Carrera began his career at Pro Sesto, but rose to fame with Bari, enjoying five seasons with the club before moving to Juventus in 1991. Under manager Giovanni Trapattoni, he was deployed at right back, a role he had also held at Bari. He disputed an excellent first season, culminating with being called up for the Italy national team. In his second season, he won the UEFA Cup with the club.

Carrera unwittingly played a huge role in helping Milan go unbeaten in the 1991–92 Serie A season. During injury time of Juventus’ home match against Milan on 15 September 1991, an innocent-looking cross from the right touchline hit Carrera’s head, and the ball looped past a stranded Stefano Tacconi for the crucial equaliser. Milan would then go on to finish the season unbeaten, and embark on a record-breaking 58-match unbeaten streak.

Carrera’s excellent performances with Juventus in his first year with the club earned him his first international call-up under manager Arrigo Sacchi in 1991; Carrera later made his debut and only appearance with the Italy national team on 19 February 1992, in a 4–0 friendly win against San Marino at the Stadio Dino Manuzzi in Cesena.

In 1994, with the arrival of Marcello Lippi, he was deployed as a sweeper, in place of Luca Fusi, and subsequently as a central defender, becoming a pillar of the team, and winning both Serie A and the Coppa Italia in 1995. Carrera also reached the UEFA Cup final at the end of the season.

Carrera quickly became captain and leader of the Orobici, playing there for eight seasons and totaling 207 caps and three goals. He left Bergamo in 2003 to join Napoli, and the following season, he settled in Treviso.

He stayed in Veneto for just a season, and on 28 October 2005, at the age of 41, Carrera signed for Pro Vercelli.

Due to a ten-month ban against head coach Conte for alleged implications of his failure to report match fixing and a similar ban against his assistant Alessio, Carrera became Juventus’ caretaker manager in July 2012. In his first official match, he claimed the 2012 Supercoppa Italiana defeating Napoli in Beijing, winning 4–2 after extra time. After Alessio’s ban was removed, Carrera returned to the position of technical director, leaving the bench to Alessio.

Before the 2016–17 season, Carrera was hired as an assistant manager for the Russian side FC Spartak Moscow. When previous manager Dmitri Alenichev left the club on 5 August 2016 after Spartak’s elimination from the UEFA Europa League by AEK Larnaca, Carrera was appointed the caretaker manager. On 17 August 2016, he was hired as Spartak’s manager on a permanent basis, making his debut on 21 August against Krasnodar, where red-white captured their first victory 2–0. No other Spartak head coach managed to start their work as successfully as Carrera did: Spartak collected 28 of 36 points in first twelve matches under him. On 7 May 2017, Spartak secured their first Russian Premier League title since 2001 under Carrera’s leadership. On 6 June 2017, he extended his Spartak contract to 31 May 2019.

He was relieved of his duties in late 2018 following a number of poor performances, despite remaining seemingly popular among the fans, a move that caused controversy. In particular, many accused captain Denis Glushakov of actively supporting the decision and called for his removal from the team.

On 8 December 2019, Carrera was unveiled as the new manager of Super League Greece club AEK Athens.