It took 20 seasons of professional football, but Francesco Acerbi finally scored his first European goal, and it couldn’t have come in a bigger moment.
The 37-year-old Inter journeyman was the man to heroically bring Inter back level in the 93rd minute of the Champions League semifinal, as his side seemed to be headed for a dramatic defeat.
Instead, Acerbi provided a spectacular finish to Denzel Dumfries’ cross at the near post, blasting the ball into the top corner on the run while holding off a defender, leveling the game score at 3-3 and the aggregate at 6-6. From there, Inter would force extra-time and go in front via Davide Frattesi, putting Barcelona under immense pressure.
The Sporting News brings you all you need to know about Inter’s semifinal hero against Barcelona.
Who is Francesco Acerbi?
Born in the Lombardy region of France in 1988, Francesco Acerbi began his career at a club known as Pavia, who currently play in the fifth tier of Italian football. He made his senior debut in April of 2006, totaling 48 appearances for the club over the next four years.
After a one-year spell at Reggina, then playing in Serie B, he secured a 2011 move to Chievo Verona via Genoa amidst a complicated transfer involving multiple parties, which at the time was legal in football but has since been outlawed. He would get a temporary move to AC Milan in similar circumstances, but he would find himself back at Chievo shortly after.
A move to recently promoted Sassuolo in 2013 would provide some normalcy for Acerbi, finally with the chance to truly prove himself in Serie A…or so he thought. After a testicular cancer scare to begin his career, he would make 13 top-flight appearances for the club before a doping ban brought with it another bout with cancer.
He would return to the pitch in the 2014/15 season, and from there, the 26-year-old would finally begin to flourish. He would make 173 appearances for Sassuolo, helping the club establish itself in the top flight and making his Italy national team debut before Lazio came calling, securing a €12 million move in 2018. At the Rome club, he would come close to setting the league’s consecutive appearances streak but would fall just 13 short of Javier Zanetti’s mark of 162 games.
At Lazio, Acerbi would win the 2018/19 Coppa Italia and the 2019 Supercoppa Italiana and win the Euros with Italy in 2020, before a 2022 move to Inter Milan would materialize, first on loan and then on a €4 million permanent move, a cheap squad option now at 34. Yet he was only just getting started, as he would prove a critical component of a Serie A title, a Coppa Italia title, two Supercopas, and a Champions League final appearance.
How many career goals has Francesco Acerbi scored?
As a center-back, Francesco Acerbi hasn’t exactly been prolific in front of goal, but he has cropped up on occasion.
His first senior professional strike came in February of 2009 for Pavia, but he would have to wait until March of 2012 to get his first Serie A goal, coming for Chievo. His high water mark for a season in league play is four, which he has done three times, twice for Sampdoria and once for Lazio.
Yet the longest wait was for a European goal. In his 66th career appearance in UEFA club competition, Acerbi scored his first goal as a fabulous striker’s finish brought Inter dramatically level with Barcelona at the end of regulation in the second leg of their semifinal matchup.
Across his entire career, as of the second leg against Barcelona, Acerbi has 26 career goals between Serie A, Serie B, Champions League, Europa League, and Coppa Italia play. Those goals come in over 500 career matches for Lazio, Sassuolo, Reggina, Chievo Verona, AC Milan, and Inter.
