Massimo Taibi
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Massimo Taibi | ||
| Date of birth | 18 February 1970 | ||
| Place of birth | Palermo, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1987–1989 | Licata | 1 | (0) |
| 1989–1990 | Trento | 23 | (0) |
| 1990–1991 | Milan | 0 | (0) |
| 1991–1992 | Como | 34 | (0) |
| 1992–1997 | Piacenza | 177 | (0) |
| 1997–1998 | Milan | 17 | (0) |
| 1998–1999 | Venezia | 34 | (0) |
| 1999–2000 | Manchester United | 4 | (0) |
| 2000–2001 | Reggina | 52 | (1) |
| 2001–2005 | Atalanta | 131 | (0) |
| 2005–2007 | Torino | 49 | (0) |
| 2007–2009 | Ascoli | 47 | (0) |
| Total | 569 | (1) | |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Massimo Taibi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmassimo taˈibi]; born 18 February 1970) is a retired Italian footballer, who played as a goalkeeper for several clubs, mostly in Italy's Serie A, B, and C1. He had a brief spell at English club Manchester United.
Taibi started his career for Licata until 1989. He appeared only once, before moving to Trentino, where he was a first-choice goalkeeper, playing 23 matches. After one season, he moved to Milan in Serie A for the 1990–91 season. As in his first club, he was not used at all, and shortly moved to Como, where he played the following season. After that he moved to Piacenza. Taibi stayed there for five seasons, until the 1996–97 season, and appeared for most of the club's games.
Piacenza thought his time was over, so they sold him to the club which had not played him, Milan. This time, Milan played him in half of the 1997–98 season's games as a backup to teammate Sebastiano Rossi. Then Milan sold him to Venezia in 1998. In his first season with Venezia, he played in nearly every game.
In 1999, Manchester United purchased Taibi for £4.5 million, requiring a new goalkeeper after Peter Schmeichel had left for Sporting Lisbon after winning the treble and injuries to both their 1st and 2nd choice goalkeepers: Mark Bosnich and Raimond van der Gouw respectively. He made his debut against Liverpool, where he flapped at a free kick, allowing Sami Hyypiä to score. However, he later made a number of saves, including a one-on-one save from Vladimír Šmicer. United went on to win 3–2 with Taibi getting the Man of the Match award. Taibi competed with the other two goalkeepers, Mark Bosnich and Raimond van der Gouw, for the first-team place, but lost out after a gaffe against Southampton in September 1999 that resulted in Matthew Le Tissier scoring a goal, which he became synonymous for. This match led to Taibi being dubbed 'The Blind Venetian' by one newspaper. He only played four matches, one of them a 5–0 defeat at Chelsea, United's first league defeat since losing to Middlesbrough in December 1998.
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