6 – Angelo Di Livio
The first half of this list was very difficult to compile. Italy saw a wealth of midfielders passing through its ranks between 1998 and 2012, including some great talents that never blossomed, and several understated workmen who went on and exceeded expectations. Very few of these names truly stand out.
Ultimately, and all things considered, we believe that Angelo Di Livio deserves the title of best midfielder for the first half of these fourteen years. He played in 1998, 2000 and 2002. He was not always a starter, but he never disappointed when he was called, even when he seemed to be past his age. As importantly, he was the most tactically ductile of them all, and thus the most useful.
Di Livio could play both as a central midfielder and as a right winger. This offered numerous options to his coaches: they could send him in midway through the game and change the tactical look of the team, or he could stay on when someone else was substituted and switch to a new role to keep the balance. This proved particularly useful in the successful 2000 campaign, which saw coach Dino Zoff tinkering considerably with men and formation. Di Livio was one of the reasons he was allowed to do that.
Di Livio was never a glamorous player, but of the numerous names that were called for the Azzurri midfield, he was definitely one of those who gave the most (and performed the best) in proportion to his abilities.
