Who is Paolo Poggi? Between the album, Leao and that unattainable figure

They even ask you in China: “Why wasn’t your card found anywhere?” Paolo Poggi smiles, takes a breath and begins to unravel the mystery, as if the children of yesterday – today adults – were sitting in a circle listening: “Once upon a time Dolber, he wanted to compete with Panini, so he put on his album …” .

Poggi and Volpi

–

This has been the case for twenty years. Chewing gum for 100 lire and three stickers, the children’s mantra turned into terror, disbelief, because Poggi’s sticker – along with that of Sergio Volpi, director of Bari- was nowhere to be found, the piece to complete the album , the last. obstacle to reach a leather ball offered by Dolber for whoever collects each figure. It was the summer of 1997, four years later Paolo will score the fastest goal in Serie A by beating Manninger in a 1-3 Fiorentina-Piacenza, but for most fans it remained unattainable. The little card that wasn’t there.

I miss

–

Yesterday Leao broke his record: Poggi scored at 8 seconds, the Portuguese took advantage of 6”76 to sting Sassuolo. Child of 1999, at the time of the mystery of Italy had not even been born. Time flies. And a year earlier, deputy Mauro Paissan transformed the Poggi & Volpi case into a political issue, posing a parliamentary question to the Ministers of Industry, Commerce and Finance: “I invite you to intervene in defense of consumers due to an anomalous situation. Children and young people have gulped down an immeasurable amount of gum to look for two stickers … “. Everything to get to El Dorado from a shirt of his team, promised by Dolber in case of finalization of the album. Pressured by” Mi manda Rai 3 “, the company admitted that it had printed the two stickers in a limited edition (no more than a hundred copies). Poggi was also interviewed, but the striker, of course, knew nothing. Mystery solved.

Bombing

–

A true 49-year-old Venetian, who grew up a stone’s throw from the stadium, Paolo Poggi finished his career at Penzo in 2009 and today works as the manager of the club of his life. In 1997 he led Udinese to the UEFA Cup, completing a trident of goals and quality: Poggi, Amoroso and Bierhoff. “The strongest: the first for fantasy, the second for concretion”. Golden years. Zaccheroni transforms a provincial into the third force in Serie A, slashes three goals against Juve in Delle Alpi and then invents a new form from scratch. Continue with 3-4-3. “I was on the bench and it didn’t seem real to me, I thought I was crazy …”. But no, almost great: “We understood that Zac was a person to follow.” Six years in Udine never forgotten, then in 2000 he chose Roma but the reply never came. Blame the pressure, perhaps: “I knew I should not have missed a shot, I would only have done figures.” Six months of nothing, then the transfer to Bari, where he scores 4 goals but fails to save the team from relegation. After shooting a bit, including Piacenza, the fastest goal stage in Serie A, Paolo once again chose Venice and retired at 38. Today he lives there, on the lagoon, and in Piazza San Marco they still ask him about that mysterious figure. Don’t worry, he never found it either.