Attilio Lombardo

Infobox Football biography
playername= Attillio Lombardo


fullname = Attilio Lombardo
nickname = "Popeye", "The Bald Eagle"
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1966|1|6
cityofbirth = Santa Maria la Fossa
countryofbirth = Italy
height = height|m=1.77
currentclub = Legnano
position = Manager (former Right winger)
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1983–1985
1985–1989
1989–1995
1995–1997
1997–1999
1999–2001
2001–2002
clubs = Pergocrema Cremonese Sampdoria Juventus Crystal Palace Lazio Sampdoria
caps(goals) = 038 0(9) 141 (17) 201 (34) 035 0(2) 049 0(8) 033 0(2) 034 0(1)
manageryears = 1998 2002–2006 2006–2007
2008
2008–
managerclubs = Crystal Palace Sampdoria ("youth team") FC Chiasso
Castelnuovo
Legnano
nationalyears = 1990–1997
nationalteam = Italy
nationalcaps(goals) = 019 0(3)
pcupdate = June 29, 2006
ntupdate = June 29, 2006

Attilio Lombardo (born 6 January, 1966 in Santa Maria la Fossa, in the Province of Caserta), is a retired football player turned manager.

Career

Playing

Attilio started his career at Pergocrema, in Italy's Serie C2, in 1983, before moving up to Serie B side Cremonese, in 1985, where he made a name for himself, as a more-than-capable right sided winger.

In 1989, he got his first taste of Serie A football, with Sampdoria. Playing alongside such players as Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Mancini, Pietro Vierchowod, Gianluca Pagliuca, and under manager Vujadin Boskov, Attilio won several domestic trophies, picking up medals for the Coppa Italia (1991), the Cup Winners' Cup (1990), Serie A (1991), the Supercoppa Italiana (1991), and a second Coppa Italia win (1994). He also played in the Sampdoria side that reached and lost the European Cup Final to Barcelona in 1992.

In 1995, Attilio made a move to champions Juventus. Unfortunately, Attilio had problems with injuries during his two-year spell, but still picked up winner's medals for the UEFA Champions League (1996) (which was almost cetainly the greatest success of his career), the Intercontinental Cup (1996), and the European Super Cup (1996).

In 1997, Attilio was on the move again, joining Premiership new-boys Crystal Palace. Given that this was a far smaller club than Juve, 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. Attilio, along with Swedish international Tomas Brolin, was appointed as caretaker player-manager, for the rest of the season.

Attilio'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. Lombardo who was popular with the Palace's supporters but in reality Lombardo's injuries meant that he struggled to produce his very best form.

Attilio 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 ErikssonAt 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).

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

During his career, Attilio gained 19 caps for the Italian national side, between 1990 and 1997, but injury and competition meant he was rarely a regular.

In 2005, Attilio was voted into Palace's Centenary XI, despite having only made 49 appearances for the Eagles (far less than any of the other ten players, showing how highly Palace fans held "The Bald Eagle").

Coaching

Following his retirement from active football, he stayed at Sampdoria until June 2006 as youth team coach.

In 2006, he was appointed manager of Swiss side FC Chiasso. He resigned in May 2007, citing lack of motivation. [it icon [http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/index.php?action=read&id=60437 Chiasso, Lombardo presenta le dimissioni] ]

On April 2008 he was appointed at the helm of Tuscan Serie C2 club Castelnuovo. [cite news |language=Italian |publisher=TuttoMercatoWeb |accessdate=2008-04-24 |date=2008-04-24 |url=http://tuttomercatoweb.com/?action=read&id=101494 |title=UFFICIALE: Lombardo è il nuovo allenatore del Castelnuovo Garfagnana] He stayed at the club for the remainder of the season, leading the small Tuscan club to escape relegation through playoffs. He will be in charge of Serie C1 club Legnano for the upcoming 2008–09 season. [cite news |url=http://it.eurosport.yahoo.com/29052008/44/attilio-lombardo-ex-samp-juve-lazio-panc-0.html |publisher=Yahoo! Sports Italia |language=Italian |accessdate=2008-05-29 |date=2008-05-29 |title=Attilio Lombardo: Ex Samp, Juve e Lazio sulla panchina del Legnano ]

References

External links

*it icon [http://attiliolombardo.interfree.it/ Fans' site]