a 3-2 win against Bulgaria in the first leg of the quarter-finals, and another in the 2-0 vicotry in the return leg. He played the first final match alongside Pietro Anastasi, but was replaced by Luigi Riva in the re-match, the striker who would often keep him on the bench for Italy. With his national team, Prati also reached the final of the 1970 FIFA World Cup, losing out to Brazil. In total, he was capped 14 times for the national side between 1968-1974, scoring 7 times.[2][1][3]

Career statistics

Club

Club Season League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Salernitana 1965-66 1910----1910
Milan 1965-66 20----20
Savona 1966-67 2915----2915
Milan 1967-68 231573843822
1968-69 301431764021
1969-70 211233423017
1970-71 2919103--3922
1971-72 216114723912
1972-73 176--42218
Roma 1973-74 23830--268
1974-75 2914108--3922
1975-76 1023360195
1976-77 20421--225
1977-78 --41--41
Fiorentina 1977-78 80----80
Savona 1978-79 2510----2510
Rochester 1979 63----63
Savona 1979-80 2712----2712
1980-81 2712----2712
Total for Milan 1437234143016207102
Career total 36616256273616458205

Honours

Club

Milan[4]
Salernitana

International

Italy

Individual

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "Pierino PRATI (II)". Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Pierino Prati – FIFA competition record
  3. ↑ "Nazionale in cifre: Prati, Pierino". www.figc.it (in Italian). FIGC. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "A.C. Milan Hall of Fame: Pierino Prati". http://www.acmilan.com/''. Retrieved 1 April 2015.

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Luigi Riva		 Serie A Top Scorer
1967-68 		Succeeded by
Luigi Riva