Paolo Negro played for Lazio from 1993 to 2005.
Negro was born in Arzignano (Brescia), on 16 April, 1972.
Negro was a strong, physical defender who also excelled in the air. He had good pace when moving forward and despite his role was often on the score sheet.
He was a product of the Brescia youth sector but his senior career started at Bologna, where he spent 2 years before returning to his local club Brescia. A year later, in 1993, he was bought by Lazio where he spent the next 12 years. Negro arrived amid some scepticism from Lazio fans and local media. He did take a while settling in but over the following decade established himself as an excellent defender pairing up well both with Nesta and Sinisa Mihajlovic in the centre and also as an all round full back.
He played 376 games for Lazio (264 in Serie A, 47 in Coppa Italia, 23 in Champions League, 3 in the Cup Winners Cup, 37 in the UEFA Cup, one UEFA Super Cup final and one Super Coppa final) scoring 24 goals (19 in Serie A, 3 in Coppa Italia, one in Champions League and one in the UEFA Cup). He played under Zdenek Zeman, Dino Zoff and Sven Goran Eriksson amongst others. He won 8 trophies with Lazio including the “Scudetto” in 2000 and the European Super Cup in 1999 against Manchester United.
Negro will always be remembered on both sides of the Tiber due to his unfortunate own goal in the 2001 derby loss to Roma. He was then assiduously mocked for years by the “Giallorossi” fans but in all fairness it was probably Nesta who was more at fault for the blunder.
Negro did however get his revenge years later when playing for Siena, where he played for 2 years after leaving Lazio, between 2005 and 2007. Negro's payback moment came when he scored for Siena against Roma at the Olimpico in a shock 3-2 away victory, with all 3 goals coming from former Lazio players (Negro, Enrico Chiesa and Francesco Colonnese). It was no more "Paolo Negro gol" chants from taunting Roma fans.
At International level he won 8 caps for the 'Azzurri' national team and 10 for the Under 21's. He played a major role in Italy's runner-ups medal at the 2000 European Championships.
Paolo Negro will always be remembered fondly at Lazio for his quiet, unassuming, yet jovial character and especially for his key role in the glory years.
Lazio career
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | Cup Winners Cup | UEFA Cup | UEFA Super Cup | Super Coppa |
1993-94 | 26 (1) | 23 (1) | 1 | - | - | 2 | - | - |
1994-95 | 48 (8) | 32 (4) | 8 (3) | - | - | 8 (1) | - | - |
1995-96 | 39 (1) | 31 (1) | 4 | - | - | 4 | - | - |
1996-97 | 35 (3) | 27 (3) | 3 | - | - | 4 | - | - |
1997-98 | 47 (2) | 28 (2) | 10 | - | - | 9 | - | - |
1998-99 | 28 (3) | 21 (3) | 4 | - | 3 | - | - | |
1999-00 | 42 (3) | 26 (2) | 5 | 10 (1) | - | - | 1 | - |
2000-01 | 32 (1) | 24 (1) | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - |
2001-02 | 25 (1) | 16 (1) | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | - |
2002-03 | 28 (1) | 19 (1) | 3 | - | - | 6 | - | - |
2003-04 | 17 | 13 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - |
2004-05 | 10 | 4 | 1 | - | - | 4 | - | 1 |
Total | 376 (24) | 264 (19) | 47 (3) | 23 (1) | 3 | 37 (1) | 1 | 1 |
Sources