Tecla Pettenuzzo

Tecla Pettenuzzo (born 30 November 1999) is an Italian footballer who plays as defender for the Italian club Roma. She previously played for Sassuolo and Brescia, among other clubs.

Club Career

Pettenuzzo began her youth career in inter-gender training matches before finding her first women's team by joining the Montegalda-based football club Due Monti in time for the 2014–15 Serie B season. Pettenuzzo's first season with Due Monti was not a successful one, as the club were relegated to Serie C in 2015.

Pettenuzzo's performances were enough to earn a move to Serie B club Padova for the 2015–16 season. The Italian defender would remain with Padova for two seasons, achieving a fourth and third-placed finish in Serie B respectively. By the end of Pettenuzzo's second season with Padova, she gained the attention of the country's most successful women's football club Brescia.

Brescia would sign Pettenuzzo on a loan deal in the summer of 2017 and launch her career in Italy's top division. Pettenuzzo was immediately called up to the Brescia squad for their Supercoppa 2017 game against Fiorentina, which Brescia would win 4–1 on the day. Pettenuzzo came off the subtitutes bench in the final minute of Brescia's Supercoppa win, earning herself a winner's medal with the club. Pettenuzzo would also make her UEFA Champions League debut with Brescia on 11 October 2017 against Ajax. It was a match Brescia won 2–0 on their way to securing passage through to the Round of 16.

However, Pettenuzzo began to show disciplinary problems at the highest level of the game. Most notably, the defender came off the bench for Brescia in the away leg of their Round of 16 tie against Montpellier. Brescia were already 3–0 down on the scoreline by the time Pettenuzzo entered the pitch, but conceeded a fourth goal just one minute after Pettenuzzo's subtitution. Pettenuzzo would pick up two yellow cards within nine minutes of entering the game, getting herself sent off and leaving Brescia down to ten players for th