![]() This would prove to be the only senior action O’Brien saw for Juve. Juventus-Rostselmash, partita che rimane scolpita nella memoria dei tifosi per un evento commovente: il debutto di Ronnie O'Brien! Sempre nel vivo del gioco, baluardo insuperabile in fase difensiva, pericolosissimo in attacco. It was O’Brien’s shot to hit – he was in a much better position and had only the keeper to beat from six yards – however, Del Piero hit the shot, and with his body off-balance, screwed it past the far post. He perhaps should have got on the scoresheet, but skewed two shots well wide, while his best chance saw Pippo Inzaghi flick a lofted pass over the defence, only for the young Irishman to give way to the onrushing Del Piero. O’Brien was introduced for the final 13 minutes when Juve were already 9-1 up on aggregate, but the grainy footage from the game shows him applying himself well: motoring up and down the right wing, winning a free kick on the edge of the Rostselmash box before putting in a key block tackle in the Juve area to end a Russian attack. With the Intertoto Cup to deal with in July and August, Ancelotti was prepared to experiment with his first team squad.Īfter appearing in three friendlies, O’Brien was named on the bench for clashes with Romanian side Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt, before getting his big chance against Russian club FC Rostselmash – now known as FC Rostov – in the second leg of their semi-final clash. Their squad did feature some all-time greats, including Zinedine Zidane, Edgar Davids and Alessandro Del Piero, however other first team stalwarts Didier Deschamps and Angelo Peruzzi had moved on. I hope he does really well and proves me wrong.” “People jump to the ceiling because he has gone to Juventus, but he hasn’t done anything yet. ![]() “Ronnie O’Brien is not good enough,” said the Boro boss. A rather rattled Robson was not impressed by the notion O’Brien was one who got away. The news of one of their fringe players being snapped up by Italian giants caused shockwaves on Teesside. ![]() He became the third Irishman to sign for Juve, after 1910s midfielder Matts Kunding, and more lately the ex-Arsenal star Liam Brady. The Old Lady were convinced, and so it was that O’Brien signed a five-year contract for the team managed by Carlo Ancelotti. ![]() However, his agent Steve Kutner – who also represented O’Brien’s Boro team-mate Paul Merson – sent a videotape of his highlights to some of the biggest clubs in Europe, including Juventus. O’Brien was, thus, released in summer 1999, and may have been looking to find his feet in the English lower tiers and seek first team chances. Indeed, Boro manager Bryan Robson never gave him a first-team debut. While O’Brien had success at youth international level – Ireland won the 1998 UEFA Under-16 Euros, a team containing John O’Shea beating Italy 2-1 in the final – he could not make the breakthrough for his club. ![]() Einstein won the vote instead.įor O’Brien, it was just one of several odd events in a career quite unlike any other professional footballer.īorn in Bray, Republic of Ireland, O’Brien impressed in youth football in his home country as an attacking midfielder, and was signed at the age of 18 by Championship promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough in 1997. “Whimsical candidates who do not fall within the spirit of the title will not be counted,” was their sniffy response. Time however shut down the fun, removing O’Brien and changing the rules. ![]()
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