Massimo Taibi

Massimo Taibi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmassimo taˈibi]; born 18 February 1970) is a former Italian footballer, who played as a goalkeeper for several clubs, mostly in Italy's Serie A, B, and C1. He had a brief spell at English club Manchester United.

Massimo Taibi
Personal information
Full name Massimo Taibi
Date of birth (1970-02-18) 18 February 1970
Place of birth Palermo, Italy
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)[1]
Playing position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1987–1989 Licata 1 (0)
1989–1990 Trento 23 (0)
1990–1991 Milan 0 (0)
1991–1992 Como 34 (0)
1992–1997 Piacenza 177 (0)
1997–1998 Milan 17 (0)
1998–1999 Venezia 34 (0)
1999–2000 Manchester United 4 (0)
2000–2001 Reggina 52 (1)
2001–2005 Atalanta 131 (0)
2005–2007 Torino 49 (0)
2007–2009 Ascoli 47 (0)
Total 569 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Italy

Taibi started his career for Licata until 1989. He appeared only once, before moving to Trentino, where he was a first-choice goalkeeper, playing 23 matches. After one season, he moved to Milan in Serie A for the 1990–91 season. As in his first club, he was not used at all, and shortly moved to Como, where he played the following season. After that he moved to Piacenza. Taibi stayed there for five seasons, until the 1996–97 season, and appeared for most of the club's games.

Piacenza thought his time was over, so they sold him to the club which had not played him, Milan. This time, Milan played him in half of the 1997–98 season's games as a backup to teammate Sebastiano Rossi. Then Milan sold him to Venezia in 1998. In his first season with Venezia, he played in nearly every game.

Manchester United

In 1999, Manchester United purchased Taibi for £4.5 million, requiring a new goalkeeper after Peter Schmeichel had left for Sporting Lisbon after winning the treble and injuries to both their 1st and 2nd choice goalkeepers: Mark Bosnich and Raimond van der Gouw respectively.[2] He made his debut against Liverpool, where he flapped at a free kick, allowing Sami Hyypiä to score. However, he later made a number of saves, including a one-on-one save from Vladimír Šmicer. United went on to win 3–2 with Taibi getting the Man of the Match award.[3] Taibi competed with the other two goalkeepers, Mark Bosnich and Raimond van der Gouw, for the first-team place, but lost out after a gaffe against Southampton in September 1999 that resulted in Matthew Le Tissier scoring a goal, for which he became synonymous.[4] This match led to Taibi being dubbed 'The Blind Venetian' by one newspaper.[5] He only played four matches, one of them a 5–0 defeat at Chelsea, United's first league defeat since losing to Middlesbrough in December 1998.[6]

Return to Italy

In January 2000, Taibi joined Reggina on loan until the end of the season, where he played regularly. After the loan spell ended, Manchester United made it clear that – although Taibi was available for transfer – another loan deal was out of the question, rejecting a bid from Napoli.[7] In July 2000, Manchester United agreed to allow Taibi to rejoin Reggina for a fee of £2.5 million.[8][9] On 1 April 2001, Taibi scored a goal with a header off a corner kick in the 87th minute against Udinese to equalise the score final score to a 1–1 draw at home.[10] With the goal, Taibi was the second goalkeeper to score from open play in Serie A history after Michelangelo Rampulla in 1992.[11]

After the 2000–01 season finished in relegation for Reggina, he was shifted to Atalanta as a replacement of Ivan Pelizzoli. In the summer of 2005, he went on loan to Torino, serving as first-choice goalkeeper; the move became permanent in 2006, with Taibi however becoming the backup goalkeeper behind Christian Abbiati. He made his seasonal debut on 13 January 2007.[12][13] In the 2007–08 season, he joined Ascoli, as Torino acquired the services of Matteo Sereni. Taibi played 47 matches, before he announced his retirement from football in 2009.

Style of play

A centre-forward in his youth, whose role model was Roberto Boninsegna, Taibi later switched to the position of goalkeeper. He was known in particular for his penalty-saving abilities as a shot-stopper.[14] Taibi played a total of 292 Serie A games between 1993 and 2007; during his career he stopped 12 spot kicks in the Italian top–flight, the joint–ninth–most penalties saved in Serie A history, alongside Emiliano Viviano, Luigi Turci, and Giuseppe Taglialatela.[15]

Honours

Piacenza[14]

Manchester United

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References
  1. "Massimo Taibi". Torino F.C. official website (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2 October 2007. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  2. "Man Utd complete Taibi signing". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 31 August 1999. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  3. "Liverpool throw victory away". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 11 September 1999. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  4. "Taibi's Old Trafford nightmare". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 25 September 1999. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  5. "The curse of the keeper: underpaid, and misunderstood". Financial Times. 27 August 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
  6. "Chelsea maul Man Utd". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 3 October 1999. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  7. "No loan go for Taibi". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 27 June 2000. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  8. "Taibi moves back to Italy". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 8 July 2000. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  9. "Taibi ends United nightmare". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 10 July 2000. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  10. Tommasi, Alessandro (2 April 2001). "Colpo alla disperata il portiere fa miracoli". La Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  11. Johnson, Dale (6 April 2001). "Taibi nets hero status with Reggina". ESPN FC. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  12. "Inter Milan set Serie A win record". Cable News Network (CNN). 13 January 2007. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  13. "Massimo Taibi". BDFutbol. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  14. Luigi, Garlando (24 May 1997). "Taibi volevo diventare Boninsegna" [Taibi I wanted to become Boninsegna]. La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  15. "Handanovic come Pagliuca, la classifica dei migliori pararigori della storia della Serie A" (in Italian). sport.sky.it. 12 January 2020.
  16. Stokkermans, Karel; Pérez, Marcos Cabaleiro (13 February 2005). "Intercontinental Club Cup 1999". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
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