Gianluca Pagliuca

Gianluca Pagliuca

Gianluca Pagliuca with Sampdoria in 1989
Personal information
Full name Gianluca Pagliuca
Date of birth (1966-12-18) 18 December 1966[1]
Place of birth Bologna, Italy[1]
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)[1]
Playing position Goalkeeper
Youth career
1984–1986 Bologna
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1987–1994 Sampdoria 198 (0)
1994–1999 Internazionale 165 (0)
1999–2006 Bologna 248 (0)
2006–2007 Ascoli 23 (0)
Total 634 (0)
National team
1990–1998 Italy 39 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Gianluca Pagliuca (Italian pronunciation: [dʒanˈluka paʎˈʎuka]; born 18 December 1966 in Bologna) is an Italian football coach and former professional goalkeeper.

He is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation,[2][3][4] and one of Italy's best keepers ever.[5][6][7] Throughout his career, he played for Sampdoria, Inter, Bologna, and Ascoli in Italy, winning several domestic and international trophies.[1] At international level, he represented Italy at three FIFA World Cups (1990, 1994, and 1998), most notably reaching the 1994 World Cup final as Italy's starting goalkeeper.

He is the fifth highest capped player (592 caps), and the best penalty-stopper (24 saves) in Serie A,[8] although other specialists such as Júlio César and Samir Handanović have a higher success rate.[9]

Club career

In his club career, Pagliuca has played for Sampdoria (1987–94), Internazionale (1994–99), Bologna (1999–2006), and Ascoli (2006–07). His most notable successes with Sampdoria include one Cup Winners' Cup and one Scudetto; he also reached a UEFA Champions League final, losing 1–0 to Barcelona in 1992, at Wembley, in spite of his impressive performance.[10]

In 1994 he moved from Sampdoria to Internazionale from a then world record fee for a goalkeeper of £7 million. With the nerazzurri he reached two consecutive UEFA Cup finals, losing the first one against Schalke 04 in 1997 and winning the second one in 1998, when he captained the side to a 3–0 win over Lazio. Pagliuca left Inter in 1999, moving to his home town club, Bologna, after the former Juventus boss Marcello Lippi took charge of Inter and signed Angelo Peruzzi from his former club.[11]

After Bologna relegated to Serie B in 2004–05, despite Pagliuca's outstanding season,[12] he stayed with the club for one more year; then he returned to Serie A, accepting a contract with Ascoli for one year starting in summer of 2006. On 17 September 2006, Pagliuca set the record for most Serie A appearances for a goalkeeper, overtaking Dino Zoff, as he started against Messina.[13] He retired at the end of the season.

International career

After taking part in the 1990 World Cup without playing a minute, Pagliuca overtook Walter Zenga, Stefano Tacconi and Luca Marchegiani, becoming first choice goalkeeper for Italy at the 1994 World Cup. He received the dubious honour of being the first goalkeeper to be sent off in a World Cup match, when he was dismissed for handling outside his area against Norway.[14] However, he returned after suspension to feature from the quarter-finals onwards with his team losing to Brazil in a penalty shootout. Despite the loss, Pagliuca became the first ever goalkeeper to save a penalty from a shootout in a World Cup final, denying Marcio Santos his shot.[15]

In 1995, Pagliuca's international career was halted by the emergence of Juventus goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi, and it would be 2 years before he returned to the Italy squad. Pagliuca would have taken part to the 1998 World Cup only as a back-up, but he earned the starting spot because of a last-minute injury to Peruzzi. He made one of the saves of the tournament, again against Norway, when he shot out a hand to prevent Tore André Flo's point-blank header from netting.[16] However, Italy lost against host country France in the quarter-final after the penalty shootout, even though Pagliuca blocked Bixente Lizarazu's shot.[17]

After the tournament, the emergence of fellow keepers Francesco Toldo and Gianluigi Buffon put an end to Pagliuca's international career on 39 caps.

Style of play

An agile, consistent and athletic goalkeeper,[18][19] Pagliuca was renowned for his excellent reactions[18][19] and penalty-stopping abilities,[8] as well as his accurate distribution of the ball.[18][19][20] Although he was capable of coming off the line to handle crosses, he performed better between the posts.[21] Nicknamed The Wall,[22][23] he was also a charismatic leader.[20][24]

Under coaches Sven-Göran Eriksson and Arrigo Sacchi, who relied on high defensive lines, Pagliuca used to play as a sweeper-keeper.[25][26]

