Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), popularly nicknamed "Trap", is an Italian former football manager and player, considered the most successful club coach in Italian football.
A former defensive midfielder, as a player he spent almost his entire club career with AC Milan, where he won two Serie A league titles (1961–62 and 1967–68), and two European Cups, in 1962–63 and 1968–69. Internationally, he played for Italy, earning 17 caps and being part of the squad at the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile.
One of the most celebrated managers in football history, Trapattoni is one of only six coaches, alongside Carlo Ancelotti, Ernst Happel, Tomislav Ivić, José Mourinho and Eric Gerets, to have won league titles in four different European countries; in total, Trapattoni has won 10 league titles in Italy, Germany, Portugal and Austria. Alongside Udo Lattek and José Mourinho, he is one of the three coaches to have won all three major European club competitions (European Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup, UEFA Cup) and the only one to do so with the same club (Juventus). Also, he is the only one to have won all official continental club competitions and the world title, achieving this during his first spell with Juventus. He is one of the rare few to have won the European Cup, the Cup Winners' Cup and Intercontinental Cup as both a player and manager.
Regarded as the most famous and consistent disciple of Nereo Rocco, Trapattoni coached his native Italy national team to the 2002 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2004, but could not replicate his club successes with Italy, suffering a controversial early exit in both competitions. Trapattoni led the Republic of Ireland national team to their first European Championships in 24 years, enjoying a successful UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign. This followed narrowly missing out on the 2010 FIFA World Cup, after his team were controversially knocked out by France.
He is one of only five coaches, alongside Ignacio Trelles, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Roy Hodgson and Dick Advocaat, to have managed 1,000 or more club games and 100 or more national team games.
Club career
Born in Cusano Milanino near Milan, Trapattoni had a successful career as a player with AC Milan, playing either as a central defender or as a defensive midfielder with the main task of passing the ball to more creative players such as Giovanni Lodetti and Gianni Rivera. He won two Serie A titles (1961–1962, 1967–1968) and two European Cups (1962–1963, 1968–1969) during his time with Milan, and was one of the stars of the 1963 European Cup Final against Benfica, successfully man-marking Eusébio in the second half. Similarly, in the team's 4–1 victory in the 1969 European Cup Final against Ajax, he drew praise in the Italian media for his defending and ability to nullify the offensive threat of Johan Cruyff.
After taking a break from the national team, Trapattoni thought he could settle with a mid-table team for one last season instead of being at one club all his life, subsequently moving to Varese and, after a successful season with them, retired from professional football and embarked on a highly successful managerial career two years later.
International career
Trapattoni also played for the Italy national football team between 1960 and 1964, earning 17 caps and scoring 1 goal. Most notably, he was part of the squad at the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile, although he was unable to play any matches during the tournament after sustaining an injury.Index of Matches FIFA.com, 1962 World Cup He was also part of Italy's squad at the 1960 Summer Olympics.
Trapattoni is also remembered for his performance in Italy's 3–0 friendly victory over Brazil at the San Siro stadium in Milan on 12 May 1963; during the match, he was able to nullify Pelé's impact on the game through his man-marking ability, with the latter asking to be substituted for Quarentinha in the 26th minute of the second half, whom Trapattoni also successfully defended. However, Pelé later stated in 2000 that his performance was due to stomach pains, and that he was forced to play due to contractual obligations; Trapattoni himself also frequently downplayed Pelé's performance during the match, even prior to Pelé's comments, stating: "the truth is that on that day he was half-injured. Tired. I was a good footballer, but let's leave Pelé alone. He was a martian."
Style of play A defensive-minded player, Trapattoni was capable of playing both in defence, as a centre-back, and in midfield, as a defensive midfielder, due to his work-rate and ability to win back possession and subsequently distribute the ball forward to his more offensive-minded teammates. Above all, he was known for his excellent man-marking skills.
Coaching career
1974–1986: Early career at AC Milan and Juventus Trapattoni began coaching at Milan as a youth team coach, before becoming caretaker coach. Trapattoni was caretaker coach from 9 April 1974 to 30 June 1974. His first match was the 1973–74 European Cup Winners' Cup semi–final first leg against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Milan won the match 2–0. They got to the final after only losing the second leg 1–0. Milan lost the final 2–0 to East German club 1. FC Magdeburg. Milan finished seventh in Serie A. He was appointed first team coach in 1975.
Trapattoni was head coach for Juventus for ten consecutive years, from 1 July 1976 to 30 June 1986. Trapattoni won all UEFA and international club competitions during this time (a European record).
He won the Serie A league title six times (1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86), the Coppa Italia twice (1978–79 and 1982–83), the European Cup in 1984–85, the Intercontinental Cup in 1985, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1983–84, the European Super Cup in 1984, and the UEFA Cup in 1976–77.Claudio Borghi: "Argentinos perdió la final con Juventus por confiar en su jerarquía", ESPN, 8 Dec 2015
Apart from winning the European Cup over Liverpool in 1984–85, Trapattoni came close to conquering the trophy on another occasion, in 1982–83, but Juventus suffered a surprising defeat at the hands of Hamburg in the Athens final, finishing as runners-up.
