Antonio Angelillo

Antonio Valentín Angelillo was born in Buenos Aires, on September 5, 1937.

Source Wikipedia

 As a boy he played for Arsenal de Llavallol. In 1955 he joined Racing Club de Avellaneda. He played 9 games for La Academia and scored 3 goals.

In 1956 he signed for Boca Juniors. He played a total of 36 games with 19 goals for the La Azul y Oro before leaving for Europe.

In 1957 he joined Inter where he stayed four seasons. He played a total of 129 games and scored 77 goals (68 in A). In 1958-59 he was top Serie A scorer with 33 goals. Inter finished 11th, 3rd, 4th and 3rd. His managers were former Lazio Jesse Carver, former Lazio Giuseppe Bigogno, Frank Pedersen, Aldo Campatelli, Camillo Achilli and Helenio Herrera. In his last season Angelillo's performances deteriorated and the manager Herrera accused him of enjoying the "dolce vita" too much, at the time he was seeing a well-known ballerina called Attilia Tironi (stage name - Ilya Lopez) and was then sold.

In 1961 he joined Roma and stayed four positive seasons. In the capital he began to play more as a playmaker in midfield in a total of 152 games and with 41 goals (27 in A). Roma finished 5th twice, 12th and 9th. In 1961 the Giallorossi won the Fairs Cup and in 1964 the Coppa Italia. The managers were Luis Carniglia, Alfredo Foni, Luis Miró and Juan Carlos Lorenzo (Foni and Lorenzo two former Lazio connections).

In 1965 he returned to Milan and joined A.C Milan. He was not welcomed well by the fans who saw him as an Interista. He only played 21 games (11 in A) and scored 3 goals. The Rossoneri finished 7th, first under Nils Liedholm and then Giovanni Catozzo.

In 1966-67 he played for Lecco in A for a season. He played 25 games (22 in A) with 1 goal. The Blucelesti came 17th and were relegated, under Angelo Piccioli. He played alongside future Lazio, Sergio Clerici.

In the summer of 1967, he went with Napoli on a tour of South America in the hope of being signed by the Partenopei. His average performances and the injury to his main sponsor Omar Sivori meant the Neapolitans made other choices.

In 1967-68 he accepted to return to A.C Milan as a reserve and only played 9 games (3 in A) with 1 goal. The Rossoneri won the Scudetto under Nereo Rocco.

In 1968-69 he played for Genoa for a year in Serie B. He played 24 games (22 in B) with 5 goals. The Rossoblu finished 6th. The managers were Aldo Campatelli and Maurizio Bruno who alternated with two spells each.

His last club were amateurs Angelana (Assisi-Umbria), for two seasons 1969-71. He was player-manager. He made 19 appearances with 3 goals. In 1970-71 they won their league (Prima Categoria).

He then retired as a player but continued as a manager. His clubs were: Montevarchi (1971-72, D, 1st and promoted), Chieti (1972-73, C, 6th), Campobasso (1973-1974, D, 2nd), Rimini (1974-75, C, 2nd), Brescia (1975-77, B, 5th and 16th-sacked after 21 games), Reggina (1977-78, C, 3rd-sacked during season), Pescara (1978-80, B 3rd and promoted, in A sacked after 5 games), Arezzo (1981-84, C, 1st and promoted, B, 11th and 5th), Avellino (1984-85, A, 11th), Palermo (1985-1986, B, 16th but sacked during season), Mantova (1986-87 C1, took over after 20 games, 15th and relegated), Arezzo (1987-1988, B, took over after 21 games, 20th and relegated), FAR Rabat (1988-90, one league title in 1988-'89), Morocco national team (1889-90), Torres (1990-1991, C1, took over during season, 15th and relegated) and finally Osorno in Chile in 1994.

He then worked as a talent scout for Inter. One of his positive intuitions was bringing Javier Zanetti to the Nerazzurri. The Argentine defender would go on to become an absolute legend at the club.

To summarise, his best results were: promotion to C with Montevarchi, promotion to A with Pescara, promotion to B with Arezzo, 11th place in A with Avellino and a league title in Morocco.

As a player he was a forward who could also play in midfield. He was a prolific striker, especially in his Inter days. He is still top Inter scorer for single season with his 38 total goals in 1958-59 (a record he shares with Giuseppe Meazza)

At international level he played for both Argentina and Italy. For La Albiceleste he played 11 games with 11 goals and won the Copa America in 1957 in Peru (he scored 8 goals). From 1960 as an "oriundo" (his grandfather was from Basilicata) he was eligible to play for Italy (also because he could not return to Argentina for twenty years for allegedly having avoided his military service). He won 2 caps for Italy, playing a friendly against Austria and a 1962 world cup qualifier against Israel in which he scored a goal in a 6-0 win.

He remained in Italy after retiring from football and settled in Arezzo. He died on January 5 2018, in hospital in nearby Siena.

Sources

Wikipedia