During his career, he was given the nicknames "Popeye", as he was thought to resemble the cartoon character's appearance due to his own bald head and strong physique, as well as "the Ostrich" (or "Struzzo", in Italian), because of his pace, stamina, and running style.

In the 1988–89 season, he picked up medals for the Coppa Italia in 1989, facing a rejuvenated Napoli side with legendary Argentine attacking midfielder Diego Maradona, only to defeat the Partenopei 4–0.

In fact, Lombardo also played in the Sampdoria side under Boškov that reached but narrowly lost the 1992 European Cup final in extra time to Cruyff's Barcelona.

[6][9] In 1995, Lombardo made a move to defending Serie A champions Juventus under coach Marcello Lippi, joining former Sampdoria teammate Gianluca Vialli at the Turin based club.

In his first season with the Bianconeri, Lombardo only scored 2 goals in the league, starring sporadically in the first team, competing with players such as Antonio Conte and Didier Deschamps for a place in the lineup.

Nevertheless, he failed to score once in his second season; with only 2 goals in 35 appearances, and due to a string of poor performances, injuries, and inconsistency in Turin, he was released by the club, having been unable to return to the form he had experienced at Sampdoria during his time at Juventus.

[9] Lombardo's season was curtailed by injury whilst with the Italy national squad in November (a recall came his way due to sparkling form with the Londoners).

A severe financial crisis and a need to cut Palace's wage bill resulted in Lombardo leaving in January 1999 to join a S.S. Lazio team managed by Sven-Göran Eriksson.

[9][11] Regarded during his career as one of Sampdoria's best ever wingers, Lombardo's most recognisable characteristics as a footballer were his physical traits, as well as his exceptional pace, strength, stamina, and work-rate at both ends of the pitch, which allowed him to cover the right flank effectively; he also stood out for his professionalism, friendly personality, and dedication, which enabled him to avoid serious injuries for most of his career, and saw him make a name for himself as a consistent and decisive player for his teams, who was also a key figure in the dressing room.

[6][7][8][12] Although he was not gifted with particularly outstanding talent or technical ability, he nevertheless possessed good dribbling skills and control when running with the ball at speed, and he frequently utilised his acceleration, power and agility to beat opponents effectively in one-on-one situations.

Lombardo was appointed in July 2009 as the new head coach of Spezia Calcio in the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione, but unexpectedly resigned later on October despite his team having attained third place in the league table.

[19] In 2012, following the departure of Andy Welsh, he was appointed manager of the club's reserve squad; however, after the sacking of Roberto Mancini on 13 May 2013, Lombardo resigned from his position at Manchester City on Wednesday 15 May.