Manuel Pascali

Manuel Pascali (born 9 September 1981) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder or defender for club Sangiuliano City.

Pascali most famously captained Kilmarnock to a Scottish League Cup title in 2012. However, he was unable to play in the final due to injury. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest ever players to represent Kilmarnock - even earning a commemorative plaque at Rugby Park next to other club legends.

Club career

He started his career with Sant'Angelo before moving on to Serie C2 with Pizzighettone and Carpenedolo. He then earned a move to Serie A with Parma in 2007, although he was loaned out to Foligno of Serie C1/A for the entire 2007–08 season.

Kilmarnock

He initially joined Kilmarnock on trial in July 2008 with a view to a one-year loan deal. During this period however, his performances convinced manager Jim Jefferies to part with an undisclosed fee to acquire him on a three-year deal. Upon joining Kilmarnock, Pascali revealed that Sergio Porrini played a role of Pascali joining a Scottish club and says he might be successful there n Scotland which he did later on in his Kilmarnock's career. On 9 August 2008, Pascali made his debut for the club in a 1–0 win over Hibernian. On 23 August 2008, Pascali scored his first goal for the club in the 45th minute in a 1–0 win over Hamilton Academical. His second goal came on 15 December 2008 in a 2–0 win over Motherwell. On 13 January 2009, Pascali provided an assist to an Allan Russell goal in a 2–1 defeat by Aberdeen. In his first season, Pascali made 35 appearances in all competitions and scored three goals (two in the league and one in the Scottish Cup against Ayr United in a 2–2 draw on 10 January 2009).

Pascali started the 2009–10 season with a win in the 3–1 triumph over Morton in the League Cup after coming on as a substitute early in the second half. He played his first league match of the season in a 3–1 win over St Mirren on 29 August. He was sent off in the league match against Rangers on 19 September, after a second bookable offence in a 0–0 draw. On 18 January 2010, Pascali scored his first of the season in a 1–0 win over Falkirk to advance Kilmarnock to the fifth round of the Scottish Cup. On 30 January 2010, Pascali scored his second of the season in a thrilling 4–4 draw against Dundee United. In his second season, Pascali made 26 appearances in total and scored two goals, one in the league and one in the Scottish Cup.

Pascali played in the first league match of the 2010–11 season, a 2–1 defeat by Rangers. On 10 November 2010, Pascali provided an assist to Conor Sammon in a 3–0 win over Hamilton, his first in almost two years. On 19 March 2011, Pascali scored his first goal of the season and also provided the assist for Jamie Hamill to score the second goal in a 3–1 win over Motherwell. On 23 April, Pascali scored a header in the 87th minute in a 4–2 defeat against Dundee United. Pascali provided an assist for James Fowler in his next game on 30 April against Hearts in a 2–2 draw. Pascali received 3 one-match bans after he received 18 yellow cards over the course of the season. Pascali featured 39 times and scored twice.

At the start of the season, Pascali started the 2011–12 campaign with a 1–1 draw against Dundee United on 24 July 2011 and soon became a temporary skipper for the club. After a match against Rangers on 27 September 2011, which Kilmarnock lost 2–0, Pascali was involved in an altercation in the tunnel with Rangers defender Steven Whittaker which Rangers' manager Ally McCoist dismissed as 'handbags' and "like two boys in the playground" in his post-match press conference. Manager Kenny Shiels wanted an end to the row that developed between Kirk Broadfoot and Pascali and referred to Broadfoot as "the ugly boy from Rangers" and "the male model from Ayrshire" in a radio interview. However, Broadfoot claimed Pascali made death threats and was "in my face saying he was going to kill me". In response to this, Pascali denied his roadfootclaim and branded Broadfoot a publicity-seeking coward. Four days after the incident on 1 October 2011, Pascali scored his first of the season in a 2–1 defeat by St Johnstone. On 19 November 2011, Pascali scored his second goal of the season in a 1–1 draw against Hibernian, followed up by scoring the winning goal for Kilmarnock in a 1–0 win at Rugby Park against Rangers in the Scottish Premier League on 27 November 2011. Following his goal against Rangers, Pascali spoke to BBC Scotland's Chick Young and said scoring against Rangers was the best day of his career. On 7 January 2012, Pascali scored the only goal for Kilmarnock in a 1–1 draw against Dundee in the Scottish Cup

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases