Simone Inzaghi

Club

Inzaghi started playing professionally in 1993 with hometown club Piacenza, although he did not get to feature in any matches with the first team in that season. The following year, he was loaned out to third division side Carpi; his first goal arrived in 1995–96, whilst at the service of Novara in the fourth level. After two more loan stints, at Lumezzane and Brescello, Inzaghi returned to Piacenza for the 1998–99 Serie A season, which would be his first in the top-flight of Italian football. He scored 15 goals in 30 matches and secured a transfer to Lazio. Despite stiff competition within a Lazio side packed with quality strikers such as Marcelo Salas and Alen Bokšić, the rotation policy of manager Sven-Göran Eriksson ensured that Inzaghi would get playing time; he appeared in 22 out of 34 Serie A matches in Lazio's highly successful 1999–2000 season scoring seven goals, as his team went on to complete the domestic Double by winning both the Scudetto and the Coppa Italia. In the Champions League, as Lazio progressed from both the first and the second group stages to reach the quarter-finals, Inzaghi scored nine goals in eleven games (including four in a single game against Marseille on 14 March 2000, equalling the competition record held by Marco van Basten since 1992). The following seasons were not as successful, but Inzaghi did help Lazio conquer another Coppa Italia, in 2003–04; in September of that year, he extended his contract until June 2009. Inzaghi…

Throughout his career, Inzaghi's playing style was compared to that of his older brother Filippo and Paolo Rossi. Although he was not particularly skillful from a technical standpoint, he was a tall and fast striker with a slender physique, who was mainly known for his eye for goal, ability to play on the edge of the offside trap and clinical finishing inside the penalty area, in particular from close range, due to his opportunism and positional sense.

Lazio

Following his retirement, Inzaghi remained with Lazio, managing its Allievi and Primavera sides. On 3 April 2016, he was appointed to the senior team on an interim basis following the sacking of Stefano Pioli. For the 2016–17 season, Inzaghi was originally replaced by Marcelo Bielsa. However, as the Argentine left his post after less than one week due to undisclosed reasons, he was named as permanent manager. He guided the team to fifth place in the domestic league as well as the final of the Italian Cup, lost to Juventus; on 7 June 2017, he renewed his contract until 2020. The 2017–18 campaign started on a high note, as Lazio defeated Juventus in the Supercoppa Italiana with a 3–2 result. They again finished fifth in Serie A, missing out on Champions League qualification on the final matchday after a 2–3 home loss to Internazionale. The 2018–19 season saw the side win the domestic cup 2–0 over Atalanta, conquering their seventh title overall and automatically qualifying for the group stage of the UEFA Europa League. On 22 December 2019, Inzaghi captured his second Supercoppa Italiana title with Lazio, following a 3–1 victory over Juventus. In the 2019–20 Serie A season, he led Lazio to finish fourth, which earned them the right to play in the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, for the first time since 2007–08. Lazio managed to reach the round of 16 in the 2020–21 Champions League.

Inter Milan

On 27 May 2021, following reports linking him as the next…

In Rome, Inzaghi built a reputation for getting the most out of his players. He is known for deploying a 3–5–2 formation with wing-backs that like to get forward and join in the attacking play. In his preferred formation, two central strikers are supported by an attacking midfielder who sits just in front of the other two players in midfield. It is a tactically fluid system which appears like a 5–3–2 out of possession as the wing-backs drop back into defence. Inzaghi is also known for his versatility in how he sets his team up to defend. During his spell at Lazio, he implemented both a high press and a mid-block to win the ball back when their opponents were in possession. In 2022, Francesco Porzio of CBS Soccer noted that Inzaghi gave his players more freedom tactically than his predecessor Antonio Conte, which had a positive impact on the team's performances. Inzaghi's tactical approach at Inter in the lead-up to the 2023 Champions League final against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City was described as "reactive" by Miguel Delaney of The Independent, who noted that it was "difficult to identify patterns or trends in Inter’s play" under Inzaghi, and as such, preparing to face Inzaghi's teams posed challenges for opposing managers, as they were difficult to read. Beyond his tactical prowess, Inzaghi has also been praised for his leadership qualities as a manager, with James Horncastle of BBC Sport also noting in 2023 that he "is adaptable, a good man-manager and someone who…