Massimiliano Benassi (born 11 November 1981) is a former Italian association footballer who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Career

After having played in Italian third category (Serie c1-c2, now called "Prima Divisione" and "Seconda Divisione"), he joined the promotion in "Serie B" with

U.S. Sassuolo Calcio Unione Sportiva Sassuolo Calcio, commonly referred to as Sassuolo (), is an Italian professional football club based in Sassuolo, Emilia-Romagna. Their colours are black and green, hence the nickname ''Neroverdi'' (literally "black and greens", ...

in 2008. Then he played on good levels with

Perugia Calcio Associazione Calcistica Perugia Calcio, or simply Perugia, is a professional football club based in Perugia, Umbria, Italy, that competes in the , the third division of Italian football. Founded in 1905 as Associazione Calcistica Perugia, the ...

, despite the bad results of the team until 2010

Lecce

at the end of the last championship, in fact, the team failed the subscription on 2010\2011 Lega Pro Championship, because of a lack of money, like several other teams, and

was forced to restart from "Serie D", leaving professional football after 58 years. Thus, Max Benassi signed with

U.S. Lecce Unione Sportiva Lecce () is a Football in Italy, professional Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia. The club play in Serie A in the 2023–24 Serie A, 2023–24 season, the top level of the Italian football league system, Italian footb ...

. On 28 June 2011 he extended his contract with Lecce for one more year. Two days later, Lecce sold its first choice goalkeeper

Antonio Rosati Antonio Rosati (born 26 June 1983) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Career Lecce Rosati's career began at Cisco Calcio Roma. He moved to Lecce in the 2002–03 season, making his first team debut in Feb ...

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

. Initially he was the understudy of

Júlio Sérgio Júlio Sérgio Bertagnoli (born 8 November 1978) is a Brazilian football manager and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He is the current assistant manager of Coritiba. Júlio Sérgio also holds an Italian passport as his ancestor came ...

after Lecce borrowed Júlio Sérgio from

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

on 28 July. However J.Sérgio performance was criticized and later due to injury, Benassi became the first choice despite also sidelined in December. In January he returned to field as starting keeper while J. Sérgio was on the bench.

References

External links

*http://aic.football.it/scheda/5558/benassi-massimiliano.htm 1981 births Living people People from Alatri Italian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers US Poggibonsi players AC Sansovino players SS Juve Stabia players US Sassuolo Calcio players AC Perugia Calcio players US Lecce players AS Reggina 1914 players SS Arezzo players Casertana FC players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players Footballers from the Province of Frosinone 21st-century Italian sportsmen {{Italy-footy-goalkeeper-stub