Player Profile: Christian Brocchi

By: Franco | August 26th, 2009

Full name: Christian Brocchi
Date of birth: 30th January 1976 (age 33)
Place of birth: Milan, Italy
Height: 1.71 m
Playing position: Defensive Midfilder
Shirt Number: 32
Career to date:
1994 until 1998 – Milan – 0 Appearances
1995 until 1997 – Pro Sesto (on Loan) – 57 Appearances / 3 Goals
1997 until 1998 – Lumezzane (on Loan) – 30 Appearances / 4 Goals
1998 until 2000 – Hellas Verona – 59 Appearances / 8 Goals
2000 until 2001 – Inter – 15 Appearances
2001 until 2008 – Milan – 100 Appearances / 4 Goals
2005 until 2006 – Fiorentina (on Loan) – 34 Appearances / 3 Goals
2008 until present – Lazio – 24 Appearances

Christian started his career at his native club A.C. Milan through their youth system and was loaned to Pro Sesto and Lumezzane in his early years to gain experience before joing Milan’s full team. Unfortunately for Christian his fist team debut for Milan never arrived before he was eventually sold to Serie B side, Hellas Verona.

In 1998, Brocchi was sold to Hellas Verona who were in Italy’s Serie B division. Brocchi helped the club land promotion in to Serie A in which he made a total 59 appearances and scoring a total of 8 Goals. A season after assisting Verona into Italy’s Serie A, Internazionale signed him for the 2000/01 season. Brocchi’s time at Inter was short lived though as he only managed 15 appearances – most of them coming off the bench in the dying minutes of the game.

In the summer of 2001, A.C. Milan re-signed Brocchi in exchange of Andrés Guglielminpietro, who went to Inter. At AC Milan, Brocchi had to compete with the likes of Fernando Redondo, Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo and Clarence Seedorf. He never made more than 15 appearances a year, and those were often as a substitute. His contact however was still renewed by the club in September of 2003.

Durring his second spell at Milan, Brocchi was eventually loaned out to fellow Serie A side, Fiorentina in July 2005, with a view to a permanent deal at the end of the season. Fiorentina decided not to pursue the signing of Christian and by the end of 2005-06, he returned to A.C. Milan, partly as a result of the problems Milan faced in finding new recruits due to the 2006 Italian football scandal.

In Brocchi’s third spell for Milan, 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. Despite reaching his best form for A.C. Milan, Milan decided to sell Brocchi and reached an agreement for a permanent transfer on 28 August, 2008 with Lazio. He was bought by Lazio on a three year deal.

Brocchi’s first season with Lazio was a successful one as he won the Coppa Italia for the fifth time in Lazio’s history. He was also a part of the side which helped Lazio beat Inter to conquer the Italian Supercup – Lazio’s second trophy within a 3 month period.

With another 2 years remaing on his current deal with Lazio, we hope that Christian can continue to impress and remain a regular feature in Lazio’s starting 11. In my opinion, Brocchi would make an ideal second captain after of course Rocchi which would se him taking over from the inconsistant Siviglia. That choice however will need to be made by no other than current Lazio coach, Davide Ballardini. We wish Christan all the best for the 2009/10 season and we look forward to having his experience guide the team to a higher Serie A finish and hopefully a Europa cup victory.

Forza Lazio, Forza Brocchi!