Renzo Contratto (Borgaro Torinese, 5 December 1959) is an Italian sports agent and former footballer who played as a defender.
Renzo Contratto intervened on Fiorentina’s delicate moment.
The former Viola player spoke to Radio FirenzeViola, starting from the defense conundrum:
“This Fiorentina is a little late and it’s normal that we expected more.
The big problems are in defense, I am very perplexed about this defense, we need to give more. We need to understand what kind of availability the defensive interpreters have given to the new module: there are players who excel with this module, I think of Dodo and Gosens, but others who seem sacrificed to me, above all Biraghi. I have many doubts about his mental strength in that role. I totally disagree with Palladino on the use of Biraghi as a left central defender, I think that the club is also aware of this, I think that in defense we need to take cover.”
Contract also had his say on Marin Pongracic:
“To judge the defensive line in its entirety I await the necessary integration of Pongracic, which is also fundamental from a physical point of view: a player like Milenkovic requires a substitute with centimetres to give to the team. Fiorentina was conceived with Pongracic and, I believe, to compete for the top, for a European qualification. I think it was also conceived with a three-man defence and with Ranieri as a left centre-back in the three-man defence”.
RENZO CONTRATTO, THE MASTIFF WHO NEVER GAVE UP
Ending your career in the purple jersey with the captain’s armband on your arm and with a victory in Turin with Juventus is a unique privilege. Only one Fiorentina player has had it, and what’s more, he was born a few kilometers from the city of the Mole, in Borgaro Torinese, namely Renzo Contratto. That success was a great satisfaction for him, because with Juve at the Comunale on November 27, 1983, he scored a sensational own goal 14 minutes from the end, beating an astonished Giovanni Galli. Fiorentina were winning 3-2 and Monelli, shortly before, had hit the crossbar for the goal of a possible 4-2. The Viola victory thus turned into the definitive 3-3, after a splendid match characterized by a header from Antognoni and a brace from Bertoni under the Fiesole curve. Contratto played for eight seasons in Florence, from 1980/81 when (still twenty years old) he was bought by Pisa (who were playing in Serie B) to 1987/88. Then he was sold to Atalanta, today’s opponent. In the championship with the purple shirt he played 222 games, without however scoring a goal. His debut in Serie A took place at the Comunale on the first day on 14 September 1980 in the match against Perugia won by Paolo Carosi’s Fiorentina 1-0 with a goal by Antognoni from a penalty. He took part in the splendid ride of the 1981/82 championship, when Fiorentina came second behind Juve, almost winning the third scudetto. In that tournament Contratto played 28 games out of 30, missing only the first two. Then he was always fielded as a starter by De Sisti, mostly with the number two shirt and only a few times with the number three. He was a quick and fast full-back and it was not easy for opponents to get past him.
As the years went by, however, he became the marker for the opposing second striker. No longer just on the wing (at the time they played man-to-man) but also in a more central position. Pin wore the number two jersey and Contratto the number three. As a Viola player he also played 4 games with the Under 23 national team and 6 with the Under 21. In his last season at Fiorentina (1987/88), after the departure of Antognoni, the Swedish coach Sven Goran Eriksson gave him the captain’s armband. Contratto, for the first time, played zonal.
Right back, yes, but not in fixed marking on the opponent. He had to cover the wing. Together with Carobbi he formed the starting pair of full backs. But sometimes the Swedish coach preferred Bosco, a midfielder adapted to being a defender, less skilled in the interdiction phase but better in the construction phase of the maneuver. Contratto, however, played 23 games out of 30 and in the last one at the old Comunale in Turin (the current Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, where Toro plays) with the number two shirt and the captain’s armband he led Fiorentina to victory over Juve by 2-1. Baggio scored in the 31st minute and Di Chiara in the 75th minute. Then he shortened the distance for the Bianconeri in the 78th minute with a penalty by De Agostini. The Viola finished the championship in eighth place. Juve, on the other hand, came in sixth on equal points with Toro, with whom he played and won the play-off derby to enter the UEFA Cup. At the end of the season, Contratto left Fiorentina and moved to Atalanta, where he remained for three years, playing 87 league games without (as in Florence) getting the satisfaction of scoring a goal. (The Sporting Thrill)