Top Facts About Massimo Ambrosini, The AC Milan Veteran

Ambrosini is a former Italian midfielder known for his long term spell with

. Ambrosini dedicated eighteen years of his career to the Rossoneri. He was most of the time under the shadow of the enormous names in Milan's squad. Apart from Milan, Ambrosini had three single seasons in

,

, and

. Cesena is where Massimo started his professional career and Fiorentina was the last team he played for. He spent a loan season in Vicenza while he was actually a Milan player.

Ambrosini has 36 national team caps, but he didn’t score many goals for Gli Azzurri. Three generations of Milan players were teammates with Ambrosini. The first generation was under manager Fabio Capello and the second was with Carlo Ancelotti. These two generations of AC Milan, following Arrigo Sacchi's phenomenal team, together, made a golden era for Rossoneri. Max Ambrosini was the captain in the third and last generation of Milan winning Scudetto. After Paolo Maldini's retirement, the armband received by Max while big names like Nesta, Seedorf, and Pirlo were in the squad.

The followings are some lesser-known facts about Massimo Ambrosini:

Milan was his first team in Serie A, but he left Milan twice. The first time when he was considered as a  rookie, he left on a loan to play for Vicenza and gain experience. The last time he was a golden knight with a long epic story, he departed Milan to spend the last season of his career in Florence. Read on more facts about Massimo Ambrosini.

Massimo Ambrosini early life

The first fact about Massimo Ambrosini is that he was born on May 29, 1977, in Pesaro. Pesaro is known as the "City of Music". Massimo joined the youth squad of Cesena when he was 15 years old. After two years, Max was promoted to the first team squad. On August 31, 1994, Ambrosini made his debut for Cesena in a Coppa Italia match against

. He was a substitute player while in the second leg he was in the starting eleven.

Cesena was eliminated by Genoa, but Ambrosini became a regular name in the starting line-up in Serie B. He appeared in 25 league matches for Cesena. After only a season in Serie B, AC Milan scouted him as a promising talent. So he moved to Milan to play in the top tier of Italian football.

Massimo Ambrosini Personal Life

About Massimo Ambrosini’s wife, in 2009 he and Paola Angelini got together, and after five years in 2014 had a ceremony in Milan, in the Chiesa del Carmine. They live their private life away from the spotlight but he often shares some photos of himself and his family on his Instagram page. Paola, the former model and Massimo have two children: a boy, Federico Ambrosini, and a girl, Angelica Ambrosini. Federico was born in May 2009, and Angelica in November 2011.

Massimo Ambrosini Club Career

After Cesena, Ambrosini was spotted by the AC Milan board. He was transferred by a fee of $2.10 million to the top tier. Let's check some facts about Max Ambrosini's club career in Milan.

AC Milan

In 1995, Milan was one of the top teams in the world. They had an All Star squad in all the roles and positions. The midfielders of Fabio Capello's line-up were Demetrio Albertini, Zvonimir Boban, Marcel Desailly, and Roberto Donadoni. Milan was stashing talents for the future. Ambrosini was one of their best transfers. Patrick Vieira was another young arrival for Milan that year. Ambrosini received much more playtime than Vieira.

He played in Serie A and Coppa Italia and even a few UEFA Cup fixtures in his first season. He won the Serie A title, which was the beginning of the series of trophies he won in Milan. The next season, despite Milan hired Edgar Davids, Max was a trustworthy reserve. Capello left Milan to take

's offer. His replacement, Oscar Tabarez, was sacked in December and even Arrigo Sacchi failed to improve Milan's form and they finished in 11th place of the standings.

Capello did a great job and won La Liga in a close race with

, who had the unspoiled Ronaldo. Capello returned to save Milan. He decided to loan out Ambrosini to have more playtime. He also could not help Milan's poor results. Former Milan President Silvio Berlusconi hired young Alberto Zaccheroni to bring new ideas to the club. Zaccheroni put his trust in Ambrosini. Max became a crucial player besides Boban and Albertini. The fresh idea worked and Milan won the Scudetto. Max scored his first goal for Milan. The goal was a stunning long range shot in a match against

.

