.jpg) Aquilani with Liverpool in 2012 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alberto Aquilani[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 7 July 1984[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Rome, Italy | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[2] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2002 | Roma | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2002–2009 | Roma | 102 | (9) | ||||||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | → Triestina (loan) | 41 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 2009–2012 | Liverpool | 18 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2010–2011 | → Juventus (loan) | 33 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011–2012 | → Milan (loan) | 23 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2012–2015 | Fiorentina | 81 | (13) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015–2016 | Sporting CP | 19 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 2016–2017 | Pescara | 9 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2017 | → Sassuolo (loan) | 16 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | Las Palmas | 21 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 358 | (33) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2000 | Italy U16 | 8 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2000–2001 | Italy U17 | 13 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2001–2002 | Italy U18 | 8 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2001–2003 | Italy U19 | 18 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 2003 | Italy U20 | 2 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2004–2007 | Italy U21 | 20 | (5) | ||||||||||||||
| 2006–2014 | Italy | 38 | (5) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2023–2024 | Pisa | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Alberto Aquilani (Italian pronunciation: [alˈbɛrto akwiˈlaːni]; born 7 July 1984) is an Italian football manager and former player. Mainly a central midfielder, he usually operated as a deep-lying playmaker but was also capable of playing as an attacking midfielder.
Aquilani began his career with Italian side Roma and, after a brief loan spell at Triestina, returned to the Serie A club where he became a regular in the Roma side during the 2005–06 season, earning the nickname "Il Principino" (The Little Prince), due to his resemblance to former Roma legend Giuseppe Giannini, both in terms of appearance and playing style, who was known as "Il Principe" (The Prince).[3][4] During the following season, he suffered a thigh injury and was ruled out for several months. In 2007 and 2008 he won consecutive Coppa Italia titles with Roma, as well as the 2007 Supercoppa Italiana.
He moved to English club Liverpool for the start of the 2009–10 season but in August 2010, having received only limited playing time at Anfield due to injury, he returned to Italy and joined Juventus on loan until the end of the 2010–11 season. Aquilani returned to Liverpool at the end of the season as Juventus did not take up their purchase option. He went on loan again in 2011, playing for Italian club Milan for the 2011–12 season, and was subsequently sold to Fiorentina in 2012, where he remained until his transfer to Portuguese club Sporting CP in 2015; he returned to Italy in 2016, joining Pescara, and was later loaned to Sassuolo for the second half the season. In 2017, he joined Spanish club Las Palmas, but was released by the club at the end of the season. After a year without a club, he announced his retirement in 2019.
Internationally, Aquilani has represented Italy at various youth levels, while at senior level, he made his full international début in November 2006 in a 1–1 draw against Turkey. In total, he made 38 appearances for Italy between 2006 and 2014, scoring 5 goals, and also took part at Euro 2008, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup (winning a bronze medal in the tournament), and the 2014 FIFA World Cup with the Italian senior team.
- ^ a b "2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil: List of Players: Italy" (PDF). FIFA. 14 July 2014. p. 21. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 September 2019.
- ^ "Alberto Aquilani". Liverpool F.C. Archived from the original on 5 December 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
- ^ "Alberto Aquilani" (in Italian). Retrieved 16 June 2015.
- ^ Tommaso Bagnai (3 August 2012). "Aquilani, un 'principino' agli ordini di Montella" (in Italian). Viola News. Archived from the original on 12 April 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2015.