During his years managing Juventus, Trapattoni became well-known among fans and journalists throughout Europe for combining man-management with tactical knowledge.
1986–1994: Inter Milan and return to Juventus Trapattoni coached Inter Milan from 1 July 1986 to 30 June 1991. While in charge of Inter, he won the Serie A in 1988–89, the Supercoppa Italiana in 1989 and the UEFA Cup in 1990–91.
He then managed Juventus for a second time between 1991 and 1994, winning the UEFA Cup in 1992–93.
1994–1996: Bayern Munich, return to Serie A Trapattoni became coach of Bayern Munich in the summer of 1994, after the end of his second spell with Juventus. However, he left at the end of the 1994–95 season, after complaints that he struggled with German. He reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, but failed to win any silverware.
Trapattoni coached Cagliari in the 1995–96 season. His first match was a 1–0 loss to Udinese on 26 August 1995. The club's board of directors decided to dismiss him in February 1996, after a string of bad results; Trapattoni was thus fired for the first time in his career.Trapattoni, un esonero mascherato Corriere della Sera, 14 februari 1996 His final match was a 4–1 loss to Juventus. Cagliari were in 13th place at the time of his sacking.
1996–2000: Back to Bayern Munich and Fiorentina Trapattoni returned to manage Bayern again in July 1996. As Bayern manager Trapattoni won the German Bundesliga in 1996–97, the German Cup (DFB-Pokal) in 1997–98 and the German League Cup (DFB-Ligapokal) in 1997. He left Bayern at the end of the 1997–98 season and was replaced by Ottmar Hitzfeld.
Trapattoni coached Fiorentina from 1998 to 2000. With Trapattoni's expert guidance, Fiorentina made a serious challenge for the title in 1998–99, finishing the season in 3rd place, which earned them qualification to the Champions League, also reaching the 1999 Coppa Italia Final, but losing out to Parma. The following season was rather disappointing in Serie A, with Fiorentina finishing in 7th place, but Trapattoni led them to some historic results in the Champions League, beating Arsenal 1–0 at the old Wembley Stadium in the first round, and defeating defending champions Manchester United 2–0 and eventual runners-up Valencia 1–0 in Florence in the second round. They were ultimately eliminated after finishing third in their group behind the latter two sides following a 3–3 draw against Bordeaux in their final second round match.
2000–2004: Italy national team In July 2000, Trapattoni took charge of the Italy national football team after the resignation of Dino Zoff. He led the team to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, qualifying undefeated to that tournament.
Prior to the tournament, Trapattoni was surrounded by controversy after he omitted fan favourite Roberto Baggio – who had recently recovered from injury – from Italy's final 23-man squad, as he believed that the player was not yet fully fit. Italy were drawn in Group G of the tournament with Ecuador, Croatia and Mexico. They won their first match, beating Ecuador 2–0, but then suffered a surprise 2–1 defeat at the hands of Croatia. In their final group game, Italy drew 1–1 with Mexico, securing qualification to the Round of 16 with a second-place finish in their group, where they faced tournament co-hosts South Korea. Italy lost 2–1 and were eliminated from the World Cup, conceding an equaliser two minutes from full-time and losing in extra time with Ahn Jung-Hwan scoring the golden goal. The game was highly controversial with members of the Italian team, most notably Trapattoni and forward Francesco Totti, suggesting a conspiracy to eliminate Italy from the competition. Trapattoni even obliquely accused FIFA of ordering the official to ensure a South Korean victory so that one of the two host nations would remain in the tournament. The most contentious decisions were an early penalty awarded to South Korea (saved by Gianluigi Buffon), a golden goal by Damiano Tommasi ruled offside, and the sending off of Totti, who received a second yellow card for an alleged dive in the penalty area, all ruled by the referee Byron Moreno. Following the team's exit, Italy were criticised in the Italian and International press for their poor performance and ultra-defensive playing style under Trapattoni, who also came under fire in the Italian media for his tactics, which included initially refusing to play two of the team's star playmakers – Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti – alongside one another during the tournament, and substituting a forward – Del Piero – for a holding midfielder – Gennaro Gattuso – in the second half of Italy's round of 16 match, in order to attempt to defend their 1–0 lead against South Korea.
Italy went on to secure qualification for UEFA Euro 2004 easily, but once again failed to impress at the tournament itself. They were drawn in Group C with Denmark, Sweden and Bulgaria. They drew 0–0 with Denmark and 1–1 with Sweden, beating Bulgaria 2–1 in their final group game. This led to an unexpected early exit from the tournament, despite Italy being undefeated. Denmark and Sweden drew in the group's final match, eliminating Italy who finished in third place of Group C, on account of goal difference. More specifically, Sweden, Denmark and Italy all finished with five points, with each team having defeated Bulgaria but drawn their two other games. As all results between the three teams in question were draws, both the points won in these games and the goal difference accrued in these games still left the teams undivided. The decisive tiebreaker was therefore the goals scored during the games between one another: Italy, having scored the fewest goals of the three teams, were therefore eliminated.