Moreno Torricelli (; born 23 January 1970) is an 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 ...

manager and former defender, who usually played as a full-back on the right flank. Torricelli played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, but achieved prominence during his successful stint with

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 ...

, with whom he won several titles; he also had a spell in Spain with

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league s ...

. At international level, he also represented the Italian national side, taking part at

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

and the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for t ...

Club career

Torricelli, born in Erba in the

Province of Como The Province of Como ( it, Provincia di Como; german: Provinz Como; Comasco: ) is a province in the north of the Lombardy region of Italy and borders the Swiss cantons of Ticino and Grigioni to the North, the Italian provinces of Sondrio and L ...

, was one of 3 children, with a twin brother, Paulo, and a sister, Ariann. He started playing football when he was around 8 in the town he was living in,

Verano Brianza Verano Brianza (Milanese: Veran) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Monza and Brianza in the Italy, Italian region Lombardy, located about north of Milan. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 8,968 and an area of .All dem ...

in the

Province of Milan The Province of Milan ( it, Provincia di Milano) was a province in the Lombardy region, Italy. Its capital was the city of Milan. The area of the former province is highly urbanized, with more than 2,000 inhabitants/km2, the third highest popu ...

. At age 13 he was asked by

Como Calcio Como 1907, commonly referred to as Como, is an Italian football club based in Como, Lombardy, Italy. The club currently plays in Serie B, the second tier of Italian football, following promotion from the 2020–21 Serie C season. The club was fo ...

to attend a youth regional championship (Allievi Regionali) with them but at the end of the loan he had to get back to his former amateur team U.S. Folgore of Verano Brianza. At U.S. Folgore played in the main team too, up to age 18, before transferring to A.S. Oggiono, newly promoted to the top regional league "Promozione" at the end of 1987–88 season. In "Promozione" Moreno played 49 matches in two seasons. Upon joining U.S. Caratese from A.S. Oggiono in 1990 he was granted a work in a factory and played football on a part-time basis because U.S. Caratese was a high-level team attending to the top national amateur league "Interregionale". Moreno Torricelli Juventus

In July 1992, Caratese played against

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 ...

giants

in a pre-season friendly. Torricelli's performance in this match impressed then-Juventus coach

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 ...

so much that he was purchased by the Turin side for 50 million lire shortly afterwards. Due to his past as a carpenter, his Juventus teammate

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 pr ...

gave Torricelli the nickname ''

Geppetto Geppetto ( , ), also known as Mister Geppetto, is an Italian fictional character in the 1883 novel ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' by Carlo Collodi. Geppetto is an elderly, impoverished woodcarver and the creator (and thus 'father') of Pinocch ...

'' during his time with the club. Torricelli made his debut in Serie A on 13 September 1992 in a 4–1 win for Juventus against

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily kno ...

. He quickly became a permanent starter in his first season and went on to play in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

-winning side that beat

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

in 1993. A player with a lot of heart and determination, despite his lack of skill, he was able to feature prominently in one of the best back-lines in Europe, and was capable of commanding all the roles in the Juventus defence, although his preferred position was at right-back. During his time at Juventus, the Turin club were one of the best teams in the world, and, in addition to the UEFA Cup, he won three

titles, two

Italian Supercup 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 ...

s, 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 ...

, a

UEFA Champions League 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 competi ...

, a

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 ...

, and an Intercontinental Cup, in addition to reaching three consecutive Champions League finals between 1996 and 1998, and another UEFA Cup final in 1995. In 1998, Torricelli left Juventus to join

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 fol ...

where he joined his former Juventus coach Trapattoni. He played in Florence for another four seasons, helping the club to win the

2000–01 Coppa Italia The 2000–01 Coppa Italia was the 54th edition of the tournament. The tournament was won by Fiorentina, for their 6th title, also qualifying for the UEFA Cup in the progress. It was Fiorentina's second title in recent years, having also won the 1 ...

. He moved to Spain's

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league s ...

in January 2003 after Fiorentina's relegation and financial troubles led to them releasing nearly all their players. He retired in 2005 after a final season with A.C. Arezzo.

International career

At international level, Torricelli won 10

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the Italy national team between 1996 and 1998. He was a member of the Italian squad at

Euro 96 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

under

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 ...

, where Italy suffered a surprising elimination in the group stage. Under manager

Cesare Maldini Cesare Maldini (; 5 February 1932 – 3 April 2016) was an Italian professional football manager and player who played as a defender. Father to Paolo Maldini and grandfather to Daniel Maldini, Cesare began his career with Italian side Tries ...

, he was also a member of the Italian side at the

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

, where Italy were eliminated on penalties by hosts and eventual Champions

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 the quarter-finals, but he did not feature throughout the tournament.

Style of play

A right-footed defender, Torricelli usually played as a full-back on the right flank, although he was a versatile player who also capable of playing on the left, as well as in any other defensive role in a zonal marking system. In his youth, he had played as a

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera. One species (''Pempheris xanth ...

in a man marking back-line. Despite his lack of notable skills, class, or technical ability with his feet, he was a hard-working, tenacious, combative, reliable and determined team-player, who was both energetic and tactically intelligent; he also possessed significant physical strength, good elevation, and a strong mentality. These attributes played a key role in his success as a footballer.

Managerial career

In February 2009, Torricelli took his first managing role in football after being appointed as head coach of Tuscan

Lega Pro Prima Divisione 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 197 ...

side

Pistoiese Unione Sportiva Pistoiese 1921 is an Italian association football club, based in Pistoia, Tuscany. Currently, Pistoiese plays in Serie D. Originally founded on 21 April 1921 and later restored after bankruptcy, the team plays their home games ...

. He took the team at the bottom of the league, and managed to guide it up to 16th place, being however defeated by

Foligno Foligno (; Southern Umbrian: ''Fuligno'') is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clitunno river system. It is located sou ...

in the relegation playoffs. On 23 June 2009, he was announced as new head coach of Figline for the

2009–10 Lega Pro Prima Divisione The 2009–10 Lega Pro Prima Divisione season was the thirty-second football league season of Italian Lega Pro Prima Divisione since its establishment in 1978, and the second since the renaming from Serie C to Lega Pro. It was divided into two ...

campaign, the first in the Italian third tier for the small Tuscan club. He left the club at the end of the season. In the summer of 2014, he was hired by Pont-Donnas/Hône-Arnad in Aosta as a youth coach.

Personal life

Torricelli was married to Barbara, who died from leukemia on 27 October 2010. Together they had three children, Arianna, Alessio, and Aurora.

Honours

Juventus *

: 1994–95, 1996–97, 1997–98 *

: 1994–95 *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual association football, 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 ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

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 ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

: 1995–96 *

: Runner-up: 1996–97, 1997–98 *

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 t ...

: Runner-up: 1994–95 *

1996 UEFA Super Cup
at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation Fiorentina *

: 2000–01

References

External links

*
Profile at EuroSport.com
*
Profile at MyJuve.it

FIGC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torricelli, Moreno 1970 births Living people People from Brianza Sportspeople from the Province of Como Association football defenders Italian footballers Italian football managers Italy international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Serie D players Juventus F.C. players ACF Fiorentina players La Liga players RCD Espanyol footballers S.S. Arezzo players UEFA Euro 1996 players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Italian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain U.S. Pistoiese 1921 managers UEFA Champions League winning players UEFA Cup winning players Footballers from Lombardy