Sebastiano Rossi

Sebastiano Rossi (born 20 July 1964) is an Italian retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

During a 21-year professional career, he appeared in 346 Serie A games, most notably representing AC Milan (12 seasons) with which he won 12 major titles, including five national championships and the 1994 Champions League.

Rossi joined his hometown's club, AC Cesena, in 1979, at the age of 15. In 1982–83, on loan, he made his senior debuts with Forlì in the Serie C1, being backup in a relegation-ending season.

After two more loans, Rossi returned to Cesena for the 1986–87 campaign, only missing five games as the Emilia-Romagna club promoted to Serie A, and retaining first-choice status in the following three top division seasons, with the team finishing 12th in 1989–90; he made his debut in the competition on 13 September 1987, in a home match against SSC Napoli.

After his first season in Italy's top flight, Rossi was noticed by AC Milan, and joined the Rossoneri (also dubbed the Dream Team) that dominated Italian football for much of the 1990s. In his debut campaign he backed up Andrea Pazzagli, but the veteran left for Bologna FC 1909 in the ensuing summer.

Rossi then briefly battled for starting duties with Francesco Antonioli, before becoming Milan's undisputed first-choice goalkeeper, being part of a defensive line that included, amongst others, Mauro Tassotti, Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta and Paolo Maldini, regarded as one of the greatest defensive units of all time. However, unlike the aforementioned defenders, Rossi wasn't selected to represent Italy in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, since former Milan coach Arrigo Sacchi, who was the commissioner of the Italy national team during this time, assigned the three goalkeeping spots to Gianluca Pagliuca, Luca Marchegiani and Luca Bucci. Under Sacchi, Rossi received two international call-ups by the end of 1994, but failed to make a single appearance for his country, although several pundits regarded him as a viable alternative to the then first-choice keeper Pagliuca; he still managed to have a successful club career under the tutelage of Fabio Capello, as the Invincibles went on a 58-match unbeaten run and won four Scudetti in five seasons, as well as the UEFA Champions League in 1994.

Following their 1996 Scudetto victory, Milan sharply declined thereafter, finishing 11th in 1997 and tenth in 1998, as Rossi's own career declined and saw him battling Massimo Taibi for the top spot. During round 17 of the 1998–99 season, Milan were leading AC Perugia 2–0 when they conceded a late penalty. After Hidetoshi Nakata converted it, teammate Cristian Bucchi was struck from behind by Rossi while retrieving the ball from the back of the net. Rossi was sent off and later was punished with a five-match ban.

After beating out newcomer Jens Lehmann (who would leave after playing only five matches) for the number-one jersey in 1998–99, Rossi was ultimately usurped by upstart Christian Abbiati, who had replaced him in the Perugia match.