Carlo Cudicini

Carlo Cudicini

Personal information
Full name	Carlo Cudicini
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Tottenham Hotspur
Number	23
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1992–1995	Milan	0	(0)
1993–1994	→ Como (loan)	6	(0)
1995–1996	Prato	30	(0)
1996–1997	Lazio	1	(0)
1997–2000	Castel di Sangro	14	(0)
1999–2000	→ Chelsea (loan)	1	(0)
2000–2009	Chelsea	142	(0)
2009–	Tottenham Hotspur	16	(0)
International career
1990–1992	Italy U-18	20	(0)
1992–1993	Italy U-21	1	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:49, 22 January 2011 (UTC)

Carlo Cudicini (born 6 September 1973 in Milan) is an Italian goalkeeper who currently plays for English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. In his 10 years at Chelsea he established himself as one of England's best goalkeepers before injury and the arrival of Petr Cech displaced him as first-choice. He is the son of the illustrious former AC Milan goalkeeper Fabio Cudicini and grandson of Circolo Sportivo Ponziana 1912 defender Guglielmo Cudicini.

Early career

Cudicini found it hard to follow in his father's footsteps, only making two appearances for AC Milan (1991–95) in the Champions League and none in Serie A. He was loaned to Como for a season in 1993–94, and was subsequently transferred to Prato in 1995, and then to Lazio in 1996 where he suffered a wrist injury, and consequently only made one senior appearance. He then moved to Castel di Sangro in 1997, where his injury problems persisted. Howwever he was recommended to the Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli by his friend, the Lazio goalkeeper Luca Marchegiani, and was sold to Chelsea for a fee of £160,000 in 1999, where his career took off.

Chelsea

1999–2003

Despite a brief challenge from Mark Bosnich, Cudicini took over from Ed de Goey almost instantly, and retained his first team place with a string of excellent performances.

He was voted Chelsea's Player of the Year for the 2001–02 season by fans, reflecting the value he added to a team struggling for consistency.

Cudicini was recognised as the best goalkeeper in the Premier League in the 2002–2003 season, when he won the ITV "Golden Gloves" Premiership Goalkeeper of the Season award.

After a bright start to the 2003–04 season, the old injury problems experienced in his Lazio days came back, leaving him unable to carry on his success from last season and unable to play for a large portion of the season. His value to the team was highlighted when Chelsea's replacement goalkeeper Marco Ambrosio failed to effectively fit into the first team, leading to Chelsea's exit from the Champions League at the semi final stage to AS Monaco.

2004–05

The 2004–05 season saw the arrival of new manager José Mourinho, and more crucially, the signing of Petr Čech, who claimed that he would push Cudicini for a first team place. As a result of Čech's excellent form, Cudicini was relegated to become back-up goalkeeper. As a result, he missed out on a Premier League winner's medal in the two Chelsea championship-winning seasons due to not meeting the required number of appearances.

2005–06

At the end of a steady 2005–06 season, Cudicini had saved six of the 12 penalties he had faced while between the posts for Chelsea, furthering his reputation as an excellent penalty stopper.

2006–07

After Petr Čech was named in the FIFPro and Champions League 2005–06 team of the season, there was a great deal of speculation about Cudicini's future at Chelsea, leading to Cudicini release a statement confirming that he was comfortable at Chelsea, and hoped to help the team capture its first ever Champions League title. He silenced rumours that he was looking for a return to Italy when he signed an extension to his Chelsea contract in February 2006. He was then contracted to Chelsea until the summer of 2009.

On 14 October 2006, in a league game against Reading, he was knocked unconscious and had to be stretchered off the pitch whilst wearing an oxygen mask after coming on as a substitute for first-choice goalkeeper Čech. Čech was believed to be sidelined for up to a year, leaving Cudicini as the most senior goalkeeper available at Chelsea. However, even though he had fully recovered and returned to training, Cudicini faced a battle to dislodge third-choice goalkeeper Henrique Hilário, who had been playing well in Čech's and Cudicini's absence. After Hilário conceded four goals in two matches, Chelsea manager José Mourinho decided to put Cudicini in goal against Aston Villa in their fourth round match of the Carling Cup. Chelsea won that match 4–0 and Cudicini took over goalkeeping duties from Hilário.

However, after returning to action in Chelsea's 2–0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield in late January 2007, Čech kept both Cudicini and Hilário out of the first team. Cudicini made his 200th appearance for the club (in all competitions) against West Ham United on 1 December 2007. Cudicini's lack of action for Chelsea since 2004 and his reluctance to move to a new club saw him described as "the world's most unambitious footballer" by The Daily Telegraph in 2008.

