Cult Player Profile: Paolo Montero

Now this guy was one hard b*****d. He went to Italy, the land that spawned the likes of Claudio Gentile, Rino Gattuso and Marco Materazzi and broke the Serie A record for red cards received by one player. He has received an amazing 15 red cards during his 13 year spell in Italy.

Montero’s trademark was the ‘clothes line’ tackle, in which his stiff arm would connect with the attacker’s Adam’s apple leaving them in a heap on the ground
Just to put this in perspective Roy Keane had less red cards in his whole career...

 
Now  we've got the violence and brutality out of the way, time to talk football. Montero's best years were spent at Juventus, during this time Juve were dominating the domestic scene in Italy and reached three Champions League finals. Montero was an integral part of this dominance playing mainly as a centre back and occasionally a left full back.

When looking at the defenders career Goal.com put him in their Juventus team of the decade (2000-2010) saying "Despite his poor disciplinary record, the Uruguayan was also a world class defender during most of his Juventus career. Montero was man-made for the Italian game due to his excellent reading of the game, and professionalism." He was tough rugged and determined to win, when questioned if he is a bad player or if referees have targeted him by the Italian press he responded "They did so, but do not tell me I'm bad, this only my parents can say. The fact is that I always play to win, in the locker room shaking hands with opponents, of course, but no concession in the field. " He was the kind of player you would want on your team when backs are to the wall.

Montero battling with Arsenal's Frederik Ljungberg in the Champions League

During his nine years with Juventus he won 5 Serie A titles and played in 3 Champions Leagues finals, unfortunately he was on the losing side in all 3. He also won numerous minor trophies including 3 Italian Super Cups, 1 Uefa Super Cup and a Intercontinental Cup.

Montero tackling Brazilian star Juninho in a World Cup Qualifier

He was also capped 61 times by Uruguay scoring 5 goals in his 14 year international career and also captained his country. He only played in one major international tournament which was Korea and Japan 2002 where his side were knocked out in the group stages. He retired after Uruguay failed to qualify for the 2006 tournament after a playoff defeat to Australia.

Anyway Montero will always be underrated as a defender but be in everyone's "Top Ten Hard Men of Football". I feel there are two reasons to why he is so underrated, firstly due to his very poor disciplinary record and secondly because he played for a "lesser" nation in terms of status in international football. I personally think if he played for Brazil or Italy he would've been remembered as one of the best defenders of the last two decades...