Moreno Torricelli

Moreno Torricelli was born in Erba, in the Brianza area of the province of Como, on 23 January 1970, and grew up in the village of Inverigo in a family where determination and a spirit of sacrifice have always been the watchwords – from his great-grandfather, who worked as a stoker in a silk mill, to his father, who, despite his demanding job as a lorry driver, always found time to support Moreno in his footballing adventures.

He took his first steps in football with Folgore in Verano Brianza. For one season, in the Allievi Regionali category, he went on loan to Como, who were in Serie A at the time, but then returned to his original club.
A decisive moment in his career was his move from Oggiono to Caratese in the 1990–91 season, where, on the advice of manager Roberto Antonelli, at the age of twenty-two he switched from the role of sweeper to that of full-back.
In the spring of 1992, he was spotted by Claudio Gentile, sporting director of Lecco, a Serie C2 side. Gentile suggested the youngster’s name to Giovanni Trapattoni, then manager of Juventus, who surprisingly called him up for the traditional end-of-season friendlies, just as other Serie C clubs were preparing to make an offer.

Moreno Torricelli suddenly found himself wearing the shirt of one of the most prestigious clubs. He developed as a player under the guidance of Trapattoni, who called him up for the team’s pre-season training camp. By the second matchday of the league season, he was already a first-team regular, and from then on he never left the right-back position in the Bianconeri defence. During his time at Juventus, Roberto Baggio nicknamed him Geppetto, a moniker that would stay with him throughout his career.

After another season at the highest level, in which the Turin side finished second behind Milan, the Lippi era began: the Viareggio-born manager did not have a great relationship with Torricelli, yet he could not do without him, helping him to develop technically and strengthening his increasingly indispensable role for the team, which between 1995 and 1998 won three league titles, a Champions League and an Intercontinental Cup.
These were three unforgettable seasons for Geppetto who, in the 1996 Cup final against Ajax at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, played what was arguably his best match, containing the attacking threat of Kanu and Kluivert, the Lancers’ strike duo.

In six years with Juventus, he made 153 appearances, even overcoming a very serious anterior cruciate ligament injury in March 1997. Meanwhile, the doors to the Italian national team also swung wide open for him, as he made his debut in a friendly against Wales in 1996 and took part in that year’s ill-fated European Championship. Despite his physical problems, Cesare Maldini called him up for the 1998 World Cup, where, however, he never took to the pitch, before ending his time with the Azzurri with a series of friendlies under Dino Zoff.

In the summer of 1998, without warning, the club’s management put him on the transfer market and he decided to join Fiorentina, where he was reunited with his friend Trapattoni as manager. He spent four seasons in the purple shirt, coming within a whisker of a historic Scudetto on several occasions; he ended his playing career with a spell at Espanyol in Barcelona and finally at Arezzo.

After retiring as a player, he decided to embark on a coaching career, first with Fiorentina’s Regional Under-15s in 2007–2008 and then with Pistoiese in 2009. On 23 June 2009, he was appointed manager of Figline, whilst in the summer of 2014 he was hired by Pont-Donnas/Hône-Arnad in Aosta as youth team supervisor.