Attilio Lombardo (; born 6 January 1966) is an Italian retired
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...
player turned manager; he is currently the assistant manager for the Italy national team.
Throughout his career he was usually deployed as a
wide midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
, or as an offensive right winger, although he also played as a fullback or wingback on occasion later in his career.
Lombardo played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, and is best known for his two spells with Sampdoria. He is one of the six players to have won the
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...
title with three different teams: Sampdoria,
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...
; the other five players to have managed the same feat are
Giovanni Ferrari
Giovanni Ferrari (; 6 December 1907 – 2 December 1982) was an Italian footballer who played as an attacking midfielder/inside forward on the left. He is regarded as one of the best players of his generation, one of Italy's best ever players, ...
Sergio Gori
Sergio "Bobo" Gori (; born 24 February 1946) is an Italian former football player, who played as a midfielder and a striker.
Club career
Born in Milan, Gori debuted with Internazionale at a very young age, making 10 caps between 1964 and 1966, ...
, and
Aldo Serena
Aldo Serena (; born 25 June 1960) is an Italian former professional footballer, who was usually deployed as a forward. He played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, winning four Serie A titles, among other trophies; he is mainly re ...
. Lombardo also had a spell in the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
with English side
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...
. At international level, Lombardo represented the
Italy national football team
The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing b ...
on 19 occasions, although he was never called up for a major tournament.
During his career, he was given the nicknames "
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.
Club career
Early career
Lombardo started his career at Pergocrema, having been promoted from the youth squad, in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
's
Serie C2
Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...
, in 1983, only 16 years old, before moving up to the
Serie B
The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...
side
Cremonese
Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label=Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' (Po Valley). It is the capi ...
, in 1985, where he made a name for himself, as a more-than-capable right sided winger under the guidance of manager
Tarcisio Burgnich
Tarcisio Burgnich (; 25 April 1939 – 26 May 2021) was an Italian football manager and player, who played as a defender.
Throughout his career, Burgnich played for Udinese, Juventus, Palermo, Internazionale, and Napoli; although he won title ...
.
Sampdoria
He was then sent to
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...
side
U.C. Sampdoria
Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa.
The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s ...
for a total fee of 4 billion lira. Playing alongside talented players such as
Gianluca Vialli
Gianluca Vialli (; born 9 July 1964) is an Italian former football manager and player who played as a striker. Since retiring, he has gone into management, punditry and worked previously as a commentator for Sky Sport Italia. He is currentl ...
,
Roberto Mancini
Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national team.
As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Sam ...
,
Pietro Vierchowod
Pietro Vierchowod (, born 6 April 1959) is an Italian former footballer who played as a defender, and a current manager. He also represented the Italian national side during his career, and was a member of the Italian squad that won the 1982 ...
,
Gianluca Pagliuca
Gianluca Pagliuca (; born 18 December 1966) is an Italian football coach and former professional goalkeeper.
He is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and one of Italy's best keepers ever. Throughout his c ...
, and Ruud Gullit, under manager Vujadin Boskov, Lombardo won several domestic and continental trophies with Sampdoria, such as
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...
, the
Coppa Italia
The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since.
History
The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...
, the
Italian Super Cup
The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...
, and the
Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
. In the 1988–89 season, he picked up medals for the
Coppa Italia
The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since.
History
The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...
in
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
, facing a rejuvenated
Napoli
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
side with legendary
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...
attacking midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
Diego Maradona
Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the F ...
, only to defeat the ''Partenopei'' 4–0. In
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...
, he lifted his side to victory in the
Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
, retaining impressive wins against
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...
,
AS Monaco
Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...
, and
R.S.C. Anderlecht
; french: Les Mauves et Blancs)
, short name = R.S.C.A.
, founded =
, ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium
, capacity = 22,500
, owntitle = Chairman
, owner = Wouter Vandenhaute
, manager = Brian Riemer
...
in the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...
.
The following season, Lombardo won the
Supercoppa Italiana
The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual association football, football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles ...
in 1991 against previous Serie A champions A.S. Roma, as well as the
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...
title. In fact, Lombardo also played in the Sampdoria side that reached but narrowly lost the European Cup Final in overtime to Cruyff's
F.C. Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
Founded ...
under
Vujadin Boškov
Vujadin Boškov ( sr-cyr, Вујадин Бошков, ; 16 May 1931 – 27 April 2014) was a Serbian footballer and manager.
A midfielder, he played 57 matches for the Yugoslav national team. He experienced his greatest success as a coach in 1 ...
