“In the last two years, the tank of Italian goalkeepers has started to fill up again: there are guys who have really great quality.” These words were pronounced by Gianluigi Buffon in an interview given to Dazn last October. Nothing so strange or so striking, if we look at history: the Italian school of goalkeepers has always been among the best in the world, for decades it has almost continuously produced fantastic athletes, exceptional examples of order, rhythm, physical harmony and instinct . In Serie A, the save has become art thanks to the plastic and often bare-handed flights of Albertosi, the minimalist elegance of Zoff, the feline agility of Zenga, the hypnotic penalties of Toldo, up to the unrivaled explosiveness of the same Buffon. In short, every generation of Italians has had its own symbolic goalkeepers, and the last on the list is Gianluigi Donnarumma. Except that the number one of PSG and the national team is a sort of exception: Buffon’s hegemony in the blue and Gigio’s very early explosion somewhat overshadowed two scarce decades in which Italian academies struggled to produce goalkeepers high level.
Just look at the recent years of Serie A to realize it: the Pole Szczesny inherited Buffon’s shirt at Juve, the Slovenian Handanovic took Inter post-treble on his shoulders, Milan chose – wisely – the French Maignan to replace Donnarumma. And again: the Roma goalkeeper is Rui Patrício, Atalanta has invested a lot of money in Juan Musso, an Argentine scouted by Udinese. Then there’s Napoli, which for several seasons lived immersed in the dualism between Meret and Ospina, and almost all the coaches who took turns on the blue bench preferred the Colombian, more experienced and therefore – according to an unwritten law that on Italian soccer fields – more reliable, especially with feet. In the meantime, the various Scuffet, Bardi and Leali, and these are just some of the meteoric goalkeepers of recent years, have experienced the worst possible transition in status for a footballer: from predestined to unfinished.
Buffon’s words, however, suggest that something is changing. That there is a new generation of valuable Italian goalkeepers. The names are those of Vicario (26 years old), Meret (25), Provedel (28), Di Gregorio (25), Falcone (27): all athletes, not necessarily very young, who after years of training are finally taking the stage of Serie A. According to Buffon, the most talented goalkeeper is Guglielmo Vicario of Empoli, to the point that he could even compete to become number one in the national team. Perhaps because he is an atypical extreme defender, who with his style almost connects the old and the new generation: when he plays he seems anchored – in an anachronistic way – to the goal line, reminiscent of the goalkeepers of yesteryear, always a a little scared when it came to abandoning the poles. Vicario walks a thin line, he lets his opponents make the first moves, it is no coincidence that he is the goalkeeper in Serie A who is stationed at the shortest average distance from goal – according to data from FBref. In his way of playing, however, there is also something modern: when he covers the mirror, he does so using every part of his body, even the studs on his boots – as in the occasion of the triple save against Roma.
The truth is that there is not a single save capable of encapsulating the essence of Vicario: the Empoli goalkeeper has a complete technical baggage. He showed it, among all, in an anonymous match against Cremonese played in November, when he made four interventions, all decisive, yet very different from each other. On the first, Sernicola’s cross can surprise (from there one would expect a high ball in the middle), Buonaiuto’s header is close and the ball takes a particular turn. Vicario’s seems like a simple reflex, but in reality it isn’t, given that the Empoli goalkeeper recovers his position in a few moments, with two quick steps, managing to reject the ball at the last moment. In the second parry there is the modern dimension of him, condensed in a deflection made with the feet, practically in splits. The third is the easiest, but still requires great intelligence in moving, in the coordination between body, space and time. Finally, the fourth exudes courage, one-on-one skills and decision.
And this is just one of the great moments experienced by Vicario this season
Alex Meret has brought an Italian goalkeeper back to the top of Serie A after several years. His is a particular story: since his days in Udine (where he was born and raised), everyone thought he could be the future goalkeeper of the national team. Then he collapsed, it’s as if he had gotten lost in the eternal conflict with himself, in that conflict that he is forced to face when he plays alone, like goalkeepers and tennis players. In the end he managed to take the stage back thanks to Spalletti’s trust. An investment that has amply paid off: if Napoli are dominating the championship, it’s not just because of Kvaratskhelia’s feints and counter-feints or Osimhen’s excessive power, but it’s also thanks to their goalkeeper’s saves. For example, the one on Rrahmani’s near-own goal during the match against Juve, when the result was still 2-1 for Napoli. Sometimes Meret almost seems to be lost, but when the ball approaches his goal it suddenly lights up, his reaction is very short-lived, it’s like that of a sprinter after the shot. He showed it very well just when he had to remove Rrahmani’s poisonous deflection from the goal: in a fraction of a second, he dived to his right and chased away the danger of pure instinct. The reflex is so fluid and rapid that he almost seems to be able to stifle the cry of fear from the fans in his throat, transforming it into a sigh of relief.
