| Ignazio Abate (Italian pronunciation: ; born 12 November 1986) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a full-back and the current head coach of AC Milan's under-19 side. On early stage deployed as a winger, he was also capable of playing as a wide midfielder or as a wing-back, and was even used as a centre-back on occasion; he was renowned for his stamina, quick sprints, and ability to make attacking runs down the right flank. In his prime, he was considered one of the fastest players in the top leagues of European football.
Abate started playing football with amateur club Rescaldina, before joining Milan's youth system in 1999 and making his professional debut for the club in December 2003. From 2004 to 2009, he spent five years on various loan spells with several Italian clubs, before going back to Milan. During the 2010–11 Serie A season, Abate contributed to Milan winning their 18th Scudetto as a first-choice in the right full-back position. After ten consecutive seasons with Milan and 306 competitive appearances for the team, Abate became a free agent in July 2019 and announced his retirement as a player in 2020. In 2021, he returned to the club as a youth coach.
Abate has represented the Italy national team and the Italy U21 national team, and also played for the Italian U19 national team and the Italian U20 national team. Prior to starring for the senior team, he represented his country in the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2009 European U-21 Championship. Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License - Full article |
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