For a club that has been out of the Italian top flight since 2015, it would be tough to identify the right names to fill a five-a-side team. But you know, I’ve already been around when Cesena were living his glorious days in the Serie A glamorous 80s. So, the below mentioned team is filled with names from that Golden Era. Despite all, this is a club that was famous for his Academy. In 1982 the won a Scudetto Primavera under the guidance of Arrigo Sacchi. Even if il vate di Fusignano never coached the first squad, Cesena still was trained by a lot of great managers as Marcello Lippi, Osvaldo Bagnoli, Gigi Radice, Eugenio Bersellini or Giuseppe Marchioro, the man who led Cesena to its lone UEFA Cup qualification in 1976.
Sebastiano Rossi
You may know Seba Rossi from his time with AC Milan. But probably not many of you are aware that Rossi built his legacy with Cesena, his hometown club. He lasted four years as Bianconeri No.1 before joining Milan, capping a total of 146 appearances with the SeaHorse.
Strong, sized, charismatic, Rossi was undoubtedly the best man to ever play between the sticks of Cesena. But he was not the only keeper with talent over there. In fact, you still can name guys such as Francesco Antonioli (another former rossonero) or Alberto Fontana. But no one had the impact that Rossi had.
Pierluigi Cera
Mostly known for having been the sweeper and captain of Gigi Riva’s Cagliari during the title winning 1970 campaign, Cera had also a great stint with Cesena. He played in Romagna between 1973 and 1979, during the last part of his playing career. He amassed as many as 114 caps so he definitely deserves to be inserted on this five-a-side squad.
Honorable mentions for Francesco Scorsa, Giampiero Ceccarelli (a true club’s flag having spent his whole playing career with Cesena) and Bosnian Davor Jozić.
Alessandro Bianchi
Ok, in the middle of the field you can find a lot of great players that have gone through Dino Manuzzi: former Juventus and Sunderland Emanuele Giaccherini (who has been part of Antonio Conte’s Italy during 2016 European Championship), former Michel Platini esquire at Juventus and San Marino’s international Massimo Bonini, Aldo Dolcetti, Davide Biondini or even former Roma’s captain Agostino DI Bartolomei (also he lasted just one season in Romagna). But this one is my team so my pick here is Alessandro Bianchi.
He had two stints over there. A great talent, a winger gifted with dynamism and dribbling abilities, Bianchi was limited during his career due to the fact he was injury prone. Bianchi was very appreciated by Arrigo Sacchi during the time in which he was Azzurri’s coach. Bianchi also played a part in 1988-89 Inter of the records.
Massimo Agostini
A lot of forwards have dressed Cesean’s t-shirt: you surely will remember Adrina Mutu, Milan Đurić, Grégoire Defrel or the mighty Dario Hubner (166 appearances and 74 goals between 1992 and 1997). But my first name up front is the one of Massimo Agostini. Nicknamed the Condor, he started his career at Cesena before earning a trip to AS Roma. He lasted two seasons in the capital before his comeback in Romagna.
After two more good seasons there, Agostino had his second chance at the top level when he was signed by Milan. Unfortunately, he played few games with the Rossoneri. A very good forward, too strong for the low tier but maybe not enough to play with the big fishes.
Ruggero Rizzitelli
Known for the famous fans chant ‘Rizzi-gol’, Rizzitelli has been one of the most talented forwards of his generation. At the end of the ‘80s he was predicted to have a bright future and to become the Azzurri’s next big thing up top. Maybe he never lived up to this hype but he still had a very good career playing with Roma (for 6 seasons), Torino (two years) and Bayern Munchen (two more years under the tutelage of Giovanni Trapattoni).
In the end, he played just 9 games with the National Team. He was on the squad that played at EURO (also if he never has seen the field). Rizzitelli’s career with the Azzurri is remembered above all for the post he hit against URSS during the EURO 92 qualification campaign. That post ended Italy’s chance to go to Sweden (where the 1992 European Championship will be played) and also ended Azeglio Vicini’s experience as Azzurri’s manager.
Words by @micheletossani78