Pierluigi Casiraghi

Pierluigi Casiraghi (born 4 March 1969 in Monza, Italy) is a former footballer who played as a striker.

Casiraghi began his career with his home-town side, Monza, in 1985. The side were relegated to Serie C in his first season, but he helped them achieve promotion back to Serie B in 1988. He moved to Serie A giants Juventus in 1989, having scored 28 goals in 94 games for Monza.

His goalscoring record in Turin was modest, achieving a best tally of 8 goals in 24 appearances in the 1990-1 season and a total of 20 in 98 games for the club. While at Juventus, he helped the side win two UEFA Cups (in 1990 and 1993) and one Italian Cup, also in 1990. He earned his first international cap for Italy during his spell with Juventus.

He signed for Lazio in 1993 and scored 41 goals in a five-year spell. His most successful season was in 1996-7, when he scored 14 goals in 28 Serie A games. With Lazio, he won another Italian Cup, in 1998. He found his opportunites limited in his final season, with manager Sven-Goran Eriksson preferring Alen Boksic and Roberto Mancini in attack and sought a move away.

Casiraghi joined English side Chelsea in May 1998 for £5.4million. His time in West London proved luckless, being denied numerous goals by the woodwork and fantastic goalkeeping, and ultimately only scored one goal for the club, which came against Liverpool in a 1-1 draw at Anfield. His Chelsea career was cut short by a cruciate ligament injury sustained during a collision with West Ham goalkeeper Shaka Hislop in November of that year. Despite going through ten operations, he was unable to make a comeback and his contract with the club was terminated in February 2000. [1]

As an Italian international, Casiraghi won 44 caps and scored 13 goals, making his debut in February 1991 against Belgium. He was a member of the Italy squad that reached the final of USA 94, playing in the group games against Norway and Mexico and the semi-final against Bulgaria. He was also a member of the Italy side at Euro 96, scoring both goals in a 2-1 win against Russia, though the side was still knocked out in the first round. Despite sealing Italy's qualification for France 98 with the only goal in a play-off against Russia in Novemeber 1997, he failed to make the squad.

He became manager of Italian Serie C2 side A.C. Legnano in May 2003.