Attilio Lombardo was born in Santa Maria La Fossa (Caserta) on January 6, 1966. He was born in southern Italy but as a boy moved up north to Zelo Buon Persico (Lodi). He is nicknamed "Bombetta" (Bowler hat), "Popeye" and Bald Eagle.
He started his career with Pergocrema in C2. He played 38 games and scored 9 goals before moving on but staying in Lombardy.
In 1985 he joined Cremonese. He stayed four seasons in Cremona, the last ending in promotion to Serie A in June 1989. He played 168 games for the "Grigiorossi" with 21 goals.
In 1989 he changed teams and became a "Blucerchiato" at Sampdoria. In Genoa he would have a golden period. With Vujadin Boskov as manager he won the Cup Winners Cup 1990), the Scudetto (1991) and an Italian Supercoppa (1991). He played in the 1992 European Cup lost 1-0 to Barcelona at Wembley. Then under Sven-Goran Eriksson he won the Coppa Italia (1994). He was part of a formidable team including; the late Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Mancini, Pietro Vierchowod, Toninho Cerezo just to name a few). With "Il Doria" he made 272 appearances and scored 51 goals. His main task however was setting up goals for the fantastic Vialli-Mancini partnership.
In 1995 he joined Juventus under Marcello Lippi. His first season was almost a write off as he broke his leg before the league had even started. He however returned in time to play 17 games (13 Serie A, 4 Champions League) with 2 league goals. He won an Italian Supercoppa (1995) and the Champions League (1996) but not as a protagonist.
He returned to form the following season and actively helped Juve win the Scudetto, Intercontinental Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. He played a total of 51 games for the "Old Lady" with 4 goals.
In 1997 he tried the English Premier League experience and joined Crystal Palace. He played 24 games in his first year with 5 goals and even became player manager in March 1998 but the Eagles were relegated. The following year in the Championship he played 254 games with 5 goals until January 1999 when he returned to Italy.
He joined another "Eagled" club, Lazio. In Rome he was reunited with manager Sven-Goran Eriksson plus former teammates Mancini and Sinisa Mihajlovic. This was to be another golden period for Lombardo. He only stayed that first half season, the next one and another half season but in his time with the Biancocelesti won a European Cup Winners Cup (1999), a European Supercup (1999), a Coppa Italia (2000), an Italian Supercoppa (2000) and above all the Scudetto (2000). He played a total of 63 games with 5 goals (Bari, Perugia, Sampdoria x2, Inter).
In January 2001 with Eriksson sacked he went back to Sampdoria in Serie B. He stayed a first half season and a full following one playing another 34 games with 1 goal.
At 36 he retired and has since gone into managing. He has a son who is now a professional footballer.
At International level he won 18 caps for Italy but never played in major tournament finals.
As a manager he started off with Sampdoria youth teams before a series of teams in lower levels. In 2010 he collaborated with Manchester City for two years with his friend Roberto Mancini. He then followed "Mancio" to Turkey with Galatasaray. In 2014-15 he was assistant to another former Lazio, Roberto Di Matteo at Schalke 04. Between 2014-16 he was assistant to Sinisa Mihajlovic at Torino and since 2019 he has been working for the Italian National team, obviously with his old buddy Roberto Mancini.
Lombardo was an excellent club player. He was an attacking right winger. He was extremely athletic, an untiring runner up and down his wing. He reached his peak at Sampdoria but remained a competitive player even after his serious injury. He scored goals but his speciality was darting dribbling and assists for his attacking teammates. He was an incredibly generous and hard working player and modern in the sense he could attack and defend.
At Lazio he was liked for his jovial character but also made a decisive contribution to the 2000 Scudetto. Players like Lombardo and Matias Almeyda were needed to bring some balance to a star studded team. Lombardo also scored the vital goal in the 1-0 victory over Perugia, six matches from the end, which kept Lazio’s dream alive. Thanks also to Lombardo that dream then became reality. Lombardo will always be one of the boys of 2000.
Lazio career
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | Cup Winners Cup | UEFA Super Cup | Super Coppa |
Jan-Jun 1999 | 19 (2) | 14 (1) | 1 (1) | - | 5 | - | - |
1999-00 | 22 (1) | 10 (1) | 6 | 5 | - | 1 | - |
2000- Jan 2001 | 21 (2) | 9 | 4 (2) | 7 | - | - | 1 |
Total | 63 (5) | 33 (2) | 11 (3) | 12 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
Sources