Mauro Tassotti

Born in Rome, Tassotti played his first professional season with local club Lazio in 1978–79, where he soon became a first team member the following season, making his Serie A debut on 5 November 1978. During his two seasons with Lazio, he made 41 appearances in Serie A and 47 in all competitions.

Following Lazio's and AC Milan's relegation to Serie B due to their involvement in the 1980 match-fixing scandal, he was called upon by the Milanese squad and transferred to the side, becoming a first-team member alongside captain and defender Franco Baresi, as well as Filippo Galli, during a dark period in Milan's footballing history, under manager Nils Liedholm. He made his Milan debut on 24 August 1980, in Serie B, in a 1–0 home win over Catania. Milan won the Serie B title that season to return to Serie A, with Tassotti emerging as one of the club's best performers. Despite winning the Mitropa Cup the following season, Milan were unable to remain in Serie A, finishing third last, and were relegated once again to Serie B. Milan were able to win Serie B again the following season to return to Serie A. Although this was a fairly bleak period in the club's history, as they failed to dominate in the league or capture a trophy, the squad did reach the Coppa Italia final during the 1984–85 season, and were able to regularly qualify for the European competitions, frequently finishing in the top half of the table. Tassotti became a central figure in the Milan squad of the late 1980s…

AC Milan

Following his retirement in 1997, Tassotti took up a coaching position in Milan's youth system, winning the Torneo di Viareggio with the AC Milan youth team in 1999 and 2001. In 2001, following the sacking of manager Alberto Zaccheroni, he served as a caretaker manager for the senior club and coached Milan for the remainder of the 2000–01 Serie A season, alongside Cesare Maldini, helping the club to qualify for the UEFA Cup, before being replaced by Fatih Terim at the end of the season. In the 2001–02 season, Tassotti joined Milan's coaching staff under former teammate Carlo Ancelotti as an assistant manager, and retained his post after the latter's departure, under Leonardo, Massimiliano Allegri, Clarence Seedorf and Filippo Inzaghi. In January 2014, he acted as caretaker manager for one match, a 3–1 home win over Spezia for the campaign's Coppa Italia following Massimiliano Allegri's dismissal and before Clarence Seedorf's appointment. In July 2015, he began working as a talent scout for Milan.

Ukraine national team

Tassotti terminated his contract with Milan on 12 July 2016, concluding his 36-year career with the club. his contract was due to expire in June 2017. It was later reported Tassotti had taken an assistant coaching position with the Ukraine national team, along with Milan Youth System coach Andrea Maldera, under the national team's former assistant manager Andriy Shevchenko, who formerly also played for Milan as a striker and who was…

Tassotti did not win his first cap for Italy until age 32, under Arrigo Sacchi, in a 2–2 home draw against Switzerland in a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifier on 14 October 1992. This was partly because of an abundance of other world class Italian defenders, as he was constantly overlooked by Sacchi's predecessor Azeglio Vicini, who preferred to deploy full backs he had worked with during his tenure as Italy's under-21 coach, despite Tassotti's excellent club performances. Tassotti had previously played for Italy at under-21 level, and he represented the nation at the 1988 Summer Olympics, alongside Paolo Maldini, where Italy reached the semi-finals, finishing in fourth place.

After featuring in Italy's 1994 World Cup qualifying matches and international friendlies under Sacchi, Tassotti played in the 1994 edition in the United States, where Italy went on to reach the final, losing to Brazil on penalties. This would be the only tournament in which he would participate with Italy. In the group stage, Tassotti started the 1–0 defeat to the Republic of Ireland and his next appearance was the quarter-final match against Spain. However, in the quarter-final match, Tassotti elbowed Spanish midfielder Luis Enrique in the face during stoppage time in the second half, breaking the Spaniard's nose. The gesture was not seen by the referee, and Tassotti was not called for a foul or cautioned at the time. Italy won the match 2–1. After reviewing the game, FIFA officials banned Tassotti for…

Tassotti was mostly used as a right back, but he could also play as centre back when necessary, and often played in this role earlier on in his career. He even played as a central or defensive midfielder on occasion. Regarded as one of Italy's greatest defenders, and as one of the best full backs of his generation, he is mostly remembered for his role alongside Maldini, Baresi, Galli and Costacurta in the legendary Milan backline of the late 1980s and early 1990s, under Sacchi and Capello, which is considered one of the greatest defences of all time. Tassotti was a tenacious, defensive minded full back who was known for his strength, anticipation and defensive awareness, as well as his marking ability, positional sense and tactical intelligence. These attributes made him extremely adept at reading the game and at covering defensively for his teammates, and allowed him to excel in Milan's zonal marking system, which used a high defensive line and the offside trap. While at Lazio, he earned a reputation for being an aggressive and hard-tackling defender as a youngster, with a strong character. At Milan, he developed into a more cautious, composed and consistent player, which led to him being nicknamed "The Professor". Although Tassotti primarily excelled defensively, he was a modern and versatile full back who was also one of the first players in his position to be capable of being an offensive threat, due to his pace, athleticism, stamina, technique, control, and…