Now a left-back who has spent much of his career in midfield, Massimo Gobbi played lower-league Italian football until joining Cagliari Calcio in 2004. He moved to ACF Fiorentina two years later and won his one and only international cap for Italy shortly afterwards.

• Born in Milan, he represented AC Milan at youth level before launching his professional career in Italy's Serie C2 with AC Pro Sesto.

• Led a fairly anonymous existence in the lower leagues until breakthrough 2003/04 season with Treviso FBC, in which he made 44 Serie B appearances (out of 46) and scored five goals; left Treviso for Cagliari that summer.

• Made Serie A debut for the Sardinian club against Bologna FC on 12 September 2004 and accumulated 71 top-flight appearances, scoring five goals, before Fiorentina bought him for €3.8m.

• Made debut for Italy in August 2006 friendly against Croatia – Azzurri's first match as newly-crowned world champions and first under new coach Roberto Donadoni.

• Made nine appearances as Viola reached the 2007/08 UEFA Cup semi-finals; first two UEFA Champions League group-stage appearances, in 2008/09, both came against FC Bayern München (one sub, one start).

Did you know?
Gobbi was one of seven players making their international debuts for Italy in that August 2006 friendly against Croatia.