Franco Baresi

Franco Baresi (born May 8, 1960 in Travagliato, province of Brescia) is an Italian youth team coach and former football defender with Milan, acknowledged as one of the greatest defenders ever to play the game. Baresi was colloquially called "piscinin", Milanese dialect for "little one".

He is also the younger brother of Internazionale assistant manager Giuseppe Baresi. Hoping Franco could play with him in the nerazzurri; Giuseppe brought him for a trial in Inter's youth team, but Franco was rejected. Despite this setback, he didn't give up and decided to try out for arch-rivals Milan, where he was accepted.^[1]

Playing career

Club

Baresi led the Milan team and its defence for the best part of a decade; a period during which Milan's defence was considered by many observers to be one of the best back fours in the history of football, consisting of Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta and Mauro Tassotti. He is also one of the few players who spent his entire career at one club, Milan, for whom he played 629 games, scoring 31 goals.

He retired from playing in 1997 aged 37. With Milan, Baresi won six scudetti (Serie A league titles) and three European Cups – though he did not take part in the last win, his club's 1994 Champions League victory, through suspension. He mentored defensive partner Paolo Maldini in his later years, whose career has followed a similar path.

His #6 jersey was retired by the club, a rarity for Italian football.

International

Baresi was selected for three World Cups for Italy, in 1982, 1990 and 1994. Baresi was part of the 1982 World Cup squad in Spain aged 22 as understudy to Gaetano Scirea, but didn't play, just like in the 1980 European Football Championship, where he was called up along with his brother Giuseppe.

His international debut came later in 1982 in a match against Romania. He missed the 1986 tournament, coach Enzo Bearzot preferring Juventus centre-halves Cabrini and Gentile, with Scirea in Baresi's position of libero. Baresi was unfortunate that his early international career coincided with the peak of Gaetano Scirea's stint as Italy's first choice sweeper, and Baresi was continually left out in the cold, much to his frustration, and he refused to play for the national side while Bearzot was in charge (thus explaining Baresi's relative lack of caps before the 1990 tournament). When the Azzuri crashed out to France in the 1986 tournament and Scirea retired, the mantle was passed to Baresi who returned to the side, a responsibility that become more poignant when Scirea was killed in a car accident aged 36, only months before Italy was to host the World Cup. So Baresi made his World Cup debut in 1990. The Azzurri lost to Argentina in the semi-finals, but went on to beat England in the third place play off.

In the 1994 World Cup he came one step closer to lifting the trophy as Italy finished runners-up. Baresi injured himself early in the tournament in the group match against Norway, and after emergency surgery, was able to return for the final against Brazil. Baresi suffered cramp in extra time as the patched-up Italians defended against a tired Brazil to a 0–0 score after 120 minutes, Romário later attributing his quiet performance to "The most ruthless monitoring of my entire career".^[1]. Baresi missed the first penalty in the shootout and Italy went on to lose the first World Cup Final to be decided on penalties.

He was also a member of the Italian squad that finished fourth at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.^[2]

Coaching career

After a short spell as Director of Football at Fulham, Baresi returned to Milan as a youth team coach in 2002. He was appointed head coach of AC Milan's Primavera Under-20 squad. In 2006, he was moved by the club to coach the Berretti Under-19 squad, with his former fellow Filippo Galli replacing him at the helm of the Primavera squad. He retired from coaching and was replaced by Roberto Bertuzzo.

