On This Day – 11th December
Fabrizio Ravanelli was born on this day in 1968. The Italian striker was nicknamed ‘The White Feather’ because of his famous white hair.
He started his career playing in the lower leagues in Italy before joining Juventus in 1992. He would spend the next four years at the club and won the Serie A, Coppa Italia, Champions League and UEFA Cup.
In the 1996 Champions League Final, Ravanelli put Juventus ahead against Ajax. The Dutch side fought back but Juve won the Final.
A few weeks later, Middlesbrough pulled off one of the shock signings of the decade and signed him for £7 million. It really was an incredible coup for the Teeside club.
Ravanelli scored a hat-trick in his first game for the club in a 3-3 draw against Liverpool. He didn’t do well to endear himself to the clubs fans or his team mates by constantly complaining about the club.
Middlesbrough reached the FA Cup and League Cup Final but lost in both matches. The club were relegated from the Premier League though and Ravanelli left at the end of the season.
He moved to Marseille and then back to Italy to play for Lazio. The Italian striker then returned to English football to play for Derby County for a couple of years.
Another shock move came along in 2003 when he joined Scottish side Dundee before ending his career at Perugia.
Ravanelli made 22 appearances for Italy between 1995 and 1999 and scored 8 goals. He later went on to manage the youth team at Juventus before taking charge of Ajaccio and Arsenal Kyiv of Ukraine.
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