Roberto Muzzi was born in Marino (Rome), on September 21, 1971.
He started playing football with his local neighbourhood Morena. He then passed on to Pro Calcio Italia and then Roma.
His arrival at the Giallorossi was not entirely smooth. Muzzi is a lifelong Lazio fan. Legend has it that when he presented himself at the Roma training ground he was wearing a Lazio Eagle pendant, Bruno Conti, the Roma legend working in the youth sector, was not impressed and said, "you can take off that chicken for a start".
Muzzi eventually settled in and made his first team debut on February 11, 1990 against Inter. It would be his only game under Luigi Radice that year.
The following season he played more under Ottavio Bianchi. He made 15 league appearances and with 3 goals (Cesena, Lecce, Pisa), 3 in Coppa Italia and 5 in the UEFA Cup. Roma won the Coppa Italia and were UEFA Cup finalists (Inter 2-1 on aggregate).
In 1991-92 he played 10 league games with 1 goal (Verona), 2 in Coppa Italia with 1 goal (Lucchese), 1 game in the Cup Winners Cup and 1 in the Italian Supercoppa. Under manager Bianchi, Roma came 5th. They lost the Super Coppa final to Sampdoria 1-0.
The 1992-93 would be his last full season for the "Lupi". He played more regularly under new manager Vujadin Boškov, making 24 league appearances with 1 goal (Torino), 7 in Coppa Italia with 1 goal (Milan) and 4 in the UEFA Cup with 2 goals (Wacker Innsbruck, Galatasaray). Roma came 10th and were losing finalists in the Coppa Italia (Torino 5-5, on away goals).
The following season after 5 league games and 1 goal (winner against Juventus) and 1 game in Coppa Italia he left the capital. With a new manager, Carletto Mazzone, Roma had bought striker Abel Balbo so Muzzi was loaned to Pisa in Serie B.
In Tuscany played 23 league games with 8 goals. For the Pisani however it was a difficult season and they were relegated to C1 after a playoff against Sicilians Acireale, lost 4-3 on penalties.
Muzzi therefore returned to Roma but did not stay long. After 2 league games under Mazzone he made possibly the best move of his career and in 1994 joined Cagliari in Serie A. He spent five good seasons in Sardinia.
He played under Oscar Tabarez, Giovanni Trapattoni (then Bruno Giorgi), Gregorio Perez (then Mazzone) and Gianpiero Ventura for two seasons with 9th,10th,15th (relegated), 3rd in B (promoted) and finally 13th place finishes. Muzzi played 144 league games for "Casteddu" (Cagliari in Sardinian) and scored 58 goals. He also scored another 6 goals in Coppa Italia.
In 1999 he left the "Isolani" and joined Udinese. He played four seasons in Serie A with the Friulani, under Luigi De Canio, De Canio again (then Luciano Spalletti), Roy Hodgson (then Ventura) and Spalletti again. The Bianconeri came 8th (qualified for Intertoto Cup), 12th (won Intertoto Cup), 14th and 6th (qualified for UEFA Cup). Muzzi played 103 league games and scored 39 goals. He also scored 2 in the UEFA Cup (Aalborg and Polonia Warszawa), 3 in the Intertoto Cup (Aalborg, Austria Vienna, Sigma Olomouc) and 1 in Coppa Italia (Inter).
In 2003 he finally joined the club he had supported as a child. He arrived at Lazio just as the golden era of Cragnotti had finished. The Biancocelesti however still had some good players; Angelo Peruzzi, César, Sinisa Mihajlovic, Jaap Stam, Beppe Favalli, Fernando Couto, Stefano Fiore, Dejan Stankovic, Claudio Lopez just to name a few. The manager was former player Roberto Mancini.
In his first season Muzzi played 22 league games with 1 goal (Udinese), 6 in Coppa Italia with 2 goals (Modena, Parma) and 6 in the UEFA Champions League with 1 goal (Beşiktaş). Lazio finished 6th in the league (UEFA qualification) but did not get through the first group phase in CL. In the last match against Beşiktaş, Muzzi scored a superb scissor kick goal. In a post match interview he was translated as saying, "my goal was useless" (obviously for worthless but it was ironic seeing the sublime quality of the goal). Lazio and Muzzi found glory however in the Coppa Italia, which they lifted to the sky on a magical Turin evening, after beating Juventus 4-2 on aggregate (2-0, 2-2).
In the 2004-05 season, first under Domenico Caso and then Giuseppe Papadopulo, he played less with 16 league appearances and 3 goals (Atalanta, Livorno, Palermo),1 game in the Coppa Italia, 4 in the UEFA Cup and 3 goals (Metalurh Donec'k, Egaleo x2) plus the Super Coppa final (lost 3-0 to Milan).
The following season he left for Torino in Serie B and stayed two seasons. The first under Gianni De Biasi and "Toro" came 3rd winning promotion. Muzzi played 29 league games plus 4 in the playoffs and scored 8 goals.
In 2006-07, first under Alberto Zaccheroni and then from the 26th game Gianni De Biasi, the Granata struggled and finished 16th. Muzzi played 28 league games with 3 goals (Siena, Messina and the winner away against Roma).
The last two years of his career he spent at Padova in C1. He played 23 league games with 4 goals. In his second year the "Biancoscudati" (The White-shielded) won promotion up to Serie B after the playoffs and so made their return after eleven years.
At this point at almost 38 he retired.
At international level he earned 5 U18 caps (3 goals), 19 U21 caps (4 goals) and played 5 games for Italy Olympic team. He won two U21 European Championships, in 1992 and 1994.
After retiring he returned to the Roma youth sector until 2015. He also had a brief spell as assistant coach to Aurelio Andreazzoli in 2013. This meant he was on the bench for Roma when they lost the Cup Final to Lazio on May 26 ... surely a strange sensation for a self professed Lazio fan.
He was then assistant coach at Panathinaikos in 2015-16, under Giovanni Stramaccioni. He then followed Stramaccioni to Sparta Prague until March 2017. In 2019 he collaborated with Empoli, in 2020 with Genoa and then on November 23, 2020 became manager at Empoli for 8 matches. On December 26 he took over at Cagliari for one match between the sacking of former Lazio Fabio Liverani and the appointment of Claudio Ranieri (Muzzi won his game 2-0 vs Cosenza).
Muzzi was a good club player. At 1.78 and 77 kilos he was strong physically but also quick and resistant. In the first part of his career especially, he was very effective on the counter attack. With age he obviously slowed down but still retained his acrobatic skills (as his goal against Beşiktaş proves). His best years were at Cagliari, in particular (he is in their Hall of Fame), and Udinese. He scored 152 career club goals in all competitions.
At Lazio he arrived having already passed his peak. He achieved the not minor satisfaction of playing for the club he supported and won a Coppa Italia. He had a good club career, maybe with a bit too much red and yellow in it, but playing for his boyhood team and lifting silverware was extra special.
Lazio career
Season | Total Games (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | UEFA Cup | Intertoto Cup | Super Coppa |
2003-04 | 34 (4) | 22 (1) | 6 (2) | 6 (1) | - | - | - |
2004-05 | 23 (6) | 16 (3) | 2 | - | 4 (3) | - | 1 |
Jul-Sep 2005 | 5 (1) | 1 | - | - | - | 4 (1) | - |
Total | 62 (11) | 39 (4) | 8 (2) | 6 (1) | 4 (3) | 4 (1) | 1 |
Sources
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