At the request of a friend, talk about Fiore, Italy's true nucleus during Euro 2000. As for this player, he is a rare midfielder in Italian football, and was once regarded as a key player of the Italian national team. And his performances during Euro 2000 really proved his worth. However, it is such a player who is quite important for the Italian national team, but he is not good at making choices. The midfielder has almost always made wrong choices along the way, which directly led to him being delayed by the selection:
Stefano Fiore was born on April 17, 1975 in Cosenza, in the southern Italian region of Calabria. The local Cosenza club, although not a strong team, also qualified to participate in the Serie B league that year. Fiore, a Cosenza native, began to represent Cosenza's first team in Serie A as early as the 1993-94 season. However, due to Fiore's young age and lack of game experience, his debut season could only be regarded as a substitute for Cosenza. Over the course of the season, he played 10 Serie B games.
There are not too many young players who have been substituted in Serie B. Fiore wants to get the attention of Serie A clubs with this, which is quite difficult. Fortunately, Fiore has performed quite well in the Italian youth team. He played alongside Totti, Nesta and Koko, and was a rare opponent among his peers. This year's Italian youth team has high hopes in Italian football because of its many young talents. Fiore is one of them, and he has also made a name for himself. One season after he stepped onto the professional stage, a number of Serie A clubs extended olive branches to him. Fiore's choice is Parma.
At this time, the Parma team has a very strong lineup configuration, which is enough to compete for the Serie A championship. As evidenced by the fact that in Fiore's first season at Parma, the team finished runners-up in Serie A. However, from Fiore's point of view, the new owner is too strong, which is not a good thing. Think about it, how high is the probability of a young player who has not played in Serie B to play in the main team in Serie A?
As a result, Fiore spent most of his first season at Parma sitting on the bench and playing very little. The following season, Fiore spent the following 1995-96 season and 1996-97 on loan from Parma until the summer of 1997.
After Fiore's return, Parma is still a strong team in Serie A, and the competition within the team is extremely fierce. Despite Fiore's organisational skills, he has only just returned from training outside, and neither the qualifications nor the experience are enough to be the heart of Parma's midfield. Especially after Argentine midfielder Veron joined Parma, Fiore wanted to show himself as the core of Parma's midfield, which was almost an impossible task.
The only good thing is that although the midfielder's best position is in the midfield, he is also versatile, even if he is played as a wingman on the wing, he can still be competent. It's just that he can't exert his full power. Fiore has been a regular regular for two seasons since his return to Parma, but his performance has not been too impressive due to his position on the pitch and tactical positioning.
Experience is accumulated, and qualifications are also boiled out. For Fiore, two seasons after returning to Parma, seniority and experience are no longer an issue. The biggest factor preventing him from being at the heart of Parma's midfield is actually the more capable midfield commander standing next to him, which is his team-mate Veron. As long as Veron leaves, Fiore is likely to become the core of Parma's midfield.
In the summer of 1999, Veron said goodbye to Parma and went to Lazio to continue his football career. What is quite strange is that Fiore also left the club this summer and moved to Udinese. Seeing that her daughter-in-law for many years is about to become a mother-in-law, Fiore herself is gone? This kind of choice, there is really no one.
Fortunately, Udinese's midfield competition is not too fierce. Fiore became the undisputed heart of Udinese's midfield in his first season with his new club. As a striker, he not only revitalized the team's midfield, but also scored goals himself. Throughout the 1999-00 season, Fiore scored nine goals in Serie A, an exceptionally good performance.
It's no secret that the Italian midfielder, which is notoriously lacking in creativity. Fiore's impressive performance at the club will naturally be expected from the Azzurri. In the 2000 European Cup, the 25-year-old Fiore was not only selected into the squad without suspense, but also showed himself as Italy's main striker and became the true core of Italy.
Yes, Fiore was the real nucleus of the Italian team during Euro 2000. As for the more famous and talented Piero and Totti, the former was mainly shown as a substitute at that time, and he couldn't even talk about the regular main force, so naturally it had nothing to do with the word "true core". As for Totti, he was not a midfielder for Italy during Euro 2000, but a second striker for the Azzurri, who focused on attacking the city and did not appear as a commander. Let's take the crucial European Championship final, where Totti and Del Vecchio formed a two-man attack, with Fiore delivering shells behind the two.
Let's ask, when a team is on the field at the same time as the front midfielder and the second striker, who is the midfield commander and who is the true core of the team, isn't it obvious? This is not determined by the size of fame or the strength of talent, but purely by tactical role.
Despite Italy's bad luck, they were beaten by France in the final minute and lost the European Championship title that was on the horizon. However, Fiore's personal performance still made the Italian football world quite happy. This is destined that Fiore will become a sweet spot in the transfer market, and will be scrambled by many Serie A giants.
Fiore, who played for another season at Udinese, made the decision to leave after the European Championship. And his next home this time is the Lazio team......
I have to say that Fiore, the midfielder, has a decision about the transfer, which is really unreliable. You know, around 2001, Lazio's economic problems were already visible to the naked eye. Take this summer as an example, Lazio lost two key players in one go, Veron and Nedved, wasn't it because of financial problems?
At this stage, the Lazio club is already moving. Many players are thinking about the way out, how much attention is still on the game? Fiore defected to Lazio in this context and wanted to lead the team to a great result, it was really difficult.
As Lazio's financial problems worsened, even captain Nesta was pushed into the transfer market, not to mention other players. In the summer of 2004, the 29-year-old Fiore was sent by Lazio to La Liga to pay off his debts and became a member of Valencia.
Why do you say it's a debt payment? Because Lazio brought in Mendieta from Valencia in the summer of 2001. However, Lazio did not pay the entire transfer fee in one go, but paid in installments. However, Lazio's financial situation became worse and worse, and they could no longer pay Valencia the subsequent transfer fees, so they could only use the players to pay off their debts. And Fiore is the player who was sent to La Liga by Lazio and sent to Valencia to pay off his debts......
Of course, from Fiore's point of view, if he refuses to join Valencia, then Lazio will not be able to force him to pay his debts. But the midfielder didn't know what to think, and actually agreed to the deal. You know, Valencia already planned to build a new stadium in 2004, the year of Fiore's transfer. This means that the club's economic situation in the next few years will definitely not be optimistic.
As for Fiore after joining Valencia, life is quite sad. After just one season, he was treated as a burden by his new club and sent back to Apennines. At this time, Fiore was already 30 years old, and no wealthy family was willing to accept him anymore. Over the next few years, Fiore wandered around and never regained the feeling he had been......