Moreno Torricelli (; born 23 January 1970) is an Italian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former defender, who usually played as a full-back on the right flank. Torricelli played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, but achieved prominence during his successful stint with

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

, with whom he won several titles; he also had a spell in Spain with

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

. At the international level, he also represented the Italy national side, taking part in

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

and the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

Club career

Torricelli, born in Erba in the

Province of Como The province of Como (; Comasco dialect, Comasco: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. It borders the Switzerland, Swiss cantons of Ticino and Grisons, Grigioni to the north, the Italian provinces of Province of ...

, was one of three children, with a twin brother, Paulo, and a sister, Ariann. He started playing football when he was around eight in the town he was living in,

Verano Brianza Verano Brianza (Milanese: Veran) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Monza and Brianza in the Italian region Lombardy, located about north of Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, ...

in the

Province of Milan The province of Milan () was a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Milan. The area of the former province is highly urbanized, with more than 2,000 inhabitants/km2, the third-highest population density among Ital ...

. At age 13, he was asked by

Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...

to attend a youth regional championship (Allievi Regionali) with them but at the end of the loan he had to get back to his former amateur team US Folgore of Verano Brianza before transferring again to Oggiono, newly promoted to the top regional league "Promozione" at the end of the 1987–88 season. In the "Promozione", Moreno played 49 matches in two seasons. Upon joining Caratese from Oggiono in 1990 he was granted work in a factory and played football on a part-time basis because Caratese was a high-level team attending the top national amateur league "Interregionale". Moreno Torricelli Juventus

In July 1992, Caratese played against

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 ...

giants

in a pre-season friendly. Torricelli's performance in this match impressed then-Juventus coach

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), popularly nicknamed "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian former Association football, football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Football in Italy, Italian football ...

so much that he was purchased by the Turin side for a 50 million lire shortly afterwards. Due to his past as a carpenter, his Juventus teammate

Roberto Baggio Roberto Baggio (; born 18 February 1967) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a second striker, or as an attacking midfielder, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. He is the former pr ...

gave Torricelli the nickname ''

Geppetto Geppetto ( ; ) is a fictional character in the 1883 Italian novel ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' by Carlo Collodi. Geppetto is an elderly, impoverished woodcarver and the creator (and thus 'father') of Pinocchio. He wears a yellow wig resemblin ...

'' during his time with the club. Torricelli made his debut in Serie A on 13 September 1992 in a 4–1 win for Juventus against

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

. He quickly became a permanent starter in his first season and went on to play in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

-winning side that beat

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

in 1993. A player with a lot of heart and determination, despite his lack of skill, he was able to feature prominently in one of the best back-lines in Europe, and was capable of commanding all the roles in the Juventus defence, although his preferred position was at right-back. During his time at Juventus, the Turin club was one of the best teams in the world, and, in addition to the UEFA Cup, he won three

titles, two

Italian Supercup The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous sea ...

s, a

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

, a

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, a

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...

, and an Intercontinental Cup, in addition to reaching three consecutive Champions League finals between 1996 and 1998, and another UEFA Cup final in 1995. In 1998, Torricelli left Juventus to join

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

where he joined his former Juventus coach Trapattoni. He played in Florence for another four seasons, helping the club to win the 2000–01 Coppa Italia. He moved to Spain's

in January 2003 after Fiorentina's relegation and financial troubles led to them releasing nearly all their players. He retired in 2005 after a final season with

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

International career

At international level, Torricelli won ten

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the Italy national team between 1996 and 1998. He was a member of the Italian squad at

Euro 96 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

under

Arrigo Sacchi Arrigo Sacchi (born 1 April 1946) is an Italian former professional football coach, best known for having twice managed AC Milan. Sacchi is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, and his Milan side (1987–1991) is widely regarded ...

, where Italy suffered a surprising elimination in the group stage. Under manager

Cesare Maldini Cesare Maldini (; 5 February 1932 – 3 April 2016) was an Italian professional football manager and player who played as a defender. Father to Paolo Maldini and grandfather to Daniel Maldini, Cesare began his career with Italian side Trie ...

, he was also a member of the Italian side at the

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

, where Italy were eliminated on penalties by hosts and eventual Champions

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the quarter-finals, but he did not feature throughout the tournament.

Style of play

A right-footed defender, Torricelli usually played as a full-back on the right flank, although he was a versatile player who was also capable of playing on the left, as well as in any other defensive role in a zonal marking system. In his youth, he had played as a

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) ray-finned fish of the family (biology), family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 80 species in two genus, genera. One ...

in a man marking back-line. Despite his lack of notable skills, class, or technical ability with his feet, he was a hard-working, tenacious, combative, reliable and determined team-player, who was both energetic and tactically intelligent; he also possessed significant physical strength, good elevation, and a strong mentality. These attributes played a key role in his success as a footballer.

Managerial career

In February 2009, Torricelli took his first managing role in football after being appointed as head coach of Tuscan

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into ...

side

Pistoiese Football Club Pistoiese SSD, commonly known as Pistoiese, is an Italian association football club, based in Pistoia, Tuscany. Currently, Pistoiese plays in Serie D. Originally founded on 21 April 1921, the club has also played Serie A on a num ...

. He took the team to the bottom of the league, and managed to guide it up to 16th place, being however defeated by

Foligno Foligno (; Central Italian, Southern Umbrian: ''Fuligno'') is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennine Mountains, Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clit ...

in the relegation playoffs. On 23 June 2009, he was announced as the new head coach of Figline for the

2009–10 Lega Pro Prima Divisione The 2009–10 Lega Pro Prima Divisione season was the thirty-second football league season of Italian Lega Pro Prima Divisione since its establishment in 1978, and the second since the renaming from Serie C to Lega Pro. It was divided into two ph ...

campaign, the first in the Italian third tier for the small Tuscan club. He left the club at the end of the season. In the summer of 2014, he was hired by Pont-Donnas/Hône-Arnad in Aosta as a youth coach.

Personal life

Torricelli was married to Barbara, who died from leukemia on 27 October 2010. Together they had three children, Arianna, Alessio and Aurora.

Honours

Juventus *

: 1994–95, 1996–97, 1997–98 *

: 1994–95 *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

: 1995–96 *

: Runner-up: 1996–97, 1997–98 *

: 1992–93 *

: Runner-up: 1994–95 *

1996 UEFA Super Cup
at

Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

Fiorentina *

: 2000–01

References

External links

*
Profile at EuroSport.com
*
Profile at MyJuve.it

FIGC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torricelli, Moreno 1970 births Living people People from Brianza Footballers from the Province of Como Men's association football defenders Italian men's footballers Italian football managers Italy men's international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Serie D players Juventus FC players ACF Fiorentina players La Liga players RCD Espanyol footballers SS Arezzo players UEFA Euro 1996 players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Italian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain FC Pistoiese SSD managers UEFA Champions League–winning players UEFA Europa League–winning players 20th-century Italian sportsmen