Career statistics

Club performance League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Italy League Coppa Italia Europe Total
1986–87SampdoriaSerie A00
1987–882-1
1988–8933-25
1989–9034-26
1990–9132-22
1991–9234-31
1992–9329-39
1993–9434-39
1994–95InternazionaleSerie A34-34
1995–9634-30
1996–9734-35
1997–9834-26
1998–9929-40
1999–00BolognaSerie A32-39
2000–0134-53
2001–0234-40
2002–0334-47
2003–0434-53
2004–0538-36
2005–06Serie B42-42
2006–07AscoliSerie A23-38
Country Italy 634 -6980
Total 634[27]-698[27]
Italy national team
YearAppsGoals
19913-2
19923-1
19938-4
199413-9
19953-2
199600
19973-5
19986-4
Total39[28]-27[28]

Honours

Club

U.C. Sampdoria[29]
F.C. Internazionale Milano[29]

Country

Italy National Football Team[30]

Individual

F.C. Internazionale Milano[31]
Bologna F.C.[31]

Orders

5th Class/Knight: Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: 1991[32]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Gianluca Pagliuca". Yahoo Sports (in Italian).
  2. ↑ "Buffon miglior portiere degli ultimi 25 anni". la Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "IFFHS' World's Best Goalkeeper of the Year 1998". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  4. ↑ Lodovico Maradei (5 July 1998). "Cosa resta di questa Italia". La Gazzetta dello Sport. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  5. ↑ "IFFHS' Century Elections - Europe - Keeper of the Century". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  6. ↑ Rob Bishop (9 May 2014). "Inter Milan goalkeeping legend Pagliuca reveals Villa love". Aston Villa F.C. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  7. ↑ Vincenzo Di Schiavi (21 September 2003). "Pagliuca, il numero 1 viaggia in 500". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  8. 1 2 Paolo Tomaselli. "Rigori, riparte la sfida degli infallibili". Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  9. ↑ "Handa-Julio, intreccio lungo 11 metri". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 25 April 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  10. ↑ Giancarlo Padovan (21 May 1992). "La Samp cade a un passo dalla storia". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). p. 42. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  11. ↑ Giancarla Ghisi (27 May 1999). "Inter-Pagliuca, un divorzio con scintille". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). p. 43. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "Guerin d'Oro - List of winners". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  13. ↑ "Pagliuca sets new Serie A record". BBC SPORT, Football, Europe. 17 September 2006. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  14. ↑ Pan Pylas; Anne-Marie Belgrave (6 June 2014). "Italy's Pagliuca becomes first keeper to see red". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  15. ↑ Giancarlo Padovan; Luca Valdiserri (18 July 1994). "E Baggio sbaglia il tiro della sua vita". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). p. 3. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  16. ↑ Fabio Monti (29 June 1998). "Pagliuca è pronto a parare la Francia". Corriere della Sera. p. 39. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  17. ↑ "L'Italia è fuori, ancora ai rigori". la Repubblica (in Italian). 3 July 1998. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  18. 1 2 3 Giancarlo Padovan; Roberto Perrone (1 September 1995). "Del Piero Pagliuca, i puniti di Casa Italia". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  19. 1 2 3 Giorgio Rondelli. "Vialli Rambo, Tarzan Pagliuca: ecco la nazionale della Forza". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  20. 1 2 Fabio Monti (2002). "PAGLIUCA, Gianluca". Enciclopedia Treccani. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  21. ↑ "Pagliuca e Zenga, sfida all'ultimo volo". La Stampa. 22 September 1991. p. 27. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  22. ↑ "Memories: Gianluca Pagliuca, semplicemente "the Wall"". U.C. Sampdoria. 29 January 2010. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  23. ↑ Giancarlo Dotto. "Ho imparato a parare di tutto: palloni e delusioni". Panorama. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  24. ↑ Franco Arturi (5 July 1998). "Vecchio Cesare, hai sbagliato". La Gazzetta dello Sport. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  25. ↑ "Portieri, anche i piedi hanno le ali". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 28 June 1993. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  26. ↑ "Pagliuca-show, Roma sempre più giù". La Stampa (in Italian). 18 January 1993. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  27. 1 2 "Gianluca Pagliuca - Presenze e reti in campionato". LegaSerieA.it (in Italian). Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  28. 1 2 "Gianluca Pagliuca - Presenze e reti in Nazionale". FIGC.it (in Italian). Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  29. 1 2 "Gianluca Pagliuca". Eurosport. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  30. ↑ "G. Pagliuca". Soccerway. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  31. 1 2 "Italy - Footballer of the Year". RSSSF. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  32. ↑ "Onoreficenze". quirinale.it (in Italian). 30 September 1991. Retrieved 19 March 2015.

External links

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