Cristiano Biraghi (; born 1 September 1992) is an Italian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

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 Coppa ...

club

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

and the Italy national team.

Club career

Youth years

Born in

Cernusco sul Naviglio Cernusco sul Naviglio (; lmo, Cernusch, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Milan, Lombardy, northwestern Italy. With a population of 33,436 as of 2015 it is the 14th-largest municipality in the metropolitan city. It is loca ...

, the

Province of Milan The Province of Milan ( it, Provincia di Milano) was a province in the Lombardy region, Italy. Its capital was the city of Milan. The area of the former province is highly urbanized, with more than 2,000 inhabitants/km2, the third highest populati ...

, Biraghi began his career with

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is t ...

, playing in their youth teams from 2005 onwards. For the 2007–08 season he spent time at

Pro Sesto Pro Sesto 1913 S.r.l. (formerly ''Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Nuova Pro Sesto'' and initially ''Associazione Calcio Pro Sesto'') is an association football club, based in Sesto San Giovanni, Lombardy, Italy. Pro Sesto currently plays ...

alongside his club compatriots and youth products. He started his career as a

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 ...

but later became a

. He played a few friendlies for the club and participated in their 2010 summer tour, scoring a goal in the

Pirelli Cup The Pirelli Cup was an annual friendly football tournament sponsored by the Pirelli Tyre company. The competition was started in 1996 as a single 90-minute friendly match between Pirelli-sponsored Internazionale and another invited team. Since 19 ...

, helping them to a 3–0 victory over

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 tw ...

Internazionale

Biraghi made his first team debut in a competitive game on 24 November 2010, against

Twente Twente ( nl, Twente , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Ge ...

in the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League, replacing

Goran Pandev Goran Pandev ( mk, Горан Пандев, ; born 27 July 1983) is a Macedonian former professional footballer who played as a forward. After establishing himself at Lazio, Pandev moved to Inter Milan in early 2010. While playing for the ''Ne ...

. Before that match Inter had lost a number of first team players through injury. Biraghi would be given a starting berth in Inter's next game in the Champions League, on 7 December 2010, against

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

in what would be a 3–0 home win for the German side, with the likes of

Davide Santon Davide Santon (; born 2 January 1991) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a left wing-back. A former Inter Milan youth product, Santon began his professional club career with Inter in 2008, and remained with the club unt ...

moving to wing forward and

Cristian Chivu Cristian Eugen Chivu (; born 26 October 1980) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Inter Milan's under-19 side. A defender, he began his career with hometown club CSM Reșița before moving to ...

unable to play due to an injury. In July 2011, he was loaned to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, 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 ...

club Juve Stabia. On 27 August 2011, he made his debut for the club in the first league match of the season, a 2–1 loss against

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

Cittadella

In summer 2012, Biraghi was signed by Serie B club

A.S. Cittadella Associazione Sportiva Cittadella, commonly known as Cittadella, is an Italian professional football club based in the city of Cittadella, Veneto, currently playing in . The team was founded in 1973 and play their home games at the Stadio Pier ...

on loan, with an option to sign half of the registration rights. In June 2013 Cittadella exercised the option for €150,000.A.S. Cittadella S.r.l. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2013 (in Italian)
PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.
/ref> However, Inter also paid a subsidy ( it, premi di valorizzazione) of €50,000 to Cittadella for the loan. Biraghi was loaned to

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

on 2 September 2013 for €300,000.A.S. Cittadella S.r.l. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2014 (in Italian)
PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.
/ref>

Return to Internazionale

In June 2014, Inter bought back Biraghi from Cittadella for €610,000 (€600,000 plus the remain 50% registration rights of

Simone Pecorini Simone Pecorini (born 12 January 1993) is an Italian footballer who plays for Serie D club Sant'Angelo. Club career Born in Milan, Lombardy, Simone along with his twin brother Gabriele both started their careers at Internazionale. They were the ...

).F.C. Internazionale Milano S.p.A. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2015 (in Italian)
PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.
/ref> He signed a new four-year contract with Inter in 2014. However, he spent 2 seasons on loan to other clubs before he became a make-weight of another signing. He signed a two-year loan deal with

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona, which competes in the second ...

on 6 July 2014. On 27 August 2015, Biraghi moved to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

side

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the Segunda División, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021� ...

, after agreeing to a one-year loan deal.

Pescara

On 11 July 2016, Biraghi was sold to Serie A newcomers

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...

in a permanent deal. On the same day Pescara also signed Rey Manaj on loan, as well as

Gianluca Caprari Gianluca Caprari (born 30 July 1993) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Monza, on loan from Hellas Verona. He represents the Italy national team. Club career Roma Born in Rome, Italian capital, Caprari star ...

who was sold to Inter but loaned back to Pescara for a season. Pescara were relegated at the end of season.

Fiorentina

On 15 August 2017, Biraghi joined Serie A club

on loan, with an obligation to buy the player.

Second return to Internazionale

In August 2019, Biraghi was re-signed by

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a form ...

in a temporary deal, with Dalbert moving the opposite direction. Inter had an option to sign Biraghi from Fiorentina in a permanent deal in 2020 for a reported €12 million fee, but opted not to take this up.

International career

Under the new regime of

Ciro Ferrara Ciro Ferrara (; born 11 February 1967) is an Italian former footballer and manager. His most recent position was as manager of Wuhan Zall. He had also previously coached Juventus and the Italy national under-21 team. As an assistant coach to M ...

, he made his U21 debut on 17 November 2010, as starting left back in the

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

that

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 re ...

won 2–1 against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. In that match he also featured alongside former Inter teammates

Giulio Donati Giulio Donati (born 5 February 1990) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Monza. Club career Inter Milan Primavera and first team Born in Pietrasanta, the Province of Lucca, Donati started his career at hom ...

and

Luca Caldirola Luca Caldirola (born 1 February 1991) is an Italian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), defender for club A.C. Monza, Monza. Mainly a centre-back, he can also play as a left-back. Club c ...

in the defensive line. He received his first call-up along with Felice Natalino in August 2010 for the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification. In the next month, he made his U19 debut against

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. Before that, he received only one call-up in 2009 from the U18 team. He was given his first senior international call-up for

in September 2018, by manager

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 Samp ...

, for Italy's opening

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

matches against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

later that month. He made his senior international debut in Italy's 1–1 home draw against Poland on 7 September, in their UEFA Nations League opener. On 14 October 2018, he scored his first goal for Italy on his third cap in the return UEFA Nations League match away to Poland to secure a 1–0 win in the 92nd minute, which secured Italy's safety in the group; Biraghi dedicated his goal to former Fiorentina teammate Davide Astori who died early that year.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Biraghi goal''.

Honours

Inter Milan *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

runner-up: 2019–20

References

External links

FIGC Profile

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Biraghi, Cristiano 1992 births Living people People from Cernusco sul Naviglio Association football fullbacks Italian footballers Italy international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Inter Milan players S.S.D. Pro Sesto players S.S. Juve Stabia players A.S. Cittadella players Catania S.S.D. players A.C. ChievoVerona players Delfino Pescara 1936 players ACF Fiorentina players La Liga players Granada CF footballers Italy youth international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Italian expatriate footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Footballers from Lombardy Sportspeople from the Metropolitan City of Milan Outfield association footballers who played in goal