Miguel Ángel Montuori (, ; 24 September 1932 – 4 June 1998) was an Argentine-Italian

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 c ...

player, 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 ...

and as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

. He is regarded as one of Fiorentina's greatest players of all time, due to his technique, creativity, eye for goal, and playmaking ability. Despite his talent and success, he was also regarded as an "unfortunate" player, due to his many runner-up medals, and his injuries, which forced him to retire during the prime of his career.

Biography

Montuori was born in

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. His mother was of Afro-Argentinian descent, while his father was an Italian of

Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...

origin. He died in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

in 1998, from an incurable illness.

Club career

Despite his Argentine origins, Montuori began his career with Universidad Católica in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, Chile, in 1953, winning the

Chilean Primera División The Chilean Primera División (English: First Division) is the top-tier league of the Chilean football league system. It is organized by the ''Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, ANFP''. The league is known as the Campeonato AFP PlanVital ...

in 1954, scoring 24 goals in 26 league appearances for the club. He subsequently moved to play with

ACF 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 fo ...

in Italy in the summer of 1955, at the request of club president Enrico Befani, and was handed the number 10 shirt. He played at the club from 1955 to 1961, making 162

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 ...

appearances, and scoring 72 goals. In 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 ...

he played 13 matches scoring 6 goals, and in the 1956–57

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 ...

he played 7 games and scored 1 goal, helping the team to 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 ...

. He also played 2 matches in the

Mitropa Cup The Mitropa Cup, officially called the La Coupe de l'Europe Centrale or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the successor states of the former Austria-Hungar ...

with Fiorentina. With Fiorentina, Montuori was able to achieve great domestic and international success, as well as international recognition; upon his arrival at the club, he won the only Italian title of his career, during the 1955–56 season, and he followed this triumph with four consecutive second places. He was also able to win the

1960–61 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1960–61 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup club football tournament was won by Italian club Fiorentina in two-legged final victory against Rangers of Scotland. Organised by the Mitropa Cup committee, this tournament's edition was recog ...

, and the 1960–61

, also reaching the final of the Italian Cup three consecutive times between 1958 and 1960. He also won several minor international trophies with Fiorentina, such as the

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshop ...

Cup in 1957, the

Coppa dell'Amicizia The Coppa dell'Amicizia (Cup of Friendship) was a summer association football friendly tournament for clubs and nations, which were held in a friendly in the time frame between 1959 and 1968. The first was named the Cup of French-Italian Friendship ...

twice, in 1959 and 1960, as well as the

Coppa delle Alpi Coppa delle Alpi (translated as ''Cup of the Alps'') was a friendly football tournament, first organized by the Italian national league as it started in 1960 and then they were aided by the Swiss League from 1962, for the reason that the majorit ...

in 1960. Montuori's playing career ended prematurely, at the age of 28, in the spring of 1961. During an away friendly match against

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

, he was hit strongly in the face by the ball, which caused his retina to detach, and his vision to blur, leading him to retire from professional football.

International career

Despite being born in Argentina, Montuori 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 bo ...

, making his debut against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1956, and making his final appearance against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in 1960. He also became the first non-Italian born player to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Italy, wearing the captain's armband in a friendly match against

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 ...

, in Rome, on 28 February 1959. With Italy, he received 12 international caps and scored 2 goals.

Honours

Club

; Universidad Católica *

: 1954 ;

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 fo ...

: 1955–56 *

: 1960–61 *

European 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 ...

: 1960–61 *

: 1958–59, 1959–60 *

: 1959–60

Individual

*Fiorentina Hall of Fame: 2016 *

References

External links

Fiorentina profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montuori, Miguel 1932 births 1998 deaths Footballers from Rosario, Santa Fe Argentine footballers Argentine expatriate footballers Italian footballers Italy men's international footballers Chilean Primera División players Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers Expatriate footballers in Chile Expatriate football managers in Chile Serie A players ACF Fiorentina players People of Campanian descent Men's association football midfielders Argentine people of Italian descent Argentine football managers Afro-Argentine sportspeople Italian people of Argentine descent