. He also enjoyed a successful season in 1993–94, where he scored 8 times in Serie A, and 5 in the Coppa Italia, enough to lead his team to a second
Coppa Italia
The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since.
History
The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...
win in
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...
under coach
Marcello Lippi
Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional football player and manager, who led the Italian national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
He was appointed as Italy head coach in the summer of 2004 and ...
, joining former Sampdoria teammate
Gianluca Vialli
Gianluca Vialli (; born 9 July 1964) is an Italian former football manager and player who played as a striker. Since retiring, he has gone into management, punditry and worked previously as a commentator for Sky Sport Italia. He is currentl ...
at the
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
based club. Unfortunately, Lombardo had problems with injuries during his two-year spell, but still picked up medals for
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...
,
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
European Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
. In his first season with the ''Bianconeri'', Lombardo only scored 2 goals in the league, starring sporadically in the first team, competing with players such as
Antonio Conte
Antonio Conte (; born 31 July 1969) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.
Playing as a midfielder, Conte began his career at local club Lecce and later ...
and
Didier Deschamps
Didier Claude Deschamps (; born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been manager of the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, ...
for a place in the lineup. Juventus, however, won the
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
during the 1995–1996 season, regardless of having placed second in the domestic league, followed by the Intercontinental Cup. In Lombardo's second season with Juventus, he also won his second
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...
title and his first
European Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
title, scoring a goal in the first leg against
Paris Saint Germain
Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As ...
, at the
Parc des Princes
Parc des Princes () is an all-seater football stadium in Paris, France, in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin and Stade Roland Garros.
The stadium, with a seating capacity of 47 ...
. He also reached a second consecutive
UEFA Champions League final
The UEFA Champions League is a seasonal football competition established in 1955. Prior to the 1992–93 season, the tournament was named the European Cup. The UEFA Champions League is open to the league champions of all UEFA (Union of European ...
with Juventus that season, only to lose out to
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...
.
Nevertheless, he failed to score once in his second season; with only 2 goals in 35 appearances, and due to a string of poor performances, injuries, and inconsistency in Turin, he was released by the club, having been unable to return to the form he had experienced at Sampdoria during his time at Juventus. In total, he managed 51 appearances and 4 goals in all competitions during his time with Juventus.
Crystal Palace
In 1997, Lombardo was on the move again, joining Premiership new-boys
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...
. 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
Stephen James Coppell (born 9 July 1955) is an English professional football manager and former player.
As a player, he was a highly regarded right winger known for his speed and work rate. He won domestic honours with Manchester United and re ...
moved to the Director of Football post. Lombardo, along with Swedish international
Tomas Brolin
Per Tomas Brolin (born 29 November 1969) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward or as a midfielder.
At club level, he had a successful period with A.C. Parma during the early 1990s, winning the 1992 Coppa Italia, ...
as an interpreter, was appointed as caretaker player-manager, for the rest of the season.
Lombardo'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
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...
), even though Lombardo's return led them to their only two home league wins of the season.
Lombardo decided to stay following relegation as Palace started poorly under new manager
Terry Venables
Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...
. 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-Göran Eriksson
Sven-Göran Eriksson (; born 5 February 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player.
After an unassuming playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 ...
. In 2005, Lombardo was voted into Palace's Centenary XI, despite having only made 49 appearances for the Eagles (far fewer than any of the other ten players, showing how highly Palace fans held ''The Bald Eagle'').
, he resumed his streak of domestic and European cup competition victories, gaining second medals for the
Cup Winners Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
(
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
),
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...
(
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
), the
Supercoppa Italiana
The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual association football, football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles ...
(
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
), the
Coppa Italia
The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since.
History
The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...
(
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
), and the
European Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
(
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
).
In January 2001, Lombardo left Lazio, to re-join Sampdoria, where he would finish his career and go into coaching at the youth level. Throughout his career, Lombardo was known for his resistance to injury, which enabled him to make 144 consecutive Serie A appearances.
International career
During his career, Lombardo gained 18 caps for the Italian national side, between 1990 and 1997, scoring 3 goals, but injury and competition from other wide players, such as Donadoni, Di Livio, Pessotto, and Moriero, meant he was rarely a regular member of the national side, and he was never called up for a major tournament with Italy.
Style of play
Regarded as one of Sampdoria's best ever wingers, during his playing career, Lombardo's most recognisable characteristics as a footballer were his physical traits, as well as his exceptional pace, strength, stamina, and work-rate at both ends of the pitch, which allowed him to cover the right flank effectively; he also stood out for his professionalism, friendly personality, and dedication, which enabled him to avoid serious injuries for most of his career, and saw him make a name for himself as a consistent and decisive player for his teams, who was also a key figure in the dressing room.
