Cristian Brocchi

Cristian Brocchi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkristjan ˈbrɔkki]; born 30 January 1976) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a midfielder. He is currently a manager of Italian club Brescia Calcio, while his previous job was that of head coach of his former club Milan.
As a defensive midfielder, Brocchi was rated for his durability and tackling. He began his career with Milan, but struggled to break into the first team as a youngster, and was subsequently loaned to Pro Sesto and Lumezzane, before being sold to Hellas Verona in 1998. His performances for the club earned him a move to Internazionale in 2000, where he also struggled due to injury. He returned to Milan in 2001, and went on to represent the club for the next seven seasons, aside from a season on loan with Fiorentina, during a highly successful period for the club, which saw him win the Serie A and two UEFA Champions League titles, among other trophies. He ended his career in 2013, after five seasons with Lazio, where he won the Coppa Italia twice. At international level, he made his only appearance for the Italy national football team in 2006.

Early career

Starting his career at his native club A.C. Milan youth system, he was loaned to Pro Sesto and Lumezzane in early years. After struggling to find space in the first team, in 1998, Brocchi was sold to Hellas Verona in Serie B. Brocchi helped the club obtain promotion to Serie A.

Internazionale

After a year in the top-division, Internazionale coach Marcello Lippi signed Brocchi in 2000 following his impressive performances; Brocchi and Inter endured a difficult season, however, as Lippi was sacked after their opening Serie A game, a defeat to Reggina. Marco Tardelli was hired as a replacemenet and guided the Nerazzurri to a 5th-place finish, in the end. The following season, the club's new boss Hector Cuper, who took over in Summer 2001, decided to sell Brocchi. Brocchi later described his time at Inter "as the worst experience [he] ever had", citing the lack of support from the club while injured, as the reason for this.

Milan (second spell)

In July 2001, A.C. Milan re-signed him in exchange of Andrés Guglielminpietro, who went to Inter. While at Milan, Brocchi had to compete with the likes of Fernando Redondo.

Fiorentina

Brocchi was loaned to ACF Fiorentina in July 2005, with a view to a permanent deal at the end of the season but at the end of 2005–06, he returned to Milan, partly as a result of the problems Milan faced in finding new recruits due to the 2006 Italian football scandal.

Milan (third spell)

Brocchi made a career high 29 Serie A appearances in the 2006–07 season. Although Emerson arrived in the 2007–08, Brocchi continued to appear regularly making 24 appearances, 10 as starter, effectively becoming Carlo Ancelotti's first choice replacement in midfield.

Lazio

Milan and S.S. Lazio reached an agreement for a permanent transfer on 29 August 2008. He signed a three-year deal with Lazio and just cost Lazio a nominal transfer fees. His first season was successful as he won the Coppa Italia, the fifth in the history of Lazio.

Following the 2012–13 season, Brocchi and Lazio announced his retirement due to on-going injury problems.

Brocchi made his international debut and only appearance for the Italy national football team under Roberto Donadoni, in a 1–1 friendly home draw against Turkey, on 15 November 2006.

On 12 April 2016, he was appointed the head coach of Milan for his first senior managerial position, after previously serving as the coach of the A.C. Milan Primavera, replacing Siniša Mihajlović after his sacking. On 28 June 2016, Brocchi was replaced by Vincenzo Montella.

Outside of football, Brocchi opened a cafe in Milan along with Milan teammate Christian Abbiati, and started his own clothing brand (Baci & Abbracci) with close friend and footballer Christian Vieri and model Alena Šeredová.

As of 26 November 2016

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Milan Primavera		10 June 2014	12 April 2016	7001620000000000000♠62	7001360000000000000♠36	7000700000000000000♠7	7001190000000000000♠19	7002156000000000000♠156	7001870000000000000♠87	+69	7001580600000000000♠58.06
Milan		12 April 2016	28 June 2016	7000700000000000000♠7	7000200000000000000♠2	7000200000000000000♠2	7000300000000000000♠3	7000700000000000000♠7	7000900000000000000♠9	−2	7001285700000000000♠28.57
Brescia		10 July 2016	Present	7001170000000000000♠17	7000500000000000000♠5	7000600000000000000♠6	7000600000000000000♠6	7001210000000000000♠21	7001270000000000000♠27	−6	7001294100000000000♠29.41
Total				7001860000000000000♠86	7001430000000000000♠43	7001150000000000000♠15	7001280000000000000♠28	7002184000000000000♠184	7002123000000000000♠123	+61	7001500000000000000♠50.00

Milan

• Serie A: 2003–04
• Coppa Italia: 2002–03
• UEFA Champions League: 2002–03, 2006–07
• FIFA Club World Cup: 2007
• UEFA Supercup: 2003, 2007

Lazio

• Coppa Italia: 2008–09, 2012–13
• Supercoppa Italiana: 2009

• ^ "C. Brocchi". Soccerway. Retrieved 13 April 2016.