Walter Bianchi (born 7 November 1963) is an Italian former 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, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a defender, usually 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 ...

, although he was also capable of playing on the right.

Playing career

Bianchi made his

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 ...

debut 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 seasons ...

on 13 September 1987, in a 3–1 away win over

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

. He spent two seasons with the club, who were being coached by

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 ...

at the time, playing five games in

; he won the

1987–88 Serie A The 1987–88 Serie A was won by Milan. Teams Pescara, Pisa and Cesena had been promoted from Serie B. Season summary The summer of 1987 brought several notable players into the Italian championship: Vincenzo Scifo (for Internazionale), Ian R ...

title with the club and the

1988–89 European Cup The 1988–89 European Cup was the 34th season of the European Cup football club tournament. The competition was won for the first time since 1969, and third time overall, by Milan comfortably in the final against former winners Steaua Bucureșt ...

. His career was hampered by injuries; he had to undergo ten surgeries in twelve years overall. On 28 July 1992, he was hurt in a traffic accident involving the team bus of

Hellas Verona F.C. Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as Hellas Verona or simply Verona, is a professional Italian football club based in Verona, Italy, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won the Serie A Championship in 1984–85. His ...

and fell into a coma for several days. He recovered in a few months.

Honours

;AC Milan *

champion: 1987–88. *

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 ...

winner:

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 ...

. *

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 ...

winner: 1988–89.

References

1963 births Living people Italian men's footballers Serie A players Serie B players Rimini FC 1912 players Brescia Calcio players Parma Calcio 1913 players AC Milan players Torino FC players Cosenza Calcio 1914 players Hellas Verona FC players Men's association football defenders Sportspeople from Aarau {{Italy-footy-defender-1960s-stub