 |
1/8 Final - Italy, Di Biagio cements spot in midfield |
Just five months after making his international debut, Luigi Di Biagio has emerged as the most authoratative midfielder in Italy's World Cup side.
The shaven-headed AS Roma player produced another fine performance in Italy's 1-0 second round defeat of Norway in Marseille on Saturday.
It was his crisp pass from inside his own half which sent Christian Vieri racing away after 18 minutes to give Italy the goal which booked its place in the quarterfinals.
Di Biagio appears to have cemented his place in the center of what had been a very settled midfield, but one which was often criticized for thinking only of defense.
He has taken over from Demetrio Albertini as the lynchpin of the Italian side, with the out-of-form AC Milan player having to settle for a place on the left flank.
"Di Biagio's playing really well at the moment. He's passing the ball very smoothly," Vieri said on Saturday. "It was a great ball from him (for the goal). I just took it on and played it across the keeper."
Success on the international stage has come late for Di Biagio, who turned 27 on the eve of the World Cup.
He made his debut in a friendly against Slovakia in January, setting up one of Italy's goals in a 3-0 win and almost scoring another with a fierce drive which cannoned off the post.
He played a full 90 minutes of Italy's friendly against Sweden the week before the World Cup but was dropped for the opening game against Chile, making only a late appearance as a substitute.
But his performance was good enough to secure a first team place against Cameroon in Italy's second match and he repaid coach Cesare Maldini with his first goal for his country. Di Biagio is Roman-born and started his career with AS Roma's archrivals Lazio.
But he played only one Serie A match for the club before being farmed out to Monza, where he played two seasons in the Italian third division in the early 1990s.
He returned to Serie A with Foggia before returning to the Italian capital to join Roma in the summer of 1994.
Never a player to shy out a tackle, Di Biagio has had his fair share of dismissals. He was sent off in one of the Rome derby matches this season for a brutal bodycheck on his Italy teammate Alessandro Nesta.
