Massimo Carrera is a famous Italian footballer and coach. As a player, he was remembered for playing for Bari, Juventus and Atalanta. Now he is the head coach of the current champion of Russia - Moscow “Spartak”.
Biographical data
Massimo Carrera was born in April 1964 in the small Italian town of Sesto San Giovanni. He started playing football from the age of six, and a few years later he decided on the role - he became a defender.
According to Carrera himself, since childhood he was interested in coaching, so he always tried to learn something new from each mentor.
The beginning of a professional career
The first professional club for football player Massimo Carrera was Pro Sesto, playing in one of the lower Italian divisions. Here he spent a year, after which he moved to Russi, and in 1984 the defender moved to Piedmont, where he played for Alessandria.
In the 1985/86 season, Massimo Carrera made his debut in Serie B, Italy's second most prestigious football division. Here he spent 19 fights and scored one goal. The magnificent play of the young defender attracted attention from other clubs, so at the end of the season he moved to the south of Italy - to Bari.
Club career
Playing for the local team of the same name, Massimo Carrera helped her to break into Serie A for the first time in a long time. The defender was soon chosen as captain, and a few years later became a true legend of “Bari”. He spent 5 great seasons here, played in 156 matches, in which he scored 4 goals.
In 1991, Massimo Carrera realized his childhood dream - he became a player in Turin Juventus. The period spent in the “Bianco Neri” under the leadership of the legendary Giovanni Trapattoni, became the finest hour of the football player.
As a player of Juventus, Carrera collected almost all possible club trophies in Europe: he became the champion of the country, the owner of the Cup and Super Cup of Italy, won the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League.
In 1996, due to strong competition for a place in the first team, Massimo said goodbye to the Turin team. In “Juventus” for 5 seasons, he played in 114 matches and scored 1 goal.
The next club for Massimo Carrera was Atalanta. Here he spent the next 7 seasons. During this time, Carrera became not only the captain of the team, but also so popular in Bergamo that they even wrote songs in his honor.
For “Atalanta” the defender spent 207 matches and scored 7 goals. After that there was a good season spent in Napoli, and then the clubs from Serie B - Treviso and Pro Vercelli. In 2008, a 44-year-old football player completed his playing career.
In the Italian team, Massimo Carrera was not in demand due to the huge competition. For his country, he played in only one friendly match against San Marino, after which he was not called up.
Start of coaching
Since 2009, Massimo Carrera continued his activities at Juventus. He became the first assistant to the legendary former Bianco Neri player Antonio Conte. Carrera was involved in the training process of the defenders, and soon became the main adviser and best friend of the mentor of “Old Signora”.
In 2011, an incident was extremely unpleasant for Massimo. He nearly went to prison on murder charges. The fact is that on New Year's Eve, a car driven by a drunk driver crashed into a car in which there were two girls. As a result of a collision of their cars with extinct headlights, they remained on an unlit section of the road. Carrera did not see this car and crashed into it at full speed. Both girls died as a result of the blow, and Massimo nearly received a prison term for double murder. Fortunately for him, the lawyers were able to prove that Carrera could not do anything in this situation, so he was completely acquitted.
When in 2012, Conte was disqualified due to contractual matches, Massimo replaced him with a non-coaching post. And he did it very well, having won the Italian Super Cup.
In 2014, Conte was appointed head coach of the Italian national team. Massimo Carrera followed him. Here he spent two years until Conte moved to work at London's Chelsea. But there was no place for Carrera, so he began an independent career.
Triumph at Spartak
In 2016, an Italian specialist received an offer from the coach of Moscow “Spartak” Dmitry Alenichev to become a coach of the defensive line. Without hesitation, Massimo Carrera accepted the invitation. So he ended up in Russia. However, soon, Alenichev was dismissed from his post after failing performances in the Europa League. After some hesitation, the leadership of the Moscow team appointed Massimo Carrera as the head coach of Spartak.
Despite the skepticism of many experts and ordinary fans, the Italian mentor quickly silenced all the pessimists. He began with a landslide victory in the match against “Krasnodar”, and then his wards for three more matches in a row did not lose points. By the middle of the season, Spartak fans believed that the club for the first time since 2001 could again really compete for the league title.
And Massimo Carrera did not let them down. “Spartak” confidently won the Russian championship, and then won the match for the country's Super Bowl. In addition, the “red-white” got the right to play in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
