Italian striker became Middlesbrough icon despite getting lost in star-studded attack: View | OneFootball

Massimo Maccarone may not have been the star of Middlesbrough's attack during his Boro spell, but he so often shone brightest in the biggest moments.

Some players have their time with a certain club being defined by their length of service, for others it's a handful of defining moments. For Massimo Maccarone and Middlesbrough, it's certainly the latter.

The Italian striker made the move to Teesside in the summer of 2002 after catching the attention of Boro's scouting network, as the enigmatic forward had emerged as one of the brightest young talents in European football.

Maccarone scored an impressive number of goals in Italy prior to signing with Middlesbrough, as the AC Milan academy graduate was shining at both club and international level.

His time in the North East wasn't as successful as he nor the club would've hoped for in regard to the number of goals he scored, but it was the significance of some of those strikes that earned him his place in Boro folklore.

Football League World takes a look at the Middlesbrough career of 'Il Gladiatore', and how he became a cult icon at the Riverside Stadium...

Massimo joins Riverside revolution

The summer window of 2002 saw a number of stars from across the footballing world make moves to Teesside. Juninho - Boro's greatest ever player in the eyes of many fans - signed for the club for the third time, whilst midfielders Geremi and George Boateng joined from Real Madrid and Aston Villa respectively.

But it was Maccarone who was the first player to sign on that summer, in a club-record deal at the time with Serie B side Empoli worth a reported £8.5m.

Maccarone would end his debut Boro season as the club's top scorer with nine goals in 34 Premier League appearances, but took somewhat of a step back in his second season in the North East, scoring just six goals in 23 top-flight appearances.

Boro's 2003/04 Carling Cup victory ensured that supporters would be searching the drawers for their passports, as the club would be embarking on its first ever foray into European football.

It also meant that further firepower would be required in order for the club to give a good account of itself in the UEFA Cup, whilst also being able to compete towards the top end of the Premier League once again. As such, Maccarone's time in the North East was coming to an end, for now...

Mark Viduka and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink are both household names in English football, and across the globe, and they would both be arriving on Teesside to bolster Middlesbrough's attack ahead of the 2004/05 season.

These new arrivals paired with his downturn in production from last term meant that a loan move was commissioned for Maccarone in the summer of 2004, which saw him return to his homeland with Parma.

Following his return in January 2005, he was loaned out to Italy once again, this time with Siena. During his time on loan over the course of the 2004/05 season, Maccarone scored just twice in 12 appearances with Parma, before enjoying a more fruitful spell with Siena, bagging seven goals in 18 appearances.

His form in the second half of the season saw him arrive back in the North East in 2005/06 with a point to prove to Boro boss Steve McClaren, and he'd do so in a way that would ensure his name would forever be remembered on Teesside.

Maccarone cements his place in Middlesbrough folklore

With the arrival of Portsmouth striker Yakubu only sharpening Middlesbrough's cutting edge in attack further, Maccarone would have his work cut out to fashion himself a role in Boro's squad for the 2005/06 campaign.

But after making just 17 appearances in the Premier League that season, with only six of those being named in McClaren's starting lineup, if the Italian was going to make his mark for the club that year, it was going to have to come in the cup.

After a final-day Mark Schwarzer penalty save from Robbie Fowler ensured Boro would once again be playing European football in 2005/06, Maccarone would have his first opportunity to represent the club in the competition.

Scoring two goals in two group stage appearances saw Maccarone's and Boro's campaign get off to the perfect start, as the club qualified for the knockout stages.

But two-legged wins over Stuttgart and AS Roma respectively came and went without Maccarone playing a single minute, and after he wasn't even in the squad for Boro's 2-0 quarter-final first leg defeat to Basel, the hero Middlesbrough needed didn't look likely to be him.

But in what was dubbed by the late, great Middlesbrough commentator Alastair Brownlee as "The greatest comeback since Lazarus", it was Maccarone's 90th-minute finish from a tight angle that overturned a three-goal deficit, sent the Riverside wild and Boro into the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup.

Unfortunately for Middlesbrough, after losing 1-0 to Steaua Bucharest in the Romanian capital and falling a further two goals behind in the early stages of the second leg, Boro once again needed to overturn a three-goal margin if they wanted to book their place in the final.

It was a task that seemed beyond the Teessiders, but after a Maccarone strike before half-time meant that Boro would need three second-half goals to complete back-to-back remarkable comebacks, fans began to turn to one another with looks on their faces of: 'Could we?'.

Viduka and Chris Riggot goals later, and Middlesbrough found themselves needing one more goal with 15 minutes to play, with the scorer of such a goal destined to enjoy the freedom of Teesside for a lifetime.

But as the 90th minute was fast approaching once again, that goal hadn't arrived. Thankfully for Middlesbrough, the last knockings of a match in the UEFA Cup was Massimo time...

Despite losing the UEFA Cup final to Sevilla, Maccarone's diving header is one of the most iconic moments and images in the history of Middlesbrough Football Club.

It's a goal that still induces goosebumps whenever watched back, as it encapsulated the fighting spirit and defiance to give in that the town of Middlesbrough is built upon.

Maccarone's header shook the Tees Valley and indeed the footballing world that night, and made certain of his standing among the heroes of the club.

He would leave Middlesbrough in January 2007 on a free transfer to Siena and would go on to enjoy a long career in Italian football before retiring as recently as 2020. When he hung up his boots, he did side as a Riverside hero.