Paolo Rossi, 1956-2020
Paolo Rossi takes on Brazil at the 1982 FIFA World Cup
December 2020
After the death of Diego Maradona last month, the football world lost another great this week with the passing of Italian legend Paolo Rossi at just 64. At the young age of twenty Rossi fired Vicenza to promotion from Serie B, and when Vicenza and Juventus settled for full ownership in 1978 he became the most expensive player in the world, a record that would be broken by Maradona four years later.
Just like the great Argentine, Rossi’s career was tainted by controversy. The Totonero match-fixing scandal in 1980 saw Rossi, then on loan at Perugia, handed a three-year ban from football that was reduced on appeal to two years (he always protested his innocence). Re-signed by Juventus in 1981 with the ban in place, Rossi went on to win two scudetti with the Bianconeri, as well as the Cup Winners’ Cup and European Cup in 1984 and 1985 respectively.
La Gazzetta on 11 December 2020
Yet it is for one week in Spain in the summer of 1982 that he will always be revered and remembered. Italy had scraped through to what was an effective World Cup quarter-final against Brazil following three group stage draws and a narrow win over Argentina in the second phase. Rossi had not yet found the net, but on 5 July in Barcelona he exploded into life and ended the dreams of not only Brazilians but of a generation of football fans around the world that had taken the 1982 seleção of Sócrates, Zico, and Falcão to their hearts. Rossi’s hat-trick against the overwhelming favourites for the trophy made the world sit up and take note.
“Still attempting to play the elegant, eloquent football of their tradition, Brazil last night departed from the World Cup. Italy beat them fairly and cleverly with three goals from the irresistible Paolo Rossi.”
Three days later at the Camp Nou, Rossi added another brace as the Azzurri overcame Poland to reach a fourth World Cup final, against West Germany in Madrid. In the Santiago Bernabéu stadium Rossi would set Italy on their way to the trophy with his headed opening goal from a Claudio Gentile cross on 54 minutes:
As Gentile’s centre curled away from [Toni] Schumacher there, waiting in the crowded queue, was Rossi, his leg outstretched, to claim his sixth goal within his last four hours at play. Some striking rate.
The Times, 12 July 1982
His exploits on Spanish soil earned Rossi the affectionate nickname ‘Pablito’, and his goals that week won him the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball, the accolade given to the player of the tournament. Later in 1982, the Ballon d’Or award would round off Rossi’s annus mirabilis.
Words: A M Gross | Imagery: Offside