Massimiliano Cappellini

Massimiliano Cappellini (born 2 January 1971, in Bollate) is a retired Italian professional footballer who played as a forward.

Club career Cappellini played 9 seasons (161 games, 25 games) in the Serie A for A.C. Milan, U.S. Foggia, Piacenza Calcio and Empoli F.C.; he also had loan spells in Serie B and Serie C with Monza, Piacenza, Atalanta, and Como. During the 1988–89 season, he made his debut in the European Cup, as a substitute in the second leg of the round of 16 tie against Red Star Belgrade, which Milan won on penalties; Milan went on to win the title that season. During 1990–91 season, he helped Piacenza win the league title and achieve promotion to Serie B, scoring 7 goals.

He was then loaned out to Serie A side Atalanta in the second half of the following season, but failed to make a single appearance for the club due to competition from other forwards. In September 1992, he was loaned out again to Como, where he scored 14 goals in 15 matches during the 1992–93 Serie C1 season, although he finished the season with an injury.

In 1996, he joined Serie B side Empoli, where he ended his career after nine seasons (four in Serie A and five in Serie B). He scored 16 goals during the 1996–97 Serie B season, helping Empoli achieve promotion to Serie A; the following season, he scored a personal best of nine goals in Serie A. At the beginning of the 1998–99 season, he suffered a serious knee injury, which forced him to take on more of a second striker role; Empoli were relegated to Serie B. He remained with the club until the 2004–05 season, winning the Serie B title, and helping the club achieve promotion to Serie A once again through his leadership.

International career Although he was never capped at senior international level, Cappellini represented Italy at youth level at the 1987 FIFA U-16 World Championship, where they finished in fourth place, with Cappellini scoring 2 goals in the tournament. In total he scored 4 goals in 5 appearances for the Italy U-16 side between 1987 and 1988. He also received a call-up for the Italy U-18, and five call-ups for the Italy Olympic side for the 1993 Mediterranean Games, but never played any matches for either of those teams.

Honours Club Milan Serie A: 1987–88 European Cup: 1988–89

Piacenza Serie C1: 1990–91

Empoli Serie B: 2004–05