Mattia Liberali (born 6 April 2007) is an Italian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

and winger for

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

. In October 2024, Liberali was included in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'''s list of the 60 best talents in the world born in 2007.

Early life

Liberali was born in

Carate Brianza Carate Brianza is a ''comune'' in the province of Monza and Brianza, in the Italian region of Lombardy. The city lies at an elevation ranging from above sea level, on the Lambro river. History The history of Carate Brianza dates back to the Ston ...

, Italy.

Club career

In 2013, the manager of local amateur side , Alberto Bianchi, spotted Liberali and invited him to play in a youth tournament with a view to later sign him. However, he would participate at the tournament with Aquile della Brianza from Muggiò instead, spending a year with the side before joining La Dominante, who he would train during the week with, while playing with professional side

on weekends. After a year of this arrangement, Liberali made the switch to AC Milan permanent. During the 2021–22 under-16 Scudetto tournament, he finished second-top scorer behind Francesco Camarda with nine goals, as AC Milan went on to win the competition. He was called up to train with the first team for the first time, alongside Camarda and Nirash Perera, in December 2022. The following year, in July 2023, he signed his first professional contract with the club through 2027. Liberali joined AC Milan for their 2024–25 pre-season, displaying impressive performances during the friendly matches, including the headlining assist for a 1–0 win against Spanish

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

club

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

at the

Soldier Field Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side, Chicago, Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears from the National ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, United States, the club's third friendly match on 31 July 2024. He made his professional debut on 10 August 2024, starting for the newly created

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

Milan Futuro Milan Futuro (), occasionally referred to as Milan U23, is a professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy, Italy, which acts as the reserve team of club AC Milan. Founded on 27 June 2024, the club started in Serie C. Following relegation ...

, and scoring the first goal of a 3–0 away win

Coppa Italia Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C (), formerly named Coppa Italia Lega Pro, is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie C in Italian football first held in 1972. Format There are a total of six rounds in the competition. It begins i ...

first round match against

Lecco Lecco (, , ; ) is a city of approximately 47,000 inhabitants in Lombardy, Northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). The Bergamasqu ...

. Liberali made his debut with AC Milan on 15 December 2024, starting on a 0–0 home draw

match against

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, simultaneously celebrating the club's 125th anniversary.

International career

Liberali has represented Italy at the under-15, under-16, under-17 and under-19 levels.

Style of play

Initially a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

while playing at 7-a-side level, Liberali was moved up the pitch in the academy of AC Milan, settling at left-wing, with Italy under-17 coach also utilising him as an attacking midfielder. Former AC Milan defender and current football pundit,

Alessandro Costacurta Alessandro Costacurta (born 24 April 1966) is an Italian former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender. Throughout his club career, Costacurta spent over twenty years with AC Milan ...

, compared him with English international

Phil Foden Philip Walter Foden (born 28 May 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Manchester City and the England national team. Foden's breakthrough into professional football came in 2017 when he won the FIF ...

for their similar playing style.

Career statistics

Club

;Notes

Honours

Italy U17 *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Individual *

Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liberali, Mattia 2007 births Living people Sportspeople from Carate Brianza Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football wingers AC Milan players 21st-century Italian sportsmen