When Giuliano Giannichedda decided not to renew his contract with Lazio and move to Juventus, Lazio had a problem. They needed a player who could “break up” the opposition’s game and protect Fabio Liverani. Lotito, not having much money, turned to Serie B to find the solution and he found Gaby Mudingayi.
Gaby was born in Kinshasa on October 1 1981. At eight years of age his family moved to Etterbeek, one of the Brussels municipalities. He was not really interested in football at first but his father wanted him to do a sport and in the end he did chose soccer.
His career started in the Belgian Third Division with Union Saint-Gilliose in 1998. Two years later he moved to Gent in the first division. He was noted by Torino who decided to sign him for their Serie B campaign in January 2004. Torino got promoted in 2004-05 and he gave a great contribution to the cause. But the club was in serious financial difficulties and basically went bust.
Mudingayi was a free agent and signed for Lazio. His first game in Serie A took place at Udine and he slowly became a fundamental player for Delio Rossi’s team. With four matches to the end of the season, Lazio played away against Juventus. A reckless and senseless tackle by Fabio Cannavaro broke Gaby’s leg (Cannavaro will not even be booked). He came back the next season and contributed to Lazio’s Champions League qualification.
Lotito and Delio Rossi made a little revolution with the team for the 2008-09 season and Mudingayi was sold to Bologna, much to the surprise of both the player and the fans.
In Bologna he will play for four excellent seasons, so good that Inter decided that he was a type of player that they could use and signed him in the summer of 2012. His adventure in Milan was hampered by the breaking of his Achilles Heel during the second match of the season against Torino. He was back a year later but only played 3 games. His contract was not renewed and he became a free agent. He played six months in Spain with Elche but their financial crisis did not allow them to confirm the signed contract.
Back in Italy he played nine games for Cesena in Serie A but remained unemployed in the summer of 2015. He finally found a team in Serie B in the October of 2016 but he terminated his contract in January and stopped playing.
He played 83 times for Lazio (69 in Serie A, 7 in Coppa Italia and 7 in Champions League) with the single goal scored in the game against Ascoli.
Gaby Mudingayi even played 17 games for Belgium and participated in Euro 2008 qualifications and the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.
Mudingayi was a much-loved player by the Lazio fans who still remember him fondly to this day.
Appearances and goals for Lazio
Season | Total (Goals scored) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League |
2005-06 | 17 (1) | 14 (1) | 3 | - |
2006-07 | 31 | 28 | 3 | - |
2007-08 | 35 | 27 | 1 | 7 |
Total | 83 (1) | 69 (1) | 7 | 7 |
Sources:
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