THE ITALIAN CONNECTION

FOUR Italians have pulled on the Celtic shirt in a first-team game down through the years, starting in the 1940s with goalkeeper, Rolando Ugolini, and most recently with midfielder, Massimo Donati. Making up the quartet are Paolo Di Canio and Enrico Annoni, who both pulled on the Hoops in the late 1990s. And as we look forward to this week’s UEFA Europa League group-stage clash with AC Milan at Paradise, the View profiles our four Italian Celts…

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ROLANDO UGOLINI (1944-48)

Born in Lucca in 1924 – the town where Caesar, Pompey and Crassus apparently divided the Roman Republic among them – Rolando Ugolini came to Scotland at the age of three. He joined Celtic in March 1944, though it would be over a year before he made his debut. That came in an extraordinary Charity Cup match against Partick Thistle at Firhill. The game finished 1-1 but Celtic won the contest 9-2 on corners. He was only to make a total of five appearances for Celtic, mainly due to the fact that the great Willie Miller was the club’s top keeper and, unfortunately, Ugolini didn’t manage to keep a single clean sheet. He joined Middlesborough in 1948 and had nine great years with them. He played again at Celtic Park in 1960, this time for Dundee United, the score finishing 1-1.

PAOLO DI CANIO (1996-97)