Danilo Cataldi is a typical Lazio Story. He has been at Lazio since he was a kid and has always been a Lazio fan. Easy to appease, all he wants is to play and train for his beloved team. And he is not too bad, unlike what many critical fans say.
Born in Rome on August 6, 1994, he joined Lazio in the 2006-07 season. He went through all of the youth teams and many predicted a bright future for him. He won the 2012-13 Primavera Championship together with Thomas Strakosha and Keita Balde.
In 2013-14 he participated in Lazio’s pre-season training but Lazio wanted him to gain experience so they sent him on loan to Crotone in Serie B. He did very well in Calabria, so Lazio took him back the next season. Due to a string of injuries, he skipped most of the winter but was occasionally played by Stefano Pioli in the rest of the season. Lazio did very well and made it to the Champions League playoff and Cataldi too benefited from the team playing well.
The 2015-16 season was not so good. The team was at a loss unable to replicate the previous year’s form. Pioli too seemed in total confusion. Cataldi did not do as well but he scored his first goal in Serie A on January 24 2016 against Chievo Verona.
He scored again in the beginning of the 2016-17 season under Simone Inzaghi but started playing less and less so he asked to go on loan somewhere to get more playing time. In January he went to Genoa. This is where the problems started.
Genoa were not doing very well when Lazio went to play at the Ferraris Stadium. When Goran Pandev scored in the second half putting Genoa ahead, Cataldi was accused of celebrating a bit too much. Many fans saw it as a betrayal and the club was not that pleased either. On coming back from Genoa he was sent to Benevento for the 2017-18 season on loan but with an obligatory buy-out option in case Benevento managed to stay in Serie A. It looked as if Lazio no longer believed in him.
Benevento were relegated at the end of the season but Cataldi played well and it seemed as if he has finally found his place in Italian football. He came back to Lazio willing to accept the bench. All he wanted to do was to play for Lazio. The fans forgave him, only some of them at first but more and more as he continued to play. He won over everybody’s hearts on March 19 2019 when he scored Lazio’s third goal against Roma.
Both Inzaghi and Maurizio Sarri used him as a play maker when Lucas Leiva was too tired or injured. It may not be his natural role, but he has improved and is always ready to give 100%. In 2022-23 he became the titual player for the role.
So far (up to the 2022-23 season) Cataldi has played for Lazio 210 times (160 in Serie A, 12 in Coppa Italia, 4 in Champions League, 30 in Europa League, 2 times in the Conference League, and twice in Supercoppa) and has scored nine times (6 in Serie A and one each in Coppa Italia, Europa League and Supercoppa).
Lazio Career (updated April 3, 2024)
Season | Total (Goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | Europa League | Conference League | Super Coppa |
2014-15 | 21 | 16 | 5 | - | - | - | - |
2015-16 | 27 (2) | 20 (1) | 1 (1) | - | 5 | - | 1 |
2016-Jan 2017 | 11 (1) | 11 (1) | - | - | - | - | - |
2018-19 | 18 (2) | 12 (2) | - | - | 6 | - | - |
2019-20 | 28 (2) | 21 (1) | 1 | - | 5 | - | 1 (1) |
2020-21 | 23 | 19 | - | 4 | - | - | - |
2021-22 | 43 (2) | 32 (1) | 3 | - | 8 (1) | - | - |
2022-23 | 39 | 29 | 2 | - | 6 | 2 | ​ |
2023-24 | 31 (1) | 23 (1) | 2 | 5 | - | - | 1 |
Total | 241 (10) | 183 (7) | 14 (1) | 9 | 30 (1) | 2 | 3 (1) |
Sources