Honours

On March 4, 2004, at a gala ceremony in London, to mark the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the international governing body of football revealed the FIFA 100. The list contains choice of the "greatest living footballers", Baresi was one of many from the legendary Milan teams of the 1990s to be included. Club

• AC Milan
  • European Cup: 1989, 1990, 1994.
  • Intercontinental Cup: 1989, 1990.
  • European Supercup: 1989, 1990,1994.
  • Italian Championship:1979, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996.
  • Serie B: 1981, 1983
  • Italian Super Cup: 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994.
  • Mitropa Cup: 1982

• Italy:
  • FIFA World Cup: 1982
  • Scania 100 Tournament (Sweden 1991):1991
  • Runners-up FIFA World Cup: 1994
  • Runners-up US Cup:1992

Individual honours

• 1989
  • European Silver Ball Footballer of the Year France Football
• 1990
  • Top Scorer Italian Cup : (4 goals) Total (15 goals) Italian Cup.
  • Italian League The Best Player of the Year.
  • Best Silver Player World of the Year IFFHS : 1989
• 1999
  • AC Milan player of the Century. His jersey number at Milan (6) is retired
• 2004
  • Named in FIFA 100
  • Named Player of Italy of the Century XX by FIGC

Statistics

^[3]

^[4]

References

See also

• 1994 UEFA Champions League Final
• One-club man
• unofficial site

Italy squads Italy squad – UEFA Euro 1980 Fourth Place 1 Zoff (c) • 2 F. Baresi • 3 G. Baresi • 4 Bellugi • 5 Cabrini • 6 Collovati • 7 Gentile • 8 Maldera • 9 Scirea • 10 Antognoni • 11 Benetti • 12 Bordon • 13 Buriani • 14 Oriali • 15 Tardelli • 16 Zaccarelli • 17 Altobelli • 18 Bettega • 19 Causio • 20 Graziani • 21 Pruzzo • 22 Galli • Coach: Bearzot Italy squad – 1982 FIFA World Cup Winners (3rd Title) 1 Zoff (c) • 2 Baresi • 3 Bergomi • 4 Cabrini • 5 Collovati • 6 Gentile • 7 Scirea • 8 Vierchowod • 9 Antognoni • 10 Dossena • 11 Marini • 12 Bordon • 13 Oriali • 14 Tardelli • 15 Causio • 16 Conti • 17 Massaro • 18 Altobelli • 19 Graziani • 20 Rossi • 21 Selvaggi • 22 Galli • Coach: Bearzot Italy squad – 1984 Summer Olympics 1 Tancredi • 2 Ferri • 3 Galli • 4 Nela • 5 Tricella • 6 Vierchowod • 7 Bagni • 8 Baresi • 9 Battistini • 10 Sabato • 11 Vignola • 12 Zenga • 13 Fanna • 14 Massaro • 15 Briaschi • 16 Iorio • 17 Serena • Coach: Bearzot Italy squad – UEFA Euro 1988 semi-finalists 1 Zenga • 2 Baresi • 3 Bergomi • 4 Cravero • 5 Ferrara • 6 Ferri • 7 Francini • 8 Maldini • 9 Ancelotti • 10 De Agostini • 11 De Napoli • 12 Tacconi • 13 Fusi • 14 Giannini • 15 Romano • 16 Altobelli (c) • 17 Donadoni • 18 Mancini • 19 Rizzitelli • 20 Vialli • Coach: Vicini Italy squad – 1990 FIFA World Cup Third Place 1 Zenga • 2 Baresi • 3 Bergomi (c) • 4 De Agostini • 5 Ferrara • 6 Ferri • 7 Maldini • 8 Vierchowod • 9 Ancelotti • 10 Berti • 11 De Napoli • 12 Tacconi • 13 Giannini • 14 Marocchi • 15 Baggio • 16 Carnevale • 17 Donadoni • 18 Mancini • 19 Schillaci • 20 Serena • 21 Vialli • 22 Pagliuca • Coach: Vicini Italy squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup Runners-up 1 Pagliuca • 2 Apolloni • 3 Benarrivo • 4 Costacurta • 5 Maldini • 6 Baresi (c) • 7 Minotti • 8 Mussi • 9 Tassotti • 10 R. Baggio • 11 Albertini • 12 Marchegiani • 13 D. Baggio • 14 Berti • 15 Conte • 16 Donadoni • 17 Evani • 18 Casiraghi • 19 Massaro • 20 Signori • 21 Zola • 22 Bucci • Coach: Sacchi