Michele Padovano is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 retired football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 player.

Padovano began his professional career at Asti T.S.C. in Serie C2

Serie C2

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione is the name of the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consists of 54 teams, but in the season 2010–11 the teams are only 49 divided geographically into three divisions of 17, 16 and 16 teams each...

, before short spells at Pisa

Pisa Calcio

Associazione Calcio Pisa 1909 is an Italian association football club, based in Pisa, Tuscany. The club was founded in 1909 as Pisa Sporting Club and refounded in 1994 as A.C. Pisa , after the cancellation of the old one because of economical troubles...

, Napoli

S.S.C. Napoli

Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli, is a professional Italian football club based in Naples and founded in 1926. The club has spent most of its history in Serie A, where it currently plays its 2011–12 season....

 and Genoa

Genoa C.F.C.

Genoa Cricket and Football Club, commonly referred to simply as Genoa , is a professional Italian football club based in the city of Genoa, Liguria...

, he signed for Reggiana

A.C. Reggiana 1919

Associazione Calcio Reggiana 1919 is an Italian association football club, based in Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1919 as A.C. Reggiana and refounded in July 2005 as Reggio Emilia F.C., but it was renamed A.C. Reggiana 1919 soon after the start of the 2005–06 season. The...

 where he impressed. It was here that he caught the eye of Juventus

Juventus F.C.

Juventus Football Club S.p.A. , commonly referred to as Juventus and colloquially as Juve , are a professional Italian association football club based in Turin, Piedmont...

 manager Marcello Lippi

Marcello Lippi

Marcello Lippi, Commendatore OMRI is a former Italian World Cup-winning football manager and former player. He served as Italian national team head coach from 16 July 2004 to 12 July 2006 and led Italy to win the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was re-appointed as Italian head coach in the summer of 2008...

 who signed him in the summer of 1995, where he won the UEFA Champions League

UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

 in 1996. His form for Juventus was good enough for him to be given a cap for the Italian national team

Italy national football team

The Italy National Football Team , represents Italy in association football and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation , the governing body for football in Italy. Italy is the second most successful national team in the history of the World Cup having won four titles , just one fewer than...

 by Cesare Maldini

Cesare Maldini

Cesare Maldini is an Italian football manager and former player. He played as a centre back and spent the majority of his career with AC Milan. Maldini also represented Italy at international level in the 1962 and 1966 World Cups. His son Paolo, also a defender, previously held the record for the...

, who played him during the 3-0 win over Moldova

Moldova national football team

The Moldova national football team represents Moldova in association football and is controlled by the Football Association of Moldova, the governing body for football in Moldova. Moldova's home ground is Zimbru Stadium in Chişinău and their head coach is Gavril Balint...

.

Padovano was eventually placed in the reserves at Juventus and was looking for a move away from the club. After a heavy knee injury, Juventus sold him to Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace F.C.

Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...

 in November, 1997 for £1.7 million by chairman Mark Goldberg

Mark Goldberg

Mark Goldberg is an English football club chairman and manager, who is currently in his third spell with Bromley F.C.-Business:Goldberg originally made his fortune in the IT recruitment industry, becoming a multi millionaire...

, who saw Padovano as the ideal player to save the club from relegation. However Padovano struggled to adapt to the Premiership, scoring just once against Leicester City in twelve appearances for the club. He was sold on to Metz

FC Metz

Football Club de Metz, commonly referred to as simply Metz , is a French association football club based in Metz. The club was formed in 1932 and has spent most of its history in the Ligue 1, though they currently play in Ligue 2, the second level in French football league system. Metz plays its...

 after falling out of favour at Crystal Palace, and later moved to Como

Como Calcio 1907

Calcio Como S.r.l. are an Italian football club, based in Como. The club was founded in 1907. The team's color is blue.Como have last been in Serie A in 2002–03; this was followed by three consecutive relegations that brought the team down in Serie C2 at the end of the season 2004–05 after having...

.

In May 2006, he was arrested by Italian police

Italian police

Law enforcement in Italy is provided by eight separate police forces, six of which are national groups in Italy.During 2005 in Italy, the number of active police officers from all agencies totaled 324,339, the highest number in the European Union both overall and per capita, twice the number of...

 in Torino over allegation of his implication in hashish

Hashish

Hashish is a cannabis preparation composed of compressed stalked resin glands, called trichomes, collected from the unfertilized buds of the cannabis plant. It contains the same active ingredients but in higher concentrations than unsifted buds or leaves...

 traffic.http://www.tgcom.mediaset.it/sport/articoli/articolo309020.shtml

When Crystal Palace were in receivership

Receivership

In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...

 during the 1999-2000 season

1999-2000 in English football

-Premier League:Manchester United were crowned FA Premier League champions with an 18-point margin over runners-up Arsenal and with just 3 league defeats all season. This was despite their failure to retain the European Cup and withdrawal from the FA Cup in order to compete in the FIFA Club World...

, Padovano made a million-pound claim against the club's directors for lost wages.http://observer.guardian.co.uk/toptens/story/0,,1078421,00.html