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Fabio Capello

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Fabio Capello
Personal information
Position(s) Manager (former midfielder)

Fabio Capello (born June 18, 1946 in San Canzian d'Isonzo, Gorizia) is an Italian football manager and former professional player who most recently coached Real Madrid.

Regarded as one of the best coaches in professional football, he has the distinction of winning the domestic league title with every team he has managed, with A.C. Milan, Real Madrid, A.S. Roma and Juventus (but later stripped due to match-fixing). Capello is one of the few coaches to claim championship victories in four major European cities (Milan, Madrid, Rome and Turin).

Despite his coaching success, Capello is often an unpopular figure with fans of his former clubs in Italy; notably because of his public feuds with Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero, amid accusations that Capello sabotaged their clubs before his departure.

At Real Madrid, he was criticized for not playing David Beckham and Ronaldo, leading Beckham to end contract extensions with the club and sign with LA Galaxy instead, while Ronaldo bought out the remainder of his contract to move to A.C. Milan. After some initial criticism of his tactics and having spent much of the season in second place, he captured the La Liga title on the last day by pipping FC Barcelona on head to head results. In spite of his success, Real Madrid's president, Ramón Calderón fired him at the end of the 2007 season.

Upon being released by Madrid, Fabio Capello has revealed he is mulling over an offer from Major League Soccer in the United States. On July 16, 2007, Capello told Gazzetta Dello Sport, "They have contacted me from the United States, however I must think about it". He has since become a commentator for Italian broadcaster RAI, and has detailed the decision to bench Beckham lied with Calderón.[1]

Playing career

Capello first played for SPAL, making his debut in 1964. Three seasons later he moved to A.S. Roma, where he won his first trophy, the Italian Cup. Then he was sold to Juventus, where he was a mainstay in 1970s. He also played for the Italian national team; he is particularly remembered for a goal with which Italy beat England at Wembley for the first time in its history. Capello ended his career as player with A.C. Milan in 1980.

Managerial career

A.C. Milan

Capello made his name as coach in the early 1990s at Milan, leading a team including the likes of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi to four Serie A titles in five years with a team nicknamed "the invincibles". Under Capello, Milan remained unbeaten for 58 league games between May 19, 1991 and March 21, 1993, which included an entire season where they were unbeaten in the league. They were finally defeated at home to Parma after a goal from Faustino Asprilla.

With a style that spurned the traditional Italian caution of catenaccio, in 1994 Milan routed FC Barcelona 4-0 to win the European Cup. Although Milan surrendered the Serie A title in 1995 - finishing a disappointing fourth - Capello signed off from his six-year stint with the Rossoneri by regaining the league championship the following year.

Real Madrid

He then had a single season in charge of Real Madrid, guiding the club to the Spanish league title, before returning to A.C. Milan for a shorter and less successful spell.

A.S. Roma

He moved to A.S. Roma in 1999, winning the 2001 Scudetto. That was Roma's first major honor in a decade. However, his relationship with fans was soured when he was involved into a feud with popular Roma captain Francesco Totti. The final years of his tenure were also marred by accusations that he engineered the departure of several key players to sabotage the club, which led to the team plummeting near the bottom of Serie A and almost being relegated. Capello is reviled by Roma fans up to this day.

Juventus F.C.

Capello left the debt-ridden Roma to sign with Juventus F.C., where he had played as a midfielder. Juventus won the 2004-05 and 2005-06 'Scudetto' under Capello's leadership, but were later stripped of their trophies due to involvement in the Italian match-fixing scandal.

In July 2006, with Juventus in the midst of the aforementioned match-fixing scandal, Capello resigned as Juventus manager. Press reports strongly linked him with a move back to Real Madrid; new club president Ramon Calderon had publicly stated his desire for Capello's return to the club. On July 5 2006, the official Real Madrid website announced the incorporation on Fabio Capello [2]. Capello most notably coached Real to the La Liga title in 1996-97 in spite of "Ronaldo-mania" at Barcelona.

Capello was criticized by Juventus captain Alessandro Del Piero, as Fabio Cannavaro and Emerson also left for Real Madrid, with some believing that Capello had privately persuaded the players to follow him.

Real Madrid again

Capello quickly drew the disdain of Real Madrid's ardent supporters because of his defensive playing style. In interviews, Capello attacked those critics by saying that the beauty of attacking plays are old. He said that results are much more important than playing beautifully. He also added that "those days are over".

At Real Madrid, Capello had several high-profile falling outs. He was criticized for not playing David Beckham and Ronaldo, leading Beckham to end contract extension talks with the club and sign with LA Galaxy instead, while Ronaldo bought out the remainder of his contract to move to A.C. Milan. Capello also feuded with fellow country man Antonio Cassano; the two previously had disputes in the past while at AS Roma. Capello had not played Cassano for over a month at Real Madrid and the young striker reportedly shouted out at him "Have you got no shame? I fought for you in Rome and this is how you repay me". This led to the young Italian being suspended by the club.[3]

In January, Madrid was again eliminated early from the Champions League and the team was mired in fourth place in the league, six points behind leader FC Barcelona. On Tuesday, 20 February, Real Madrid was forced to deny rumors that Capello would be leaving after that day's match. Ramon Calderon, the chairman of Real Madrid reiterated that the reason they went with the defensive and stern Capello was because he had all the ingredients to success.

Despite the unrest, Capello recalled Beckham and a string of successful results in the latter half of the season took Madrid to the top of the table, while Barcelona's play became inconsistent. Real Madrid won their 30th league title on the final day of the season by beating Real Mallorca 3-1 at home coming from 0-1 down, pipping Barcelona on better head-to-head results. Capello was sacked as manager of Real Madrid on 28 June 2007.[4]

Honors as coach


Notes

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ Channel4.com
  4. ^ "Real Madrid sack manager Capello". BBC Sport. 2007-06-28. Retrieved 2007-06-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
Preceded by Serie A Coach of the Year
2005 		Succeeded by
Preceded by AS Roma manager
1999-2004 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Real Madrid manager
2006-2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UEFA Champions League Winning Coach
1993-94 		Succeeded by
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