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Francesco Toldo

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Francesco Toldo

Francesco Toldo Cavaliere OMRI (Italian pronunciation: [franˈtʃesko ˈtɔldo]; born 2 December 1971) is an Italian retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is regarded by some pundits as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation.

In a professional career which spanned two full decades, he mainly represented Fiorentina and Inter Milan (eight and nine seasons respectively), winning a total of 15 trophies combined.

For the Italy national team, Toldo took part in five international competitions, being a starter in UEFA Euro 2000, where he helped Italy reach the final.

Born in Padua, Veneto, Toldo began his career with Milan in 1990. He never played a game for Milan, however, being loaned during his stint with the club, successively to Hellas Verona (1990–91), Trento (1991–92), and Ravenna (1992–93).

Toldo then joined Fiorentina in 1993, and became the Viola club's starter for eight seasons, helping the club win the Serie B title in his first season, and earn promotion to Serie A, later also winning the Coppa Italia twice, the Supercoppa Italiana, and playing in one edition of the UEFA Champions League, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. In 2000, Toldo was named the Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year for his performances.

One year before Fiorentina faced bankruptcy, Toldo and Rui Costa were sold to Parma for a combined 140 billion lire in June 2001 (55 billion lire for Toldo; about 28.4 million in fixed exchange rate). It made the club a net profit in 2000–01 financial year, instead of a net loss. However, both players refused to join. Toldo himself he would be the replacement of departing goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, whom Toldo refused to live under the expectation of. Eventually, Toldo joined Inter Milan instead of Parma for the same fee; Parma signed Sébastien Frey from Inter instead of Toldo; Buffon joined Juventus from Parma; and Edwin van der Sar went to Fulham from Juventus.

During his first season with the Inter under manager Héctor Cúper, Toldo performed at a high level, reaching the semi-final of the UEFA Cup, and narrowly missing out on the Serie A title on the final match-day as Inter threw away their lead by losing to Lazio, eventually finishing the 2001–02 Serie A season in third place behind Juventus and Roma. Due to his consistency with Inter, Toldo soon became a fan favourite and was noted for his passionate and high-quality performances. The following season, he was praised particularly for his saves against Valencia in the Champions League quarter-final, leading football pundits to nickname the Mestalla "La Plaza de Toldo". During the match, Toldo was seen getting choked by teammate Luigi Di Biagio after an argument on the pitch. With his performances, Toldo helped Inter reach the semi-finals of the Champions League that season, losing out to the eventual champions and inter-city rivals Milan on away goals. Another great memory for Inter fans was his contribution to the equalising goal, scored by Christian Vieri, in the last minute of an eventual 1–1 draw against title rivals Juventus in the 2002–03 season; at first it appeared that Toldo might have been the scorer instead of Vieri, and even today the goal is still often referred to as "Toldo's goal".

During the 2004–05 season, Toldo helped Inter win the Coppa Italia, and he also reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, losing out to Milan once again, who went on to reach the final. He followed up this victory with another Supercoppa Italiana title in 2005. Toldo was the number one keeper for Inter until the summer of 2005, when the Brazilian Júlio César relegated him to the bench after he had elected to sit out Inter's summer friendly match tour of England.

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