Christian Panucci

Christian Panucci (born 12 April 1973) is an Italian former footballer and manager.

In his playing career he played as a defender.

A versatile footballer, he began his career as a right-back, but was also capable of playing on the left; as he lost his pace in his later career, he was usually deployed as a centre back, due to his strength in the air.

Panucci began his playing career with Italian club Genoa in 1990, and moved to AC Milan in 1993, where he won several titles, including two Serie A titles and the UEFA Champions League in 1994, appearing in the final 4–0 victory over Barcelona as a left-back.

After playing for the Veloce Calcio di Savona youth side, Panucci started his professional career with Genoa in 1990, and made his Serie A debut with the club during the 1991–92 Serie A season; following his impressive performances during the 1992–93 season, which saw him score 3 goals in 30 appearances.

Panucci moved to AC Milan in July 1993, at the age of 20.

A talented prospect, he was originally brought in as a younger, more attack-minded alternative to the incumbent right-back Mauro Tassotti, who had held the position for over a decade, and was expected to be a back-up.

However, Panucci began to work his way into the starting lineup under manager Fabio Capello, appearing in 19 league matches and scoring twice as Milan won domestic and European titles.

Although he initially served as a back-up to the starting defensive line-up of Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta, and Mauro Tassotti, which is regarded as one of the greatest defences of all time, his precocious performances enabled him to break into the starting line-up, and earned him the Bravo Award in 1994.

He also demonstrated his versatility by lining up at left-back in the 1994 UEFA Champions League final, while Tassotti played on the right, and Paolo Maldini and Filippo Galli in the centre, filling in for the injured Franco Baresi and the suspended Alessandro Costacurta, who were normally the club's starting central defensive pair; despite several important absences, Milan defeated Barcelona 4–0 to win the title.

Nonetheless, it was Tassotti, not Panucci, who traveled to the United States that summer as part of the Italian World Cup selection under Arrigo Sacchi.

For his performances, Panucci won the Bravo Award, as the best Under-23 player in Europe.

In the following season, Panucci established himself as the club's first-choice right-back, starting 28 of 34 matches in Serie A, and fully broke into the senior national team.

Milan started the season strongly, winning both the Supercoppa Italiana and the UEFA Super Cup, but finished fourth in the league, behind champions Juventus, while they lost out to Vélez Sársfield in the 1994 Intercontinental Cup final, and to Ajax in the Champions League final that season.

Panucci had one of his best offensive seasons in 1995–96, scoring five goals, while helping to form the league's tightest defence, and one of the greatest of all time, alongside internationals Baresi, Maldini, and Costacurta, as Milan regained the Italian championship.

The sweeping changes across Europe as a result of the Bosman ruling, however, opened up new opportunities.

In 1996, he followed his former Milan coach Fabio Capello to Real Madrid, and was a starting right-back for the Spanish side, winning a La Liga title in 1997, and his second UEFA Champions League in 1998.

After a successful international career at youth level, which saw him win consecutive under-21 European Championships, Panucci was a member of the Italian senior national team at the 1996 Olympics, 2002 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2004, and UEFA Euro 2008, playing 57 matches with Italy in total between 1994 and 2008, scoring 4 goals.

After winning 6 titles with AC Milan, midway through the 1996–97 season, Panucci left the club for Real Madrid, joining former AC Milan coach Fabio Capello at the Spanish giants.

At Real Madrid, Panucci became the first Italian to play for the Spanish club.

Arriving in winter, he soon unseated the previous right-back, Carlos Secretario with his excellent performances, and formed a highly aggressive fullback pairing, starting alongside Brazilian star Roberto Carlos, who played on the left.

This was a strong period for Real Madrid on the field, as the club immediately won the league in 1997, but a chaotic one on the sidelines as managers Capello, Jupp Heynckes, Guus Hiddink, and John Toshack followed one another in rapid succession.

The high point for Panucci at this stage of his career came in 1998, when he won his second Champions League title against Juventus.

Once more, however, he was not selected for the national team, missing out on the World Cup under manager Cesare Maldini.

After a disappointing 1998–99 season in which Real Madrid only managed to capture the Intercontinental Cup, losing out in the UEFA Super Cup, and finishing well behind rivals FC Barcelona in La Liga, Panucci elected to return to Italian football.

He returned to Italy to join Inter Milan in 1999, but with less success, and was subsequently sent on loan to Premier League side Chelsea the following season, before joining French side Monaco.

Panucci later transferred to Inter in 1999, and represented the club during the 1999–2000 season.

Panucci was not able to re-capture his previous form during his time with Inter, and frequently clashed with manager Marcello Lippi, later struggling to gain playing time while the team endured a difficult season.

Inter finished the season with a fourth-place league finish, also reaching the Coppa Italia final.

In August 2000, he was sent on loan to Chelsea, where he scored once in the UEFA Cup against St. Gallen, but only made 8 appearances in the Premier League, failing to find the back of the net.

He subsequently moved to French side AS Monaco for the second half of the season, making 9 league appearances and scoring 3 goals.

He transferred to Roma in 2001, where he was once again reunited with manager Capello, and remained at the club until 2009.

He made 5 league appearances for the club the following season, before returning to Italy to play for Roma in 2001.

After a great deal of travelling throughout his career, Panucci finally settled at Roma.

His leadership and experience saw him play a key role for the club in his centre-back role, as he won two consecutive Coppa Italia titles in 2007 and 2008, as well as the Supercoppa Italiana.

He retired in 2010, after a season with Parma.

Following his retirement, in 2012 Panucci took up a position as an assistant manager to Fabio Capello with the Russia national football team.

Amongst his greatest achievements in management so far is the accolade, in 2014, of the Italian udette 'del a sorta', Seria B's equivalent of the best newbie manager award.

In 2015, he was appointed as head coach of Livorno, before joining Ternana in 2016.

In July 2017, he was appointed as Albania national team coach.