Well there have been a few fine keepers during my time watching Serie A including Walter Zenga, Gianluca Pagliuca, Francesco Toldo & the underrated Sebastiano Rossi. Today we have Gianluigi Buffon arguably the worlds best. But for me a keeper that stood out was Former Juventus & Lazio goalie Angelo Peruzzi.

I mainly remember Peruzzi for his spell at Juve & then Lazio. But he also played for Roma, Verona & Inter. As I say though his time at Juventus is always top of my mind.

He joined Juve after serving a ban for taking an appetite suppressant (he had the nickname of Big Bear), he has always looked tubby & maybe a reason for me liking Peruzzi was the fact he reminds me of my favourite Goalie Andy Goram who was also podgy & a lover of food. A reason for this is that both of them were also short keepers, Peruzzi is only 5ft 11! Both were also two of the best keepers in the mid 90s.

He came to Turin wanting to prove himself after the suspension & boy did he do that! He was a winner. In his eight seasons with La Vecchia Signora he played 25 times or more in 7 seasons. Effectively he was their number one during a golden era playing alongside Gianluca Vialli, Ciro Ferrara, Roberto Baggio, Zinedine Zidane & Alessandro Del Piero. So with those greats people can forget Angelo but to win anything you need to not concede goals as well as score them.

He was sold to Inter, following Marcello Lippi. Juventus thought that Van Der Sar was a better option, that did not work out for Juve but they finally replaced Angelo shirt with Buffon. Peruzzi’s move to Inter did not work either but he found his form again with Lazio. In fact in his last season as a pro with Lazio he won his 3rd Oscar del Calcio (Serie A keeper of the Year).

One thing that stands out in his keeping for me was his ability to get down make a save & get back up ready to make another. His reflex save were also extraordinary.  He was a cheeky happy go lucky man on the pitch but was also unlucky at times & a bit stubborn.

For Italy, Angelo won 31 caps but was never quite number one at the right times. He missed France 98 & Euro 2000 through injuries. He turned down the chance to be the Italian number three at the World Cup 2002 claiming they already had mascots. In a fairytale like story Peruzzi did decide to go as a back up keeper in 2006 & the Azzurri won the World Cup that year.

He claimed so many other prizes including 3 Serie A titles, a Champions League winners medal, where Peruzzi saved two penalties against Ajax in a penalty shoot-out. He also won a UEFA Cup. Plus a Coppa Italia with Lazio. Plus three Serie Goalkeeper of the Year awards.

He was a fantastic charismatic Keeper & deserved his success. Peruzzi retired aged 37. Angelo now assists with the Italian U21 squad.

Posted on March 19th, 2011 by scott
Filed under: Serie A Heroes