Roberto Mussi (; born 25 August 1963) is an Italian former professional footballer, who played as a defender; a versatile player, he was capable of playing both as a

centre-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 ...

or right-back. Due to his dynamism, tenacity, work-rate, and technique, he was capable of helping his team both offensively and defensively as a fullback on the flank. At international level, he represented Italy at 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 ...

, where they reached the final, and at UEFA Euro 1996. Following his retirement, he worked as a manager.

Club career

Throughout his career, Mussi played for several Italian clubs. He made his professional debut with U.S. Massese (1981–84), and helped the team to gain promotion to

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 ...

. He subsequently moved to Parma in 1984, where he enjoyed a successful spell under manager Arrigo Sacchi in

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), 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 ...

, helping the club to a Serie B promotion by winning the Serie C title. In 1987, Sacchi purchased his former young

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

, making him part of his legendary Milan side. Mussi spent two seasons with the club (1987–89), winning an Italian Serie A title and a

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 ...

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 ...

, as well as one

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 ...

(the predecessor to the UEFA Champions League) 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 ...

with the club. He subsequently moved to Serie B side Torino in

, helping the team to win the Serie B title that season, and to earn promotion to Serie A. The following season, he won the 1991 edition of the Mitropa Cup with Torino, and he helped his club to qualify for the UEFA Cup the next season by finishing the Serie A season in fifth place. During the 1991–92 season, Mussi led Torino to a third-place finish in Serie A, and he also helped his club to reach the

UEFA Cup final The UEFA Europa League, formerly the UEFA Cup, is an association football competition established in 1971 by UEFA. It is considered the second most important international competition for European clubs, after the UEFA Champions League. Clubs qu ...

, where they were defeated by Ajax on

aggregate Aggregate or aggregates may refer to: Computing and mathematics * collection of objects that are bound together by a root entity, otherwise known as an aggregate root. The aggregate root guarantees the consistency of changes being made within the ...

. During the 1992–93 season, Mussi won the Coppa Italia with Torino, but the team missed out on the 1993 Supercoppa Italiana. In 1994, Mussi returned to Parma, where he enjoyed great success. In his second spell with the Emilian club, he won the UEFA Cup twice (in

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

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 shootin ...

), and one Coppa Italia in

; he also reached the Coppa Italia final in 1995, and he managed a third-place finish in Serie A in

, a second-place league finish in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, and a fourth-place finish in

with Parma. He retired from football in 1999, but he briefly returned to Massese, the club with which he had made his debut, during the 2010–11 season, in the lower divisions, although he failed to make an appearance for the club during the season. Overall, Mussi played 250 matches in Serie A throughout his career.

International career

At international level, Mussi won 11 caps for the Italy national football team between 1993 and 1996 under manager Sacchi. He participated at the

with Italy, where they reached the final, only to lose to Brazil on penalties. He made 3 appearances during the tournament, including one in the final defeat, picking up an injury during the match; he was replaced by Luigi Apolloni. He also notably set up

Roberto Baggio Roberto Baggio (; born 18 February 1967) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a second striker, or as an attacking midfielder, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. He is the former pre ...

's last minute equaliser against Nigeria in the round of 16, which enabled the Italians to win the match in extra-time with a Baggio penalty and advance to the quarter-finals. He also took part at Euro 1996, making 3 appearances as Italy were eliminated in the group stage.

Honours

Club

Parma *

: 1985–86 * Coppa Italia: 1998–99 * UEFA Cup: 1994–95, 1998–99 Milan * Serie A: 1987–88 *

: 1988–89 Torino * Serie B: 1989–90 * Mitropa Cup: 1991 * Coppa Italia:

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

International

Italy * FIFA World Cup:

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 ...

(Runners-up)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mussi, Roberto 1963 births Living people Sportspeople from the Province of Massa-Carrara Association football defenders Italian footballers Italy international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Parma Calcio 1913 players A.C. Milan players Torino F.C. players 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players U.S. Massese 1919 players UEFA Cup winning players Footballers from Tuscany