Although he was not gifted with particularly outstanding talent or technical ability, he nevertheless possessed good
dribbling
In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score.
A ...
skills and control when running with the ball at speed, and he frequently utilised his acceleration, power and agility to beat opponents effectively in one-on-one situations. A tactically versatile and hard-working team player, he was also highly regarded for his creativity and accurate crossing ability as a winger, as well as his ability to start attacking plays and quick counter-attacks after his team won back the ball; furthermore, he was also known for his offensive contribution, composure, and eye for goal, although he also drew criticism at times for being wasteful in front of goal.
Managerial career
Following his retirement from active football, he remained at Sampdoria until June 2006 as the youth team manager. In the next two years, however, the Primavera squad would achieve reasonable success in the
Campionato Nazionale Primavera
The Campionato Nazionale Primavera – Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti, was an Italian football youth competition. It is organised by the Lega Serie A and the participating teams that take part in Serie A and Serie B: the first edition was held in th ...
. In 2006, he was appointed manager of
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
*Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
*Swiss, North Carolina
* Swiss, West Virginia
*Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
* Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
* Swiss Internation ...
side
FC Chiasso
FC Chiasso is a Swiss football club based in Chiasso. It was founded in 1905. Chiasso also played in the Italian first league between 1914 and 1923.
The team's most glorious period was between 1948 and 1961, when the team was promoted to the ...
in the
Swiss Challenge League
The Challenge League is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the winners of the league are promoted to the Super League, while th ...
. He resigned in May 2007, citing a lack of motivation. The team was relegated into the third tier of Swiss Football the following season.
In April 2008, he was appointed at the helm of Tuscan
Serie C2
Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...
club U.S. Castelnuovo. He stayed at the club for the remainder of the season, leading the small Tuscan club to escape relegation through the playoffs. Lombardo then moved to
Lega Pro Prima Divisione
Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1.
Before the 197 ...
club
A.C. Legnano
Associazione Calcio Dilettantistica Legnano, commonly referred to as Legnano, is an Italian football club based in Legnano, Lombardy.
Founded in 1913, Legnano played three seasons in Serie A and a total of eleven seasons in the top tier of the It ...
for the entire 2008–09 season, and was unable to save his side from relegation to
Lega Pro Seconda Divisione
Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of ...
, the fourth level of Italian Football.
Lombardo was appointed in July 2009 as the new head coach of
Spezia Calcio
Spezia Calcio is a professional football club based in La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. Spezia Calcio was founded in 1906 by the Swiss banker Hermann Hurni (or Hurny in some documents), who played for the early Crystal Palace amateur teams in London ...
in the
Lega Pro Seconda Divisione
Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of ...
, but unexpectedly resigned later on October despite his team having attained third place in the league table. Eventually, at the end of the season, Spezia would automatically garner promotion to Serie C1 as runners up to the title.
In July 2010, Lombardo joined the coaching staff at
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, linking up again with compatriot Roberto Mancini. In 2012, following the departure of Andy Welsh, he was appointed manager of the club's reserve squad; however, after the sacking of Roberto Mancini on 13 May 2013, Lombardo resigned from his position at Manchester City on Wednesday 15 May.
On 30 September 2013, he re-joined Roberto Mancini at
Galatasaray
Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...
, working again as assistant coach. On 7 October 2014, Lombardo became the assistant coach of
Schalke 04
Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...
.
On 21 May 2016, Lombardo became the assistant coach at
Torino
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...
for head coach
Siniša Mihajlović
Siniša Mihajlović ( sr-Cyrl, Синиша Михајловић, ; 20 February 1969 – 16 December 2022) was a Serbian professional Footballer, football player and Football coach (association football), manager.
During his career as a football ...
. Mihajlović was sacked on 4 January 2018, along with Lombardo and the rest of his staff.
On 13 March 2019, Lombardo became the assistant coach for the Italy national team, alongside head coach Roberto Mancini.
Personal life
His son
Mattia
Mattia is an Italian given name for males and, less frequently, females. Also a surname, it may refer to:
Given name
* Mattia Altobelli (born 1983), professional Italian footballer
*Mattia Battistini (1856–1928), Italian operatic baritone
*Matt ...
followed his steps, being a product of Sampdoria youth section.
Career statistics
Club
International
:''Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lombardo goal.''
Honours
Player
Sampdoria
*
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...
Coppa Italia
The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since.
History
The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...
Supercoppa Italiana
The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...
:
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
; runner-up:
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
,
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
,
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
*
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
European Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
runner-up:
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
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UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
UEFA Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
:
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...