Gianluca Pagliuca (; born 18 December 1966) is an Italian football coach and former professional goalkeeper. He is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and one of Italy's best keepers ever. Throughout his career, he played for Sampdoria, Inter, Bologna, and Ascoli in Italy, winning several domestic and international trophies. At international level, he represented Italy at three FIFA World Cups (1990, 1994, and 1998), most notably reaching the 1994 World Cup final as Italy's starting goalkeeper. He is the player with the fifth most appearances (592), and the second best penalty-stopper (24 saves) in Serie A behind Samir Handanović, although other specialists such as Júlio César and Handanović have a higher success rate. Club career Pagliuca was born in Bologna. In his club career, he played for Sampdoria (1987–94), Internazionale (1994–99), Bologna (1999–2006), and Ascoli (2006–07). His most notable successes with Sampdoria include one Cup Winners' Cup and one Scudetto; he also reached a UEFA Champions League final, losing 1–0 to Barcelona in 1992, at Wembley, in spite of his impressive performance. In 1994, he moved from Sampdoria to Internazionale from a then world record fee for a goalkeeper of £7 million. With the nerazzurri he reached two consecutive UEFA Cup finals, losing the first one against Schalke 04 in 1997 and winning the second one in 1998, when he captained the side to a 3–0 win over Lazio. Pagliuca left Inter in 1999, moving to his home town club, Bologna, after the former Juventus boss Marcello Lippi took charge of Inter and signed Angelo Peruzzi from his former club. After Bologna were relegated to Serie B in 2004–05, despite Pagliuca's outstanding season, he stayed with the club for one more year; then he returned to Serie A, accepting a contract with Ascoli for one year starting in summer of 2006. On 17 September 2006, Pagliuca set the record for most Serie A appearances for a goalkeeper, overtaking Dino Zoff, as he started against Messina. He retired at the end of the season. International career After taking part in the 1990 World Cup without playing a minute, Pagliuca overtook Walter Zenga, Stefano Tacconi and Luca Marchegiani, becoming first choice goalkeeper for Italy at the 1994 World Cup under Arrigo Sacchi. He received the dubious honour of being the first goalkeeper to be sent off in a World Cup match, when he was dismissed