Bernardo Corradi (; born 30 March 1976) 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, rugb ...

who played as a forward, and current coach. He played top-division football for several teams in Italy, Spain, and England, and last played for Canadian side Montreal Impact of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

in 2012. He is also a former Italian international, with 13 caps and two goals from 2003 to 2004. Corradi represented his country at

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

. He is currently in charge as head of the Italy U17 team.

Club career

Early career

Corradi began his career in Italy with

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

, at that time at

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest 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. Before the 1978 ...

. He then left for U.S. Poggibonsi of

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 played there for two seasons, one in Serie C2 and the second in

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 Dilettanti ...

. In 1996, he left for Serie C2 club A.S.D. Mobilieri Ponsacco Calcio, also located in Tuscany. In mid-1997, he joined

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, aft ...

, and after two matches, he was loaned to Montevarchi in November. In the next season, he was loaned to

Andria Andria (; Barese: ) is a city and '' comune'' in Apulia ( southern Italy). It is an agricultural and service center, producing wine, olives and almonds. It is the fourth-largest municipality in the Apulia region (behind Bari, Taranto, and Fogg ...

. In 1999, he returned to Cagliari and played his first Serie A match.

Chievo and Inter Milan

In 2000, Corradi was jointly signed by Chievo and

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter i ...

. Using his height as ability, he started showing his talent as central forward and scored his first Serie A goal at Chievo. He stayed at the club for two seasons, until Inter paid €4 million to purchase him outright. Considered the ideal understudy to Christian Vieri, he played his first and only match for Inter against

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional f ...

. After

Ronaldo Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People Notable people known as Ronaldo include: As ...

left the club for

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, Inter signed Lazio's Hernán Crespo, and sent Corradi in the opposite direction as part of the deal, in which Crespo was valued at €38 million and Corradi at €12 million. Lazio later brought down Corradi's value to €5.5 million and the rest deferred to amortize in a 10-year special amortization fund.

Lazio

At Lazio, Corradi scored on his debut, and formed a strike partnership with Claudio López, while

Enrico Chiesa Enrico Chiesa (; born 29 December 1970) is an Italian football coach and former striker. A prolific goalscorer, Chiesa played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, and performed regularly in Serie A for over a decade, winning titles ...

and Simone Inzaghi played as substitutes. He was offered a contract extension in July 2003. In the second season, he was the first choice, and partnered with Roberto Muzzi, Lopez or Inzaghi. Corradi scored ten goals in both his league seasons with the club, and also scored a vital away goal when Lazio beat

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

to the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

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.

Valencia

Corradi signed for

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

in the summer of 2004, along with Lazio teammate Stefano Fiore, in a deal which also repaid unpaid transfer fees (€16.6 million) incurred when

Gaizka Mendieta Gaizka Mendieta Zabala (, ; born 27 March 1974) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. A versatile player, with good technique, offensive capabilities and tackling skills, who was capable of creating goals both ...

moved from Valencia to Lazio for €42 million, while Corradi was valued at €10 million. Corradi opened his season with the Spanish club by winning the UEFA Supercup. However, once compatriot coach

Claudio Ranieri Claudio Ranieri Grande Ufficiale OMRI (; born 20 October 1951) is an Italian football manager and former player. He will be the new head coach of club Cagliari from 1 January 2023. Ranieri began his managerial career in the lower leagues in ...

left the club, he found his first team appearances becoming less frequent, as he fell out of form. He was loaned back to Italy, playing for

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second m ...

for the 2005–06 season, in which he scored ten times in 36 appearances.

Manchester City

In the 2006 close season he was sold by

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

for an undisclosed fee on 20 July, signing a three-year contract with the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club. Corradi made his Manchester City debut in the opening match of the 2006–07 Premier League season against Chelsea, but was sent off after receiving a second yellow card due to his reaction to an incident involving

Michael Essien Michael Kojo Essien (born 3 December 1982) is a Ghanaian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder and is currently a member of Danish Superliga club FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland's coaching staff. He was ...

. It took Corradi until his 13th Manchester City appearance before he scored his first goals for the club, when he scored twice against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

on 18 November 2006, becoming the first Italian to score for the club. In December Corradi was again sent off for two yellow cards, this time against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, with the second for attempting to win a penalty by diving. The sending off in the Manchester Derby infuriated

Stuart Pearce Stuart Pearce (born 24 April 1962) is an English professional football manager and former player, who was most recently a first-team coach for Premier League club West Ham United. He was nicknamed "Psycho" for his unforgiving style of play. ...

, who believed it was justified. Corradi lost his starting place to Emile Mpenza, as he only scored three league goals during the 2006–07 season, his other goal coming in a defeat to Portsmouth in February. Corradi looked to be leaving Manchester City after his poor season. When

Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; born 5 February 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player. After an unassuming playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 ...

was appointed as their new manager, Corradi was given a chance to impress and took it well by scoring four goals in the pre-season of 2007. However, he did not feature in any of their Premier League or League Cup games and was subsequently loaned out again to

for the rest of the season. Corradi impressed during his first couple of appearances for his new club, but again got himself into disciplinary problems, when he was sent off in the first half, during a match with Roma. He finished with a tally of 5 goals in 15 starts, and was given the captain's armband.

Reggina and Udinese

On 30 July 2008, Manchester City confirmed that Corradi had been released from the final year of his contract, to return to Italy, and play for

Reggina Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are ni ...

. On 31 May 2009, they terminated his contract with them. On 3 July, he was signed for free by Udinese, who played him mainly as a substitute.

