Salvatore Bagni (; born 25 September 1956 in

Correggio Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sens ...

) is a former Italian footballer who mainly played as a

central 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 ...

. He currently works as a sporting director. Bagni played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, in particular

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 ...

, where he won a

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 ...

title, and

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 ...

, where he won a ''Scudetto''-Coppa Italia double. At international level, he represented

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 ...

on 41 occasions, and took part at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

and the 1986 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Bagni is the son of a Romagnol footballer and a Sicilian mother from

Gela Gela (Sicilian and ; grc, Γέλα) is a city and (municipality) in the Autonomous Region of Sicily, Italy; in terms of area and population, it is the largest municipality on the southern coast of Sicily. Gela is part of the Province of Ca ...

. He began his career with

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

club Carpi (1975–77), later playing with

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

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 pa ...

(1977–1981) and putting on some encouraging performances, before moving to Italian giants

(1981–84), where he won the

in 1982, and was considered a potential heir to

Gabriele Oriali Gabriele "Lele" Oriali (; born 25 November 1952) is an Italian former footballer who primarily played as a defensive midfielder but could also play in defence. As a player, he was known in particular for his stamina, work-rate, ball-winning abil ...

in midfield. Bagni is best remembered for his period at

(1984–88), where he won a '' scudetto''-

double in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

, which included the first of two league titles won by Napoli in its history; at Napoli, Bagni often partnered up with Fernando De Napoli in midfield, as a defensive foil to the club's star playmaker

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 ...

. He later played for

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 Avellino for a season ( 1988–89) before retiring. In total, he scored 52 goals in Serie A.

International career

Bagni played for the Italy national under-21 football team between 1978 and 1980, scoring 5 goals in 12 appearances, including a hat-trick against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. With the under-21 side, he also took part at two

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

s ( 1978 and 1980), and also at the

, where Italy finished in fourth place after reaching the semi-final. Bagni later made 41 appearances for the senior

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 ...

between 1981 and 1987, scoring five goals. He made his senior international debut on 6 January 1981, in the

1980 Mundialito The 1980 World Champions' Gold Cup (Spanish for ''"Copa de Oro de Campeones Mundiales"''), also known as Mundialito (''"Little World Cup"''), was a friendly international football tournament organized by the Uruguayan Football Association and sup ...

in Montevideo, in a 1–1 draw against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He scored his first goal for Italy on 4 February 1984, in a 5–0 victory over

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 ...

, after only 20 seconds; for 29 years, this was the fastest goal ever scored by an Italian player at international level, until his record was beaten by a single second by Emanuele Giaccherini's opening goal in a 2–2 draw against Haiti in 2013. Bagni was initially named part of the 40-man preliminary Italian squads for both the 1978 and 1982 FIFA World Cups, even featuring in the unofficial, experimental pre-trounament friendlies, but his negative performances later led him to be excluded from the final squads for both tournaments, in which Italy went on to claim fourth and first-place finishes respectively. He was later included in the Italian 1986 FIFA World Cup squad under manager

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 ...

, however, wearing the number-10 shirt.

Style of play

A generous and hard-working team-player, Bagni was a tenacious, hard-tackling player, with good technique and team spirit, who was usually deployed as central,

box-to-box 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 ...

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 boundari ...

throughout most of his career, due to his ability to win back possession and subsequently start attacking plays; his tendency to commit aggressive and reckless challenges, despite his friendly character, earned him the nickname "The Warrior". In addition to his tenacious playing style, he also attracted controversy for his behaviour during his time at Napoli, when he made an offensive gesture in a match against rival club Roma towards the opposition fans, even though the two sets of fans had formed a friendship at the time, thus ruining the relationship between the two clubs. Although he was mainly known for his energetic playing style as a ball-winner in midfield, he was also known for his eye for goal throughout his career, and was even capable of playing in more offensive roles, as a winger and as a forward, positions which he often occupied in his early career, when he first made his break-through in Italian football, due to his attacking attributes.

Personal life

Bagni is married to Letizia Turchi (born in 1952), with whom he has had three children: Elisabetta, Gianluca and Raffaele. His youngest son died in 1992, at the age of three, in a road accident.

Honours

Club

; F.C. Internazionale Milano *

: 1981–82 ;

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Camp ...

: 1986–87 *

: 1986–87

References

External links

FootballPlus profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bagni, Salvatore 1956 births Living people People from Correggio, Emilia-Romagna People of Sicilian descent A.C. Carpi players Inter Milan players 1986 FIFA World Cup players Italian footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Italy international footballers A.C. Perugia Calcio players S.S.C. Napoli players U.S. Avellino 1912 players Serie A players Serie B players Serie D players Association football midfielders Footballers from Emilia-Romagna Sportspeople from the Province of Reggio Emilia