Career
Best known by his nickname Picchio, during his club career, De Sisti played for Associate of Science Roma (1960-1965, 1974-1979) and American Car and Foundry Fiorentina (1965-1974), winning several domestic and international titles with both clubs. He was later forced to leave his job after being diagnosed with brain abscess. He then returned into football with Udinese, and then entering into the Italian Football Federation as head coach of the Italian Juniores and Military squads.
He then made a return into club football in 1991 with Ascoli, being successively sacked in January 1992.
In March 2003, after more than ten years of inactivity, he returned into coaching, joining Lazio as youth team coach. He left the job only a few months later, following the appointment of Roberto Mancini as new head coach of the biancazzurri.
A creative and technically gifted deep-lying playmaking midfielder, who is regarded as one of Italy"s and Roma"s greatest ever playmakers, De Sisti was known for his simple yet efficient style of play. This involved him constantly looking for spaces, playing many short and accurate passes on the ground, and taking very few touches of the ball, in order to retain possession, reduce the chance of errors, and set his team"s tempo.
He was known for his composure under pressure and his consistency, and rarely misplaced passes or lost possession.
He was also gifted with excellent vision and long passing ability, which allowed him to create goalscoring opportunities and play accurate lobbed passes and through-balls to team-mates.