Serie A title defender signed Andriy Shevchenko and Gennaro Gattuso. Shevchenko became one of the best strikers and Gattuso one of the best defensive midfielders of all time. When Redondo also joined Milan in the following year, Ambrosini lost his spot in the starting line-up. Zaccheroni's spark lasted only one year and after that Milan fell into a series of manager changes until the 5th of November, 2001 that Carlo Ancelotti became the new coach.

In the 2002-03 season, Ambrosini once again became a rotating player, which was not bad at all. Ambrosini had many rivals in the squad. Ancelotti had new options for the midfield:

, Clarence Seedorf, and Andrea Pirlo. They reached the UEFA Champions League's final. Ambrosini was the third substitute that Ancelotti sent in against

. The match ended goallessly and Milan won the European championship in a penalty shoot-out.

The next year, Kaka signed with Milan. Ancelotti used a 4-3-2-1 formation, also known as the "Christmas Tree". Kaka and Rui Costa played behind Shevchenko and 3 from 4 usual midfielders: Seedorf, Pirlo, Gattuso, and Ambrosini. Ancelotti's team won the Scudetto this time.

Carlo Ancelotti occasionally used two variations of 4-4-2. At first, he tried 4-4-2 Double-6, also known as Double-Pivot. Having two strong central midfielders gives an advantage to the team in the mid third. Ancelotti later mastered double-pivot and used it in Real Madrid, because the formation can easily transform to 4-2-3-1. Ambrosini was one of his favorite midfielders in this system. He was handy in the second variation of 4-4-2, which is called Diamond. It is pretty much like 4-3-2-1, but with one attacking midfielder replacing by a striker.

With this variety of tactics, Milan reached another Champions League final in 2005.In one of the most memorable football matches, Milan faced

in Istanbul. Everything was in favor of Milan before the half time whistle. Milan was in the lead by three in a one sided game, but Liverpool performed a comeback in a few minutes and eventually snatched the title from Milan.

In Serie A, Ambrosini's side also finished in second place behind Juventus, but the 2004-05 Scudetto was stripped away from Juventus due to the infamous Calciopoli match-fixing scandal. Milan was one of the teams facing consequences for participating in Calciopoli.

started dominating Serie A, but in 2007, Milan got what they craved for, an act of sweet revenge from Liverpool. In 2007, Milan met Liverpool again in the Champions League final and this time they claimed the title in 90 minutes. Ambrosini was in all the CL matches except for the first group stage against

and the final match.

In the late years of Paolo Maldini, Max Ambrosini was the Vice-Captain. In the summer before the 2009-10 season, Milan had a revolution in the squad. Maldini, Ancelotti and Kaka left Milan. The revolution began in the previous season by signing Ronaldinho and Zambrotta from Barcelona. Leonardo became Ancelotti's successor and he hired

and David Beckham. The captain role was handed to Ambrosin following Maldini's retirement. Leonardo wasn't good enough for Milan executives and they hired Massimiliano Allegri from

.

Mark van Bommel and

alongside

were the notable arrivals for Allegri. Ambrosini missed many games due to injuries in 2010-11, but in the end, Serie A trophy was handed to him as the team's captain. He remained in the team for two more seasons after that. Ambrosini made 489 appearances for Milan, making the 6th man on the all time Milan appearances record table.

Fiorentina and Retirement

In 2013 Ambrosini finally left Milan and joined Fiorentina. Ambrosini had 30 caps for Fiorentina. His partnership with

and

, and also

's great form, resulted in an honorable 4th place in Serie A standings. After the end of that season, Massimo Ambrosini announced his departure and retirement.

International Career

Ambrosini made his debut for

on April 28, 1999. Azzurri's manager was Dino Zoff at the time. The match was an international friendly against

and Ambrosini played the first half. His name was called for Euro 2000 Qualifications, but Antonio Conte and Albertini were Zoff's choices for the midfielders. After getting more playtime in the friendly matches before the Euro venue, he was more closer to the starting line-up for the competition.

