Cudicini

 

Carlo Cudicini (born 6 September 1973 in Milan) is an Italian goalkeeper who currently plays for English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. He is the son of former AC Milan goalkeeper Fabio Cudicini and grandson of Ponziana Trieste defender Guglielmo Cudicini. He found fame at Chelsea.

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, 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. His cause was helped by a game against Liverpool in December 2001, which Chelsea won 4–0, during which he kept out an excellent shot from Steven Gerrard and a penalty taken by Gary McAllister. Incidentally, Chelsea beat Liverpool to fourth place in the league the following season, thus taking the final qualifying berth for the UEFA Champions League.

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. Cech 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 Cech, 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 Gomes in a 5-1 victory over Hull City on 19 August 2009. He has played the club's last few 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.