[ad_1]
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Paolo Rossi once described his performance at the 1982 World Cup, where he engraved his name in soccer folklore, as a “personal redemption” from a match-fixing scandal, although he always said that he had nothing to atone for.
Rossi, who died at the age of 64 early Thursday, had been suspended for three years for the aftermath of the “Totonero” scandal in 1980, but when the penalty was reduced to two years it gave him a chance to rebuild his reputation.
The Juventus forward’s six goals, including a surprising hat-trick against Brazil, helped him earn the Golden Shoe as the tournament’s top scorer, while also receiving the Ballon d’Or as the tournament’s best player.
Rossi had returned to the field a few months before the World Cup in Spain and was considered unfit.
He was ineffective in Italy’s first three group matches, failing to score in three draws, leading Italian journalist Gianni Brera to describe him as “an ectoplasm of himself.”
But just when it seemed that Italy had no chance of winning the World Cup, Rossi came to life, scoring all three goals in his throbbing 3-2 win over Brazil in the second group stage match in Barcelona.
He continued his streak with both goals in Poland’s 2-0 defeat in the semi-finals before scoring the first goal in a 3-1 victory over West Germany in the final in Madrid.
“That goal, more than any other goal I have scored, completely defined my characteristics,” Rossi said in a FIFA documentary in 2018.
“It was mine because I stole that precious split second from the defender and I knew it would never catch up with me.”
Shortly after news of Rossi’s death broke in the early hours of Thursday, tributes came to one of Italian soccer’s favorite sons.