He played 90 minutes in the final group stage match against

that ended with Azzurri winning. Italy faced

in the final and Ambrosini was sent in by Zoff while his team was leading by one goal. The injury time goal from Wiltord and then Trezeguet's golden goal in extra time denied Ambrosini from winning the European title. Giovanni Trapattoni usually used to mention Ambrosini in his list for Azzurri, but a cruciate ligament injury didn’t let him be a part of Azzurri's squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Ambrosini missed the Euro 2004 for the same reasons as well. Marcello Lippi didn’t call Ambrosini for the 2006 World Cup, where he could have won a gold medal. In August 2006, new Italy manager Roberto Donadoni called Ambrosini up for Azzurri after two years o absence. Their opponent was Croatia again, but the point was Ambrosini wearing the captain's armband. Donadoni was the last manager using Ambrosini and his last tournament was the Euro 2008. Max played in all four Italy fixtures that ended with the elimination by

in the Quarter-Finals.

Massimo Ambrosini Stats

At the club level, Massimo Ambrosini started at Serie B 1994-95 season in Cesena. He played in 25 games and scored a goal. After joining AC Milan, he wasn’t in the starting line up at first. In Serie A, he went on the pitch with the red and black jersey 344 times and played in 489 games in all the competitions for the club. In the league in seventeen seasons, he scored 29 goals, helping Milan to win four titles.

He went on loan to Vicenza in the 1997-98 season and was on the starting XI. He played in 34 games and scored a goal, avoiding relegation and reaching the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup semi final. After leaving AC Milan in his last season, he was in Fiorentina and played another 30 games and they made it to the 4th place in the Serie A table. 

At the International level, Ambrosini played for Italy for the first time in 1999 under manager Dino Zoff. Until 2008 he played 36 games for Italy, but when Marcello Lippi came back as the manager in 2009, he wasn’t in the squad anymore. 

Some Quick Facts About Massimo Ambrosini

About 

Massimo Ambrosini's age

, it should be mentioned that he was born on May 29, 1977, so till now he has 44 years of age. He is known for the eighteen years playing for AC Milan which was really successful.Being a defensive midfielder, Ambrosini was known for his ability in the air and being a goal threat. His powerful striking abilities made manager Carlo Ancelotti deploy him as a center forward on occasion. 

A fact about Massimo Ambrosini is that he has won four Serie A titles with Milan and also two UEFA champions league championships in 2003 and 2007. As mentioned before, in 18 seasons he played a total 489 games for AC Milan in all the competitions and scored 36 goals as a defensive midfielder and the captain for six seasons following the retirement of Paolo Maldini. 

Other than AC Milan, he played in Fiorentina for his last season. Playing 35 games for Italy national team, Massimo Ambrosini was a part of the Italy’s 2000 UEFA European championship as runner up. 

One of the

facts about Massimo Ambrosini

is that after retiring from being a professional footballer, he joined Sky Sport. At present he works as a Soccer commentator and pundit commentator for Sky Sport in Italy. 

Massimo Ambrosini Social Media

About 

Massimo Ambrosini's social media

, it should be mentioned that he has an official Instagram page (@massimoambrosini) and he shares lots of photos and updates with his followers. He is really popular on Instagram and his page has about 160k followers. He doesn’t seem to have an official twitter account or it might be private. 

Massimo Ambrosini Body Measurement

About 

Massimo Ambrosini's body measurements

, it should be mentioned that there is no information on his body measurements, but he stands 1.82 m tall and he weigh 72 kg.

Massimo Ambrosini Honors

• A.C. Milan Hall of Fame

• 5th Class / Knight: Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: 2000

Massimo Ambrosini Net Worth & Salary

Speaking about 

Massimo Ambrosini net worth and salary

, it has been estimated that he has a net worth of 90 Million at the age of 44 and in 2013 his salary was 800k EUR. It should be mentioned that there is no new information about his salary from 2013.  

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