Dario Marcolin played for Lazio from 1992 to 2000.
In that Cremonese team there were three players that the next season would play for Lazio: Beppe Favalli, Mauro Bonomi and Dario Marcolin. All three were stars of the Italy Under 21 National team and Sergio Cragnotti thought that if there was a need to start a long term cycle, why not start from the crème de la crème of Italian young football.
Marcolin was born in Brescia on October 28, 1971. He grew up from a footballing perspective in a local team before arriving at Cremonese in 1984. He debuted in Serie A on February 18 1990 and played at Cremona for three years. He was very highly considered and Lazio set their eyes on him.
He joined the Biancocelesti in the 1992-93 season but did not really impress in the first season.
He was then loaned first to Cagliari and then Genoa a year after. He returned to Lazio for the 1995-96 season and appeared 25 times, often from the bench. But it was to be expected. Marcolin was not the type of player that one could see as a first choice player for Zdenek Zeman. He played slightly less the next year but appeared more often once Sven Goran Eriksson took over. In the 1997-98 season he played a lot in the Coppa Italia and UEFA Cup and won his first silverware, the Coppa Italia. He also participated in the victorious Super Coppa final in Turin against Juventus in 1998 before being sent on loan to Blackburn Rovers.
After a not so positive year in England he came back for the triumphant 1999-00 season and won a Scudetto (though he never played in Serie A) and a Coppa Italia (5 appearances). At the end of the season he signed for Sampdoria in Serie B.
He was a key player for the blucerchiati and played two seasons in Genoa before going to Piacenza in 2002, in Serie A. He did not last long and in January 2002 he moved to Napoli, again in Serie B, where he stayed for two seasons. When Napoli went bust in 2004 he became a free agent and joined Palazzolo in Serie C2 for his last year as an 11- a- side footballer. In 2005-06 he played 5-a-side for a year and even earned a cap for Italy.
Marcolin was a pillar of the Italian Under 21 team. He played 32 times for them, including the Olympic team, and won the Under 21 European championship of 1992 and 1994.
When he stopped playing he became a manager, first as assistant at Brescia and then for Roberto Mancini at Inter. He coached Monza in 2008 but was fired in December. In 2009-10 he joined Catania as assistant coach for Sinisa Mihajlovic and continued with the Serb the next season too but this time for Fiorentina.
His solo experiences at Modena, Padova, Catania and Avellino were not very lucky, so the next step was punditry, first at Sky and since 2018 at Dazn.
Dario Marcolin played 111 times for Lazio (70 in Serie A with two goals on penalties, 24 in Coppa Italia, 2 in Champions League, once in the Cup Winners Cup, 13 in the UEFA Cup and once in the Super Coppa final).
Lazio Career
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions Leage | Cup Winners Cup | UEFA Cup | Super Coppa |
1992-93 | 19 | 15 | 4 | - | - | - | - |
1993-94 | 8 | 4 | 2 | - | - | 2 | - |
1995-96 | 25 | 20 | 3 | - | - | 2 | - |
1996-97 | 19 | 13 | 3 | - | - | 3 | - |
1997-98 | 31 (2) | 18 (2) | 7 | - | - | 6 | - |
1998-99 | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
1999-00 | 7 | - | 5 | 2 | - | - | - |
Total | 111 (2) | 70 (2) | 24 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 1 |
Sources