Serie A has always had a long tradition of being home to some of the best goalkeepers on the planet and the standard of player in this position has been increasingly high in recent seasons.
From veterans such as Christian Abbiati continuing to impress to a legend like Gianluigi Buffon to promising young stars like Mattia Perin, this season it has been no different for the men between the sticks performing to their best.
Due to these exceptional standards, it is always going to be hard to pick one man who has stood out above all others but for me, it is impossible to look past Lazio’s Federico Marchetti.
Yet again he has been one of the major players behind the Aquile’s consistent form across all competitions that sees them sitting fifth in the table, the quarterfinals of the Europa League and the Coppa Italia final.
In fact it was in the latter competition that the 30-year-old proved his world class credentials during their semifinal clash with Juventus in Turin at the end of January.
During the first leg, his side was trailing 1-0 with 10 minutes remaining and a further goal for the Bianconeri would likely have killed Lazio’s hopes of reaching the showpiece event when Marchetti pulled off one of the most incredible saves you will witness this season and perhaps ever, no exaggeration intended.
Seek it out if you are yet to see it (or watch below), a long ball was exquisitely played over the top of his defence and from a difficult angle, Arturo Vidal directed a looping header over the head over the Lazio number one and practically into the net before he responded with a stunning reflex save to claw it back out to safety.
Yes there are others in the league capable of pulling off incredible reflex stops, Samir Handanovic and Samir Ujkani immediately spring to mind, but when you think of all that he has overcome, it is refreshing to see the man who many wrote off three years ago displaying his class again.
He was unfairly frozen out at Cagliari due to his refusal to sign a new deal and was made the scapegoat for Italy’s abject World Cup failure in 2010 after deputising for Buffon who was injured in the opening game against Paraguay.
This was not something that was easy for him to bounce back from, as the man who admits he likens himself to movie hero Rocky Balboa, revealed when discussing both the international situation and his treatment in Sardinia.
“From day to day, important things were taken away from me and I felt so alone except for the support of my family, my girlfriend Rachele and my friends,” the shot-stopper opened up. “But I chose to rediscover my life and I realised that there are people much worse off than myself.”
The self-depreciating Marchetti has become a hero to the Curva Nord for the trustworthy nature that he exudes and there can be no doubting that the fans would feel confident with such a strong goalkeeper representing them.
Yes he is prone to mistakes, anyone who watched the aforementioned World Cup will be quick to point this out, and he is still somewhat suspect when dealing with aerial balls at times but on the whole, he has proven time and again this campaign that he is not a man who the peninsula’s strikers will enjoy coming up against.
He has only missed five of the Biancocelesti’s league games this campaign through injury earlier in the campaign and during the 25 games he has played, the Torino youth product has kept 11 clean sheets and conceded on just 27 occasions.
Even in the Europa League, he has showcased his class on a continental stage, having kept teams out completely in five of the seven games he has played.
It is not in every game that he pulls off the remarkable (as he did to deny Vidal) and arguably does not do so as frequently as some of the league’s other goalkeepers, but he is undoubtedly among the most consistent.
Commanding and formidable he may be on the field, but off it, he is a simple man of simple means and remains a humble character.
He enthused about his off-pitch life: “I work out regularly and always try to remain in good shape and at the weekends I go to the beach or the movies.
“My favourite movie is Bevenuti al Sud (Welcome to the South) and I think that Claudio Bisio is great, these are the things that I enjoy.”
Marchetti is a man who remains ever thankful to those who did show him such great support during the difficult period of his career but it is the Laziale (and some day in the future the Azzurri faithful) who are now grateful to him for his performances, making him the league’s standout star this season.
He is bloody brilliant – end of…