Amoruzo, Lorenzo

Lorenzo Amoruzo was born in the city of Bari , his childhood passed in the Palese area, where he began to play football. Then Amoruzo enrolled in the Bari club's children's school, for which, having passed all the youth teams, made his debut in the 1988/89 season, playing 3 matches, in the same season Bari entered Serie A , in which Amoruzo first played on October 8, 1989 against “ Internationale ”, the game ended with a score of 1: 1. As part of Bari, Amoruso spent 7 seasons, two of which he was leased, first to the Mantova club, and then to Pescara . In the summer of 1995, Amoruso was bought by the Fiorentina club, for the “violet” player spent 2 seasons, winning the Italian Cup and Super Cup, both in 1996 .

On May 29, 1997, Amoruzo was bought by the Scottish Rangers club for £ 4 million. Amoruzo became the leader of the team’s defense, having won the Scottish Championship with the club 3 times and the same number of national Cups and League Cups in Scotland. In 1998, the Rangers head coach Dick Advocaat even appointed Amoruzo as team captain, but in 2000, it was Advocaat who prevented Amoruzo’s ready transfer to the English club Sunderland , putting a veto on the departure of the Italian, which caused the coach and football player to conflict. In the 2000/01 season, the Rangers played poorly, Advocaat insisted on buying new players from the defense center, and after the Champions League match with Monaco , which the Scottish club lost due to Amoruso, Advocaat deprived the Italian footballer of the captain's armband. But after the dismissal of Advocaat from the “Rangers” coaching staff, the new head coach of the club Alex McLeish believed in Amoruzo, and he responded with an excellent game in the defense of the team, which found support not only from the Rangers coaches and fans, but also from the Scottish football community - Amoruzo was selected as the best football player in Scotland according to the players. In the Scottish Cup finals 2003, Amoruzo scored the winning goal, after the game he cried - this game was the last Italian Cup match in the Rangers, because Amoruzo has already signed a contract with the Blackburn Rovers club.

In June 2003, for 1.4 million pounds, Lorenzo Amoruzo became a Blackburn player, the sale of the player was due to the great financial debt of the Rangers. In the very first game for the new club on August 16, already in the 17th minute, Amoruso scored a goal. However, already in October, Amoruso received a severe knee injury, which brought him out of the game for six months. The next 2 seasons, Amoruso treated more than he played, regularly aggravating the injury, as a result, he played for the club only in 18 games in the Premier League. In the summer of 2006, when the contract ended, the club did not want to renew it.

One and a half years, Amoruzo was without football, only in January 2008 the footballer signed a contract with the Cosmos club from San Marino . On March 20, 2009, Amoruso signed a contract with the champion of Malta , the Valletta club, which he headed as the coach from next season ^[2] .

Team

• Italian Cup Winner (1): 1995/96
• Super Bowl Italy (1): 1996
• Champion of Scotland (3): 1998/99, 1999/00, 2002/03
• Scottish Cup Winner (3): 1998/99, 2001/02, 2002/03
• Scottish League Cup Winner (3): 1998/99, 2001/02, 2002/03

Personal

• Scottish Professional Football Players Association Player of the Year in Scotland : 2002

• Player profile on soccerbase.com