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OF THOSE SENT TO VICENZA. They had talked, the champions of 1982. Paolo Rossi had created it almost forty years after his company to consolidate the bond that those ex-gray-haired people had maintained. And via chat they learned of his death and made an appointment at the Cathedral of Vicenza to hold the coffin of the friend who had dragged them with his goals and his positive character, and to give him a final farewell. “He took us to the top of the world, we couldn’t get lost – recalls Giancarlo Antognoni -. If there had not been a pandemic, the world would be here today to pay tribute.
The coffin arrives at the Cathedral at 10.20 am. During the mass, Monsignor Don Pierangelo Ruaro remembers the man and the athlete capable of giving joy: “He said that the best moment of the final was the final, the lap of honor with the glass, when he stopped to rest due to cramps and the return saw the fans hugging. I was happy to have conveyed this joy. Now he plays for the Coverciano dei Cieli ».
Everyone cries, his teammates, in the front line Cabrini, Tardelli, Conti and Antognoni, those who never played but formed a group, such as Baresi, Massaro and Galli, and then Roberto Baggio, another symbol of Vicenza, Paolo Maldini who played with him in Milan , when he was a child who admired the great striker at the end of his career. Cabrini does not hold back tears: «I already miss your jokes, the improvisations, the smile. I will be close to your wife Federica and your children, but you are close to me ».
Alessandro Altobelli, who scored the goal that closed the game against Germany 3-1, talks about Paolo Rossi as a footballer: “He was the strongest Italian striker. I was also a forward, I always tried to copy what he did, but his qualities were natural and it was impossible to imitate him. He was always in the right place at the right time, it came first. For those who want to play soccer, I recommend studying who Paolo Rossi was. In 1982 we helped him free himself, this time we couldn’t do anything ».
Gabriele Gravina, FIGC No.1, places Rossi’s blue shirt in the light wooden casket, along with a Lanerossi handkerchief. His wife Federica Cappelletti embraces their daughters Elena Sofia and Maria Vittoria, along with her also Alessandro, Pablito’s son born in 1982, five months after the triumph. “He taught me to have courage, to face life with a smile – says Federica -. Beautiful, healthy values, the desire to open up to others, to be generous. I hope that now I can feel the affection of many people.