Montreal Impact

Corradi made his Impact debut in a 1–0 pre-season exhibition victory over

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Formed on 2 August 1940, Häcken has p ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

on 3 March 2012. He replaced

Justin Mapp Justin Mapp (born October 18, 1984) is an American former soccer player who played as a midfielder. Mapp has been described as being versatile and known for possessing "speed and creative abilities from out wide, but also his ability to drift in ...

to start the second half, and played out the final 45 minutes of the match. On 15 March 2012, the Montreal Impact announced that he had signed for three months with the option to extend. He recorded his first MLS goal on 14 April in the 61st minute against

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the le ...

with a penalty kick. Corradi was released by Montreal on 7 December 2012.

International career

Corradi won a total of 13 caps for Italy between 2003 and 2004, scoring two goals. He was considered as a replacement for Christian Vieri when he was first called up to the national team under

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), sometimes popularly known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football. A former defensive midfielder, as a p ...

in February 2003; he debuted on 12 February, scoring the only goal of the match in a 1–0 friendly home win over

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

. He was later included in their

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

squad, making one appearance throughout the tournament in his nation's 2–1 win over

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

in their final group match, although Italy were eliminated in the first round on head-to-head record, despite not losing a match, following a three-way five-point tie with

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

and

. Along with Valencia teammate

Marco Di Vaio Marco Di Vaio (; born 15 July 1976) is an Italian former professional association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. A prolific goalscorer, in his long club career, Di Vaio scored over 200 league goals ...

, he was played up front by new

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 b ...

coach

Marcello Lippi Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional football player and manager, who led the Italian national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was appointed as Italy head coach in the summer of 2004 and ...

in the first few matches of

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

in late 2004. After the rise of

Luca Toni Luca Toni (; born 26 May 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer, Toni scored over 300 goals throughout his career, and is one of the top-five highest scoring Italians in all competition ...

and

Alberto Gilardino Alberto Gilardino (; born 5 July 1982) is an Italian professional football manager and a former player who played as a striker. He is currently in charge as caretaker of Genoa, a club he was contracted with on July 2022 as a youth coach. A ...

, while Corradi struggled at Valencia, he did not receive an international call-up again.

Style of play

Often described as an "old-fashioned"

centre-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 ...

in the Italian media, Corradi was a tall, powerful, and physically strong striker, with an eye for goal, who excelled in the air; he was also known for his work-rate off the ball, and his ability to press defenders in order to help his team win back possession. During his prime, his playing style drew comparisons with that of

Pierluigi Casiraghi Pierluigi Casiraghi (; born 4 March 1969) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who played as a striker. Casiraghi began his playing career in Italy in 1985, with Monza. He later played for Juventus, and Lazio, before endi ...

Coaching career

In 2017, he joined the youth ranks of the Italian national team as an assistant to Italy U17 head coach

Carmine Nunziata Carmine ()also called cochineal (when it is extracted from the cochineal insect), cochineal extract, crimson lake, or carmine lake is a pigment of a bright-red color obtained from the aluminium complex derived from carminic acid. Specific code na ...

. He subsequently worked as head coach of the Italy U16 and Italy U18, before returning to the Under-17 team in 2020, this time as a head coach.

Television career

Bernardo Corradi (in couple with the dancer

Stefano De Martino Stefano is the Italian form of the masculine given name Στέφανος (Stefanos, Stephen). The name is of Greek origin, Στέφανος, meaning a person who made a significant achievement and has been crowned. In Orthodox Christianity the ach ...

) in May–June 2017 is one of the tutors/mentors in the second season of ''

Selfie – Le cose cambiano A selfie () is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a digital camera or smartphone, which may be held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick. Selfies are often shared on social media, via social networking services such as Face ...

'', a

talent show A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...

produced by Fascino PGT of

Maria De Filippi Maria De Filippi (born 5 December 1961) is an Italian television host and the owner of the television production company ''Fascino PGT''. She is one of the most popular presenters. Biography De Filippi was born in Milan, Lombardy, but grew up in ...

and aired by

Canale 5 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have a national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a ...

with

Simona Ventura Simona Ventura (born 1 April 1965) is an Italian television presenter. Television career Ventura was born in Bentivoglio. She started in TV on "Domani Sposi" with Giancarlo Magalli on Rai Uno. Her love for sport took her into sports reporting ...

as presenter.

Personal life

In June 2014, Corradi married the Italian model

Elena Santarelli Elena Santarelli (born 18 August 1981) is an Italian model, television personality and actress. Life and career Born in Latina, the niece of footballer Ubaldo Righetti, Santarelli started her career as a model, and she made her television debu ...

Career statistics

Club

International

International appearances and goals

Honours

Club

Valencia *

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 original ...

Lazio *

: 2003–04

References

External links

*
Profile at FIGC
*

*
Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport
*
archivio.inter.itProfile at Italia1910.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corradi, Bernardo Italian footballers Italy international footballers Association football forwards A.C.N. Siena 1904 players F.C. Ponsacco 1920 S.S.D. players Cagliari Calcio players S.S. Fidelis Andria 1928 players A.C. ChievoVerona players Inter Milan players S.S. Lazio players Valencia CF players Parma Calcio 1913 players Manchester City F.C. players Reggina 1914 players Udinese Calcio players CF Montréal players Serie A players Serie B players La Liga players Premier League players Major League Soccer players UEFA Euro 2004 players Sportspeople from Siena 1976 births Living people Italian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate soccer players in Canada Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Italian expatriate sportspeople in England Footballers from Tuscany