A beautiful and important parade
In terms of number of clean sheets in the season, Lazio’s Ivan Provedel (12) is ahead of Meret (11). The spark between Provedel and Sarri struck almost by chance: in the seventh minute of the first day of Serie A 2022/23, Lazio were on the pitch against Bologna and the Biancocelesti’s goalkeeper, Luís Maximiano, was sent off. The Tuscan coach is forced to send Provedel onto the pitch, and hasn’t brought him out since. Sarri fell in love with him, who arrived from Spezia to act as twelfth for the designated owner, for his courage, for that elegance that is somewhat reminiscent of the great Lev Yashin – who, coincidentally, is a friend of Provedel’s grandfather, who on his mother’s side he has Russian ancestry. What must have struck the Lazio coach, however, is his approach to the role: it can be said that Provedel, today, is the maximum Italian representative of sweeper-keepers, those free-keepers who are at ease away from the posts , when they have to set the ball and chain – not surprisingly, according to FBref data, Lazio’s number one is in second place in Serie A for the height of the average positioning, ie for the distance he keeps from the goal line.
In reality, his talents also include something else, as he demonstrated two weeks ago in the match against Verona. In the 56th minute, with the result on 1-1, the Scotsman Doig receives a ball on his chest, abandoned by the Lazio defense, a few steps from the small area. Control follows, so the ball finds itself wandering for a few moments in a deserted portion of the field between the left-handed defender of the Verona winger and the attentive gaze of the goalkeeper. That’s Provedel’s land, who intelligently advances a few meters, devouring the ground, reducing Doig’s shooting angle. It is thus, thanks to this timely exit, that the Scotsman’s shot is dampened and ends up in a corner. In situations like this, when the ball wanders around the penalty area without a master, Provedel is among the best. Because he moves fast, early yet composed, he covers the goal with his whole body but also with great technique.
Suddenly Doig had himself being attacked by a mountain, basically
Of all the goalkeepers in Serie A, however, the goalkeeper with the highest percentage of saves is neither Alex Meret (76.3%) nor Ivan Provedel (77.8%): it is Wladimiro Falcone, the 26-year-old Lecce goalkeeper who currently has 78.8 %, in his first season as a Serie A starter. But what is behind this exceptional performance? Meanwhile, physical strength: when the attackers find themselves in front of Falcone, it almost seems that he is transformed into an insurmountable mountain, which obscures the goal, which has become tiny behind him. Last week, Atalanta had to stop in front of him, having almost every attempt blocked. Falcone manages to reconcile the imposing physical structure, he is 195 centimeters tall, with good agility, exalting himself thanks to him to the excellent sense of position, which makes him always appear in the right place and at the right time. Thus, he dives on Muriel’s left-handed shot to cross, making a complicated intervention simple. He is caught off guard and with Baschirotto’s body in front of him, yet he sends the ball open for a corner kick. A few minutes earlier he had given Atalanta the 1-2 goal with a bad play in the build-up phase, but he was able to redeem himself in the right way.
The one on Muriel and other great saves by Falcone, against Atalanta
Michele Di Gregorio, on the other hand, is pure power. When you think you have beaten him, his strong legs allow him to give himself a great impetus to pick up the ball on the opposite post, as if they were springs ready to make him fly. He too had to spend a season on the bench behind another goalkeeper, Cragno. But on the pitch, thanks to a series of incredible saves, he upset Monza’s plans. At the end of January, against Juventus, Di Gregorio’s great performance culminated in an exceptional save on Di María: the ball started strong from outside the area, crossing a sea of tense legs; Di Gregorio, who shouldn’t see the ball until it’s too late, manages to handle the ball, throw it against the billboards, even though he starts completely from a standstill. And it is precisely this that makes him one of the most spectacular full backs, the most beautiful to look at in the league.
Gregory’s compilation
It is evident that the new Italian generation of goalkeepers, more or less like the glorious one of the past, is made up of athletes with different characteristics: Alex Meret is instinctive and good at positioning; Michele Di Gregorio is extraordinarily explosive; Guglielmo Vicario is suspended halfway between the past and the future; Ivan Provedel is the one with the most modern approach; Wladimiro Falcone, with his physique reminiscent of a basketball player, defies the laws of physics by moving like a gymnast. They still won’t be up to Albertosi and Zoff and Buffon, but they have given new life to a school that gave the impression of having stopped, almost irreparably.
