Death of Paolo Rossi, the memory of his teammates from the 1982 World Cup

An unforgettable team, the Italy that won the 1982 World Cup. The teammates at that time woke up with death in their hearts due to the disappearance of their brother, Paolo Rossi. You can feel sadness in the words of Fulvio Collovati: “My colleagues from 1982 keep writing to me in the chat … a part of us is gone. A part of my life is leaving ”. He destroyed Antonio Cabrini, another column from that team that drove an entire nation crazy: “Six months ago I lost a brother, today I cry another. I don’t want to say anything else, this is not the time to talk.

Piece of football history

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Dino Zoff, hero of that historic World Cup: “I’m very sorry. I don’t know what to say, it was lightning out of nowhere. We have always had a great relationship with Paolo, nice, intelligent, we had not listened to each other for a long time, they had said something to us but it did not seem so serious. Relations with him were wonderful, he was very kind. Smart, he had everything to be good. Something difficult to understand. “Giancarlo Antognoni, now coach of the Fiorentina club and star of the ’82 World Cup, writes his thoughts on Facebook:” Another piece of the history of my beloved football is leaving. Great Paolo with you I lived the best years in the national team. I love you. RIP “. Pietro Vierchowod: “He was a great player at the ’82 World Cup and above all he was a very sensitive person, a good person. We met in the National Masters Team, he was also very smart, he was a good “boy” even though he was 64 years old. 2020 was a really bad year, it was born bad and ended worse. Rossi I saw him from the beginning until he stopped, he was an atypical center forward, he was hardly seen during the game but in the area he scored goals when the ball arrived. There are no players with these stealing characteristics, he had the ability to first understand where the ball was going even after a rebound or carom. It is a great loss for world football. I had read that he was not feeling well but I didn’t think he would be able to leave us so soon ”. Bruno Conti: “You took us to the roof of the world. Damn 2020. Hello friend My Rip ”, writes the Romanist who published a black and white photo on Instagram that portrays him with Rossi with the national team shirt, hugging.

Icons

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“There are athletes who are icons and unattainable. Paolo Rossi, on the other hand, was not only the athlete of the 1982 World Cup in Spain, but also the most helpful and tolerant person ever, everyone’s brother and the son that all parents would have liked to have. ” Giovanni told Lady Radio. Galli recalling the figure of his partner in Spain 82. “It is difficult for me to speak because there is always the concern in the morning that terrible news will arrive – Galli continued -. It happened with Maradona 15 days ago and it happened today with Paolo Rossi. He was everyone’s friend, he always smiled at everyone, he was always available, always with a smile. It was difficult to see him angry. When we met, we always remembered a trip we had made with the U21 team in Funchal, Portugal. We returned to Milan on December 24, we took the car together and almost made it home on Christmas day. I have no words to describe it because they would be too poor for their generosity. ” Altobelli: “I want to remember you always smiling great Paolo.” The former Interista entrusts the memory of Rossi to his Instagram profile. “Two brothers” later added in other stories commenting on a photo that portrays him with the blue striker. Then, finally, another Instagram story with a historical photo that immortalizes Altobelli and Rossi engaged in a relaxed dialogue “before a game”. Claudio Gentile: “He was a fantastic guy, who was established in the 1982 World Cup. We lived together for many years, he was a player who knew how to let go of the negative that had happened and become a symbol again. In the World Cup 82 he risked not being there, he came from disqualification, playing only 3 games with Juve. At first nobody believed in it, Bearzot had great courage to leave the Pruzzo house to take him to Spain ”.

Graziani: “extraordinary”

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Ciccio Graziani from ReteSport gave him a long memory. “It is a very sad day, Paolo was a sunny man, a witty and funny person, always ready to joke. We share historic, sensational moments, like winning the World Cup: without their goals we would never have reached it. I remember that Paolo arrived at the World Cup after almost two years of inactivity, we had done a hard preparation at the athletic level and he did not play well in the first three games with the national team. He always said that his legs were heavy. The critics and the press wanted a change: within Causio instead, with me as a center forward. I met him in the morning at the pool, he was alone, he told me he was worried, that he would not play the next game, after the victory against Argentina. I told him that he had done an exceptional job in that match and that Bearzot, who loved him, would make him play against Brazil. I encouraged him, he found serenity and when we beat Brazil, returning to the locker room, there was so much enthusiasm, before going to take a shower, Paolo hugged me, very strong, without saying anything, but I thought that that hug was linked to words that I told him before the game. A loving hug, without saying anything, that I will always remember and always carry in my heart. He lived very badly with the football betting issue – continues Graziani – he always told us that this trial was all a sham, that he never participated in any match-fixing, he always pleaded not guilty. He was a serious, cheerful child, we have always believed him, because intimately he showed an extraordinary loyalty. Never a controversy, never an argument, never an incorrect or disrespectful position, he has always been correct and polite to everyone ”. The former center forward of Rome and Turin, concludes with an appeal addressed to the Italian institutions: “I hope that President Mattarella, or President Conte, can call the national duel as happened for Maradona in Argentina, because Paolo deserves it. He and Zoff are the images, the emblem of victory in the World Cup in Spain. Bruno Conti was by far the best player in the World Cup, the one who did the most and enjoyed the most, but Paolo Rossi if you go anywhere in the world is remembered as a symbol of that victory ”.

Causio: “A simple man”

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“I still haven’t left home today, I’m still sitting and Paolino always comes to mind – says Franco Causio – I remember him when I was a child at Juve, Ballon d’Or and World Champion: his career speaks for him. As a man in his simplicity he always had a smile, even in difficult moments in the national team. I lost a brother, Paolino was not very smiling in our talk lately, but I did not think about that ending.