The last few years, the famous Italian football manager Roberto Mancini is often criticized by sports experts. And I must say, not without reason. The Italian received a practically bottomless budget and unlimited opportunities in Manchester City, but he failed to please the club’s bosses and the army of thousands of fans of the “blue moon” with a triumph in the Champions League. On the other hand, if you evaluate the coaching career of Mancini as a whole, then, for sure, he will enter the top 3 most titled of his compatriots.
Player career
Roberto Mancini - a graduate of the Bologna club from the north of Italy, also took the first steps in professional football, speaking mainly in the position of right-handed striker. The striker already in his first season managed to score nine times, which attracted the interest of Sampdoria, who occupied the leading positions in the Italian Serie A at the end of the last century. Roberto composed a powerful attacking duet with another Italian footballer, Gianluca Vialli, as a member of the “blue-ball”.
In just fifteen seasons in a blue and white T-shirt, Mancini spent about five hundred matches and became the champion of Italy with the team. Also on his account are four won the Cup of the country, the Super Bowl and the European Cup Winners Cup. The Italian striker was one of those who created a formidable reputation for that “Sampdoria” in European battles. Needless to say, over the course of a decade and a half, Roberto Mancini was the main idol of Luigi Ferraris. A photo of a player with won titles can still be seen in the club’s club museum from Genoa.
At the end of his player’s career, the forward managed to play in the Roman Lazio for three years (with which, by the way, he won six titles, including the Cup of Cups) and even spent five games in the English Premier League as part of Leicester.
Coaching
While still a Lazio player, Roberto Mancini, thanks to his vast experience, often acted as an assistant to the head coach of the Romans Sven-Goran Ericsson. It is not surprising that in 2000, the ex-striker of the "blue" headed one of the clubs of Serie A - Fiorentina. The first pancake, as usual, turned out to be lumpy, and only a few months later the coach left Florence. Somewhat better things with the young specialist went to his native “Lazio”. Roberto won the Italian Cup with the team, but soon he was also forced to leave the capital's club due to financial troubles and scandals related to the activities of the president.
From 2004 to 2008, Mancini headed Inter Milan, with which he achieved very good success in the domestic arena. The Italian mentor three times became the champion of the country and two more triumphs in the national Cup. Later (in 2014), Roberto signed a contract with Nerazzurri for two more seasons, but he didn’t just fail to win anything with the team, but also showed uninteresting meaningless football.
Cadres decide everything
The main achievement of Mancini during his management of the Milanese team is rightfully considered not to have won titles (although the Italian has been very successful in this aspect), but to be able to get a potentially strong player in the team for relatively little money or completely free. For four years, Hernan Crespo, Dejan Stankovic, Julio Cesar and Esteban Cambiasso came to the club, and Roberto Mancini is very difficult to overestimate the merit in these transfers. The model of his Inter was even used by the odious Jose Mourinho, who in 2010 won the Champions League with the Nerazzurri.
At Manchester City
At the end of the first decade of the new century in football England, another money project appeared, built on Arab capital, called Manchester City. Roberto Mancini, with whom the club signed a contract for 3.5 years, was invited to manage the new “machine”.
The Italian continued to show the wonders of football instinct in the Foggy Albion, how else to explain that with his arrival Yaya Toure, David Silva and current attack leader Sergio Aguero appeared on the team? By the way, it is this trinity that makes up the backbone of the "blue moon" to this day.
In Manchester, the Italian spent four years and left mixed memories of himself. On the one hand, after several decades, he returned the club titles and began to play in a spectacular and effective football. On the other hand, by investing fabulous sums in the development of the City, the Arab sheikhs probably intended to win the main European tournament - the Champions League, and the Italians failed to do so.
