IN the space of three weeks, Italy, already hit hard by the Covid-19 virus, was rocked.
The first by the passing of Argentinean footballer Diego Maradona who famously led Naples to glory on the pitch, and second by the death of icon Paolo Rossi this past December 9, who himself led the country to the 1982 Fifa World Cup.
While the world mourned for Maradona, the wake was mostly centered in Naples. Rossi, is considered a national hero.
Rossi’s career had several stop-starts.
He debuted with Juventus in 1973 but failed not only to impress but to score. He was sent on loan to Como where the result was the same.
That led to his being loaned to Lanerossi Vicenza in the Serie B.
It was there he was moved to the center-forward position and away from the right way where Juventus and Como deployed him. The shift was divine and Rossi scored 21 goals in the 1976 season to win the Serie B Golden Boot Award.
The next season, he led Vicenza to a Serie A promotion, and a call-up to the Azzurri for the 1978 Fifa World Cup.
After football’s premier event, both Juventus and Vicenza quarreled for his services with the latter winning the bid at a stunning fee. Unfortunately for Rossi, the 1978-79 season was marred by injuries although he did score 15 goals. Worse, Vicenza was relegated once more but Rossi was loaned to Perugia so the former could make up the fees paid to the striker.
Bad luck hounded he was Rossi was implicated in the Totonero match-fixing scandal that included 13 clubs across Serie A and B. Rossi was banned for three years and throughout that time, he maintained his innocence.
His suspension was commuted to two years and that allowed him to suit up for three matches for Juventus (who bought him back) prior to the World Cup, and Italy in 1982.
The rest, as it is said, is history as Rossi scored six goals in leading Italy to the title while winning the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball Awards. He capped his magnificent return to football by winning the Ballon d’Or Award as the world’s best footballer. He shone at the expense of Maradona who was hyped ahead of the event.
The thing about that World Cup, Paolo wasn’t fit and it showed in those three matches with Juve and in the early games of Italy in the World Cup. But once a goal scorer, always a goal scorer.
After the World Cup, he helped Juventus to five major trophies before rounding out his checkered career with Milan and Hellas Verona.
Paolo Rossi played 251 matches for six Italian clubs while scoring 134 goals.
The second stage of his career was as a real-estate salesman and a pundit for Serie A matches.
As a second year high-school student who played football, I only became aware of Rossi during the World Cup. And I kept for decades that issue of Time Magazine that featured him on the cover after the World Cup triumph (I lost it to Typhoon Ondoy).
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, what young footballing kid did not want to be Paolo Rossi? We all “played” him during football matches.
To Italians, he is an icon. To the world at large, a football great. To us, he is a person who showed remarkable ability to bounce back after misfortune. He may not have been physically gifted or as skilled as Maradona (who I adore and idolize too). He was this skinny 5’8” man who used his guile and desire to bring his teams to heights reserved for champions and legends.
Grazie, Paolo. Per l’inspirazione.