2007–08

Cudicini began the new campaign once again as second-choice to Čech, but a string of injuries to the Czech star saw Cudicini feature 19 times in all competitions. His first appearance of the season was in a Carling Cup game against Hull City in which he kept a clean sheet in a 4–0 win. He played against Leicester City in a 4–3 win at Stamford Bridge in the next round before making his first appearance of the season in the Champions League, coming on as a substitute against Schalke 04. Cudicini then featured in the next five games due to Čech's injury, conceding just one goal in the process, against Everton at Stamford Bridge in a 1–1 draw. However, the Italian shot-stopper suffered an injury and would not be seen between the posts until February in a FA Cup game against Huddersfield Town. He also featured in the next round of the cup, but Chelsea lost 1–0 to Barnsley and were knocked out of the competition. Cudicini retained his place due to another injury suffered by Čech and featured in Chelsea's 6–1 win over Derby County. He kept clean sheets in 1–0 wins against Sunderland and Middlesbrough, as well as a 2–0 away win at Manchester City and played in Chelsea's 2–1 win over local rivals Arsenal in March. Cudicini made an outstanding save in the last minutes of an epic 4–4 draw at White Hart Lane against Tottenham Hotspur when he saved from point-blank range against Dimitar Berbatov to earn Chelsea a point. He featured in both legs against Turkish club Fenerbahçe as Chelsea progressed 3–2 on aggregate; unfortunately; he limped off with an injury that effectively ended his season.

2008–09

Cudicini made his first Premier League appearance of the season in Chelsea's 5–0 win at Middlesbrough and this marked his 100th clean sheet in a Chelsea shirt. He played his last game for Chelsea at home in the FA Cup 3rd Round tie with Southend United which ended in a 1–1 draw.

Tottenham Hotspur

2008–09

On 26 January 2009, it was confirmed that Cudicini signed for Tottenham Hotspur on a free transfer. He was allowed to move on a free due to his services given to Chelsea. He made his debut for 'Spurs on 27 January 2009 in the Premier League fixture against Stoke City, the match ended in a 3–1 win. Since Tottenham's loss in the Carling Cup final against Manchester United, Cudicini's appearances have been limited. He did not play again for Spurs in the 2008–2009 season after the 2–1 victory over Hull City at the KC stadium a week before the Carling Cup final.

2009–10

Cudicini made his first competitive appearance in nearly six months for Tottenham when he came on as a substitute for the injured Heurelho Gomes in a 5–1 victory over Hull City on 19 August 2009. He played a number of matches, including a 3–0 defeat at his former club Chelsea on 20 September 2009 which saw him return to Stamford Bridge for the first time since leaving the club. He was then benched in favour of the returning Gomes for the match against Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

On 12 November 2009, Cudicini was involved in a serious motorcycle accident in Walthamstow, east London on his way to Tottenham's training ground. It was reported that he had fractured both his wrists and injured his pelvis. He was taken to an east London hospital then later was transferred to a private hospital. In late February, the Tottenham Hotspur website reported that Cudicini had started some ball work.

On 12 May 2010, Cudicini was handed a new one year contract with Spurs. On the 10th July 2010, Carlo played 45 minutes in a pre-season friendly against Bournemouth. This was the first action Cudicini had played since the accident.

On 25 August 2010, Cudicini saw his first official action for the club in nearly a year as a half-time replacement for the injured Gomes in a UEFA Champions' League Qualifier against Young Boys of Switzerland. Three days later he started against Wigan Athletic in the Premiership at White Hart Lane but was criticised for the Latics' winning goal scored by Hugo Rodallega. Despite since putting in some consistently good performances for Tottenham, he was again benched in favour of Gomes for the Champions' League group match against FC Twente on 29 September 2010. However, he was an 8th-minute replacement for Luka Modric after Gomes' sending-off against Inter Milan on 20 October 2010 and was powerless to stop the defending Champions' League winners from scoring three times in a 4-3 win at the San Siro. He went on to play in the return match at White Hart Lane in a famous 3-1 victory on 2 November 2010.

International career

Cudicini has been capped at Under-18 and Under-21 level, but has yet to appear for his country of birth. He was called into the squad for the 2002 friendly against Turkey but was not named in the matchday squad, behind Gianluigi Buffon and Francesco Toldo, and thus remains potentially eligible to represent any of the British nations – England, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales, although its highly unlikely due to an agreement in place between the respective home nation associations regarding foreign born players.

Playing Honours

Milan

Runner-up

• UEFA Champions League: 1993

Chelsea

Winner

• FA Cup: 2000, 2007
• FA Community Shield: 2000, 2005

Runner-up

• UEFA Champions League: 2007–08
• FA Premier League: 2003–04
• FA Cup: 2002
• FA Community Shield: 2007
• League Cup: 2007–08

Individual Honours

• ITV 'Golden Gloves' Goal Keeper of the Year: 2003
• Chelsea's Player of the Year: 2002

External links

• Carlo Cudicini Official site
• Stats:
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• Profiles:
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