Dominic Matteo

Dominic Matteo

Personal information
Full name	Dominic Matteo
Date of birth	28 April 1974 (1974-04-28)
Place of birth	Dumfries, Scotland
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position	Centre-back, Left-back, Centre-midfielder
Youth career
1990–1992	Liverpool
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1992–2000	Liverpool	129	(1)
1995	→ Sunderland (loan)	1	(0)
2000–2004	Leeds United	115	(2)
2004–2007	Blackburn Rovers	34	(0)
2007–2009	Stoke City	23	(1)
Total		302	(4)
National team
1994	England U21	3	(0)
1998	England B	1	(0)
2000–2002	Scotland	6	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Dominic Matteo (born 28 April 1974) is a former Scottish international professional association footballer. . He played for most for Liverpool, Leeds United, Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City. A left footed player, Matteo played in either defence of midfield.

His greatest number of appearances was with Liverpool. His most notable individual moment was his goal in the Champions League against A.C. Milan. The latter part of his career was increasingly impacted by injury.

Club career

Liverpool

Born in Dumfries where his father, who "wanted his boy to play like Cesare Maldini", ran Matthew's Cafe in Friars Vennel, Matteo started his career at Liverpool F.C., for whom he played between 1992 and 2000 (with a small Sunderland A.F.C. loan in between). He scored two goals for Liverpool, one against Southampton in the league and another against Huddersfield in the FA Cup.

Leeds United

In August 2000 he joined Leeds United, and made his team debut against A.C. Milan the following month, in a UEFA Champions League contest.

He was one of Leeds' best players through their 2000–01 Champions League campaign, in which they achieved a semi-final place. He is fondly remembered by Leeds fans especially for the goal he scored at the San Siro against AC Milan, in the first group stage which ensured they would progress through to the next round. He ended that Champions League campaign with two goals, having also scored earlier against Besiktas.

When Rio Ferdinand moved to Manchester United in the summer of 2002, Matteo was handed team captaincy. Leeds were relegated at the end of 2003–04, despite Matteo's two goals against Fulham and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Blackburn Rovers

In July 2004 Matteo signed a three-year contract with Blackburn Rovers. He made his Blackburn debut against West Bromwich Albion in a 1–1 draw. He scored his first and only goal for Blackburn in a 3-0 win over Colchester United in the FA Cup.

Stoke City

In January 2007, Matteo moved to Championship side Stoke City on a free transfer, signing a short-term contract until the summer, playing a total of nine games and scoring one goal against Derby County. Matteo still continued to play for Stoke during the club's 2007–08 pre-season campaign, despite being out of contract. However, he was offered a new 12-month contract by the club on 10 August 2007. He was made captain by Tony Pulis in the season Stoke won promotion back to the top flight of the English football league system. Matteo played 13 league games up to the end of October after which he played only once more before the end of the season, a game in November 2007. The last game of his career was his solitary game in the 2008-09 season, a League Cup game in August.

While at Stoke Matteo progressed studying for his Uefa coaching qualifications.

International career

Matteo won Under-21 and 'B' caps for England,and was also called up for the main squad on two occasions but was never capped. He later was called up for the Scotland side, having been born and lived as a young boy in Dumfries. He went on to collect 6 caps for Scotland, making his debut against Australia in November 2000. But he retired from international duty to concentrate on his career at Leeds United after suffering injury problems.

After playing

After retiring Matteo became involved at former club Leeds United where he was regarded as a cult hero. He works as a columnist for Yorkshire Evening Post and is Leeds United's Sporting Bet ambassador.

His book, In My defence, was published in 2011. In an interview, given at the time of the book's release, he said that he had liked working with David O'Leary and Peter Ridsdale at Leeds; " I loved working with David. He had been a great central defender at Arsenal. But, as things started to get on top of us, he spent more time in his office. He was nowhere near a failure and, if you finished fifth now, you would not expect the sack."

Career statistics

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Liverpool	1993–94	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	0
	1994–95	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
Sunderland (loan)	1994–95	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Liverpool	1995–96	7	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	8	0
	1996–97	26	0	2	0	3	0	7	0	38	0
	1997–98	26	0	1	0	4	0	2	0	33	0
	1998–99	20	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	22	1
	1999–2000	32	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	33	1
	Total	129	1	6	1	7	0	11	0	153	2
Leeds United	2000–01	30	0	2	0	1	0	15	2	48	2
	2001–02	32	0	0	0	1	0	7	0	40	0
	2002–03	20	0	3	0	0	0	1	0	24	0
	2003–04	33	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	34	2
	Total	115	2	6	0	2	0	23	2	146	4
Blackburn Rovers	2004–05	28	0	4	1	0	0	0	0	32	1
	2005–06	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
	Total	34	0	5	1	0	0	0	0	39	1
Stoke City	2006–07	9	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	10	1
	2007–08	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	14	0
	2008–09	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
	Total	23	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	25	1
Career total		302	4	18	2	10	0	34	2	364	8

External links

• Dominic Matteo on Twitter
• Liverpool historic profile
• Dominic Matteo career stats at Soccerbase

Sporting positions
Preceded by Rio Ferdinand	Leeds United captain 2002–2004	Succeeded by Paul Butler
Preceded by Danny Higginbotham	Stoke City F.C. captain 2007–2008	Succeeded by Andy Griffin