Pierluigi Casiraghi

Pierluigi Casiraghi ( born March 4, 1969 in Monza (MI) ) is a retired Italian footballer and current coach.

In his playing days he was a striker and played among others at Juventus, Lazio and Chelsea.

Playing career

In the club

His career as a professional footballer began Casiraghi 1985 16 -year-old at his home club and then second division side AC Monza. After four seasons with 28 goals for Monza, he moved 1989 to Juventus. In 1990, Casiraghi won the UEFA Cup with Juventus and the Italian Cup, the UEFA Cup again in 1993.

For the 1993/94 season Casiraghi joined Lazio for which he scored 41 goals in five years. In 1998 he went to England to Chelsea. In a clash with Shaka Hislop, the goalkeeper for West Ham United, he suffered in November 1998, a multiple fracture of the knee joint. According to a variety of operations Casiraghi finally had to end his playing career at the age of only 31 years in 2000.

In the National Team

Pierluigi Casiraghi debuted in 1991 in the Italian national team, with which he was runner-up in 1994. Also at the European Championship 1996, he was in the squad of the Azzurri. He scored two goals in the game against Russia, but his team already retired in the first round behind Germany and the Czech Republic from. In a total of 44 international matches Casiraghi scored 13 goals.

Coaching career

After switching off as a player Casiraghi coached youth teams at first his home club Monza, before he took over first team of AC Legnano for a short time, the fourth-rate ( Serie C2 Girone A).

From July 2006 to October 2010 he trained together with Gianfranco Zola, the Italian U-21 national team. In 2008, he was coach of the Italian Olympic Team.