Daniele Emilio Massaro (; born 23 May 1961) is an Italian former

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 played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He is mainly remembered for his highly successful career with

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seaso ...

during the late 1980s and 1990s, under managers

Arrigo Sacchi Arrigo Sacchi (born 1 April 1946) is an Italian former professional football coach. He has twice managed AC Milan (1987–1991, 1996–1997), with great success. He won the Serie A title in his 1987–88 debut season and then dominated European ...

and

Fabio Capello Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional football manager and player. As a player, Capello represented SPAL 1907, Roma, Milan and Juventus. He played as a midfielder and won several trophies during his career which ...

, with whom he went on to achieve notable

domestic Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes c ...

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, and

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success. Massaro was also a member of the

Italian national 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 bo ...

that won the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national foo ...

, although he did not make an appearance in the tournament, and he was a member of the team that reached 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 cont ...

of the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

, scoring a goal during the tournament; in the final, he missed one of Italy's penalties in the resulting shoot-out, as Brazil went on to lift the trophy.

Club career

Massaro began his career with his local club

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

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 ...

, in 1978, putting on notable performances during his three seasons with the club alongside his more technically gifted teammate,

Paolo Monelli Paolo Monelli (born 27 January 1963) is a retired Italian professional 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, Ameri ...

, which attracted the attention of larger clubs. In 1981, he was acquired by

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 ...

, along with Monelli, making his Serie A debut on 13 September 1981, and his Italy Under-21 debut 10 days later. He instantly became a permanent member of Fiorentina's starting line-up, and he came close to winning the Scudetto during his first season with the club, missing out on the title to

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

by a single point. He continued to be an important member of the club during his subsequent seasons in Florence. After leaving Fiorentina in 1986, Massaro made a name for himself at

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

where he played over 300 games between 1986 and 1995 (apart from a loan spell with

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

during the 1988–89 season), and he was part of the legendary Milan squad of the late 1980s and early 1990s, under Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello, which dominated

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 ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Although he won the Scudetto during his second season with the club, he was initially used sparingly and out of position under Sacchi, who did not have faith in his capabilities, and the two began to have several tactical disagreements regarding his true playing position, eventually leading him to be sent out on loan to Roma for a season, in 1988. He returned to Milan during the 1989–90 season, and his consistent, reliable performances now convinced Sacchi, who began to deploy Massaro more frequently; in return, Massaro repaid Sacchi by scoring 10 league goals that season, also winning his first

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 ...

title with Milan that year, following up the success with two European Super Cups and Intercontinental cups. Whilst playing as a striker, Massaro became more prolific in front of goal, and he also scored two decisive goals in the 1994 UEFA Champions League Final against

FC 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 ...

, which Milan won 4–0, winning his second European Cup title with the club, under Sacchi's replacement, Capello. He was also Milan's top scorer in the 1993–94 Serie A season with 11 league goals, helping them to win their third consecutive title since 1992 under Capello. In total, during his time with the club, he won 4

titles (

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 ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, 1993,

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 ...

), two

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 competit ...

titles (

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 ...

), 3

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 ...

s ( 1989,

), 2 Intercontinental Cups ( 1989,

), and 3 Italian Supercups (

, 1993,

), also reaching the Coppa Italia final in 1990, two more Champions League finals in 1993 and

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 ...

, and another Intercontinental Cup final in 1994. In the second leg of the 1994 UEFA Super Cup Final against Arsenal in Milan, he set up

Zvonimir Boban Zvonimir "Zvone" Boban (; born 8 October 1968) is a Croatian former footballer who currently works at UEFA as the Chief of Football. Boban played as a midfielder and was usually deployed as an attacking midfielder. He played most of his professi ...

's goal and later scored another to give Milan a 2–0 aggregate victory. After leaving Milan in 1995, he played a year in the Japanese football league with

Shimizu S-Pulse is a professional Japanese football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J2 League (J2). The club was formed in 1991 as a founding member of the J.League (''"Original Ten"''), which began ...

, before retiring in 1996. On 16 August 1995, he scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 win over

Urawa Reds , colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, is a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. The club plays in the J ...

. On 13 April 1996, he scored a hat-trick in a 5–1 win against

Bellmare Hiratsuka is a Japanese professional football club based in Hiratsuka, in the west of Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Hiratsuka ...

International career

Massaro made his Italy under-21 debut on 23 September 1981, 10 days after his Serie A debut with Fiorentina. Overall, he made 4 appearances with the ''Azzurrini'' between 1981 and 1984, also taking part with Italy's Olympic under-23 side at the 1984 Olympics, where Italy reached the semi-final, finishing the tournament in fourth place. Surprisingly

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

only 15 times for the Italian senior side, Massaro's international career actually spanned more than a decade between 1982 and 1994. As a 21-year-old, Massaro made his debut on 14 April 1982 under

Enzo Bearzot Enzo Bearzot (; 26 September 1927 – 21 December 2010) was an Italian professional football player and manager. A defender and midfielder, he led the Italy national team to victory in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Nicknamed ''Vecio'' (standard I ...

in a 1–0 defeat to

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, and he was a member of the Italian squad that won the

held in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, although he did not receive any playing time during the tournament. He was capped sparingly between 1984 and 1986, but eight years later he was called up for Italy's 1994 World Cup squad by manager Arrigo Sacchi, at the age of 33. He played in six of Italy's seven games at the

held in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and scored a goal in a 1–1 draw against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in Italy's final match of the group stage on 28 June, which allowed them to progress to the knockout round as the best third-placed team; this was his only goal for Italy, and made him Italy's oldest ever goalscorer at the FIFA World Cup, at the age of 33 years and 36 days. In the defeat against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in the final of the tournament, he missed a one-on-one opportunity and later failed to convert a penalty kick in the shoot-out.

After football

He was also the captain of the Italian Beach Soccer National Team for a couple of years. Massaro is also an avid golfer during his free time. After fully retiring from football, he took part in several rally races in the Italian Rally Division, racing twice in the

WRC WRC may refer to: Broadcasting stations * WRC-TV, a television station (virtual channel 4, digital channel 34) licensed to Washington, D.C., United States * Several radio stations in the Washington, D.C. area: ** WTEM, a radio station (980 AM) l ...

, in the

Sanremo Rally Rallye Sanremo is a rally competition held in Sanremo, Italy. Except for the 1995 event, the event was part of the FIA World Rally Championship schedule from the 1973 season to the 2003 season. Currently, it is a round of the Intercontinental Rall ...

(in 1998 and 1999). Massaro currently works with Milan as a

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

manager.

Style of play

A talented and determined player, Massaro was gifted with pace and agility, as well as good physical and athletic attributes. Due to his versatility, work-rate and tactical intelligence, he was uniquely capable of playing in many different positions anywhere on the pitch. Although he is remembered mainly for his performances as a centre forward with Milan, he began 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 ...

, and was capable of playing anywhere in midfield; indeed, he was often used as an offensive,

central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

, or

defensive 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 ...

. Throughout his career, he even played as a makeshift defender, both in the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

, or on the flank as a full-back. During his highly successful stint with

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, he was initially deployed as an

outside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

on the left, or as a winger under his Milan manager

, due to his good technique. Massaro was only utilised as a true striker later on in his career, in particular under Milan's subsequent manager

, and also at the 1994 World Cup with Italy under Sacchi, where he was able to find the net more often, due to his finishing ability with either foot, as well as his aerial prowess and heading accuracy; in this position, he was also capable of playing off his teammates and of holding up the ball when playing with his back to goal. Due to his tendency to score decisive goals in closely fought matches, most notably, his brace in the 1994 UEFA Champions League Final, or in the closing minutes of games, he earned the nicknames ''Provvidenza'' ("providence," in Italian) and "San Massaro" in the media. Describing his career experience at Milan, Massaro once referred to himself as a "supersub," due to his penchant for scoring decisive goals after coming off the bench.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Honours

Milan *

: 1987–88, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94 * Supercoppa Italiana:

: 1989–90, 1993–94; runner-up: 1992–93, 1994–95 *

: 1989,

; runner-up: 1993 * Intercontinental Cup: 1989,

; runner-up: 1993,

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 ...

runner-up: 1989–90 Italy *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

; Runner-up

Individual * A.C. Milan Hall of Fame *

Guerin d'Oro The Guerin d'Oro ''(Golden Guerin)'' was an annual award which was handed out by the Italian magazine ''Guerin Sportivo'' to the best Serie A football player. The first winner of the award was Claudio Sala, while the last was Carlos Tevez. Hist ...

: 1994

References

External links

Profile and statistics on A.C. Milan official website
* *
Massaro goal in Shimizu S-Pulse
- J.League official website
Profile at FIGC.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Massaro, Daniele 1961 births Living people Sportspeople from Monza Italian footballers Italy international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers A.C. Monza players ACF Fiorentina players A.S. Roma players A.C. Milan players Serie A players Serie B players Olympic footballers of Italy Footballers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Shimizu S-Pulse players Expatriate footballers in Japan J1 League players 1982 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players Italian expatriate footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Association football forwards UEFA Champions League winning players Footballers from Lombardy