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Azzurri abroad: Italian invasion
As Britain fell in love with all things calcio during the 1990s, the fans were treated to some examples of the real thing as many Italians headed to these shores. Dave Taylor remembers the best and worst



Over the last 15 years the Premier League has gone from strength to strength, yet without several outstanding Italian imports it might have turned out very differently. From Andrea Silenzi to Gianfranco Zola, around 50 players have crossed from the peninsula, bringing their Italian technique, grace and style with them. Many came in the mid-to-late 1990s, when players like Gianluca Vialli, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Paolo Di Canio became household names and were offered vast wages that could not be matched in Italy. Some left superb memories and magic moments, while some were expensive flops like Massimo Taibi and Corrado Grabbi. The first player to arrive was striker Silenzi, who cost Nottingham Forest £1.8m from Torino in July 1995. He played just 10 games, failing to score, and early in his second season was loaned out to Venezia. Once back home he refused to return and his contract was gladly torn up. Players like him, former Juventus forward Michele Padovano and Rangers striker Marco Negri - whose sojourns to the UK were problematic - were in the minority. Yet, even so, the Teddy Bears' ex-Perugia striker scored a sensational 32 goals in his first season at Ibrox, but his attitude was all wrong and he eventually sat out the rest of his three-year contract in the Scottish club's reserves. On the other hand, good buys like Roberto Di Matteo, Enrico Annoni and Sergio Porrini showed British fans just how good Serie A football could be. Chelsea's Zola was surely one of the greatest imports of any era, a player who possessed all the best Italian qualities of skill, generosity and good manners. Magic Box's abilities were eventually rewarded with two FA Cups, a European Cup-Winners Cup, a League Cup, a European Super Cup and an honorary MBE. The Blues fans even voted him their best-ever player. The former Parma star arrived in November 1996, when fantasy players like Benito Carbone and Di Canio were being pushed out of the game at home. Italian teams were becoming less and less interested in the playmaker role and the Emilia Romagna outfit decided that Gianfranco was surplus to the needs of the team. Fortunately, Zola & Co were seen as entertainers in England, integral players who could turn games on their own. Chelsea were one of the first clubs to bring in Italian talent and, apart from Zola, they also signed the likes of former Bianconeri great Vialli, Di Matteo, Christian Panucci, Carlo Cudicini and the unfortunate Pierluigi Casiraghi. Sadly, the Azzurrini Coach's superior class was only briefly appreciated, as he never recovered from a terrible cruciate ligament injury suffered early in his first season. Middlesbrough also had several top professionals like ex-Inter stars Marco Branca, Carbone and Gianluca Festa plus the charismatic Ravanelli. The former Juventus striker and European Cup winner brought with him his own unique way of celebrating a goal. In his first game against Liverpool the 'White Feather' scored a hat-trick, pulled his shirt over his head and then ran blindly around the pitch, which amused millions of viewers and was copied by thousands of kids up and down the country. Ravanelli also played for Derby along with Carbone and two other former Serie A stars, Stefano Eranio and Francesco Baiano. Several of these Italians were involved in one of the classic FA Cup Finals of the late 1990s as Milan legend Ruud Gullit led Chelsea against Middlesbrough in 1997. The game started with a bang when ex-Lazio midfielder Di Matteo scored the quickest ever goal in the Final of the competition after just 42 seconds with a 25-yard blast. Sadly for 'Boro, Ravanelli limped off in the first half, but Festa made an impact when he headed in what looked like a perfectly good goal, only for it to be wrongly ruled offside. In the second half Zola took over and his magical flick allowed Eddie Newton to make it 2-0. Vialli came on as a sub in the last few minutes to round off a memorable showpiece for Italian football fans. It was a good time to watch football and a fabulous team could be made of Azzurri abroad in Britain over recent years - Cudicini; Panucci, Marco Materazzi, Matteo Ferrari, Alessandro Pistone; Eranio, Attilio Lombardo, Di Matteo; Zola, Vialli, Ravanelli. And that is just picking the cream of the crop. Let's not forget that the likes of Gennaro Gattuso, Roberto Mancini, Dino Baggio, Nicola Berti, Massimo Maccarone and Nicola Ventola to name a few who have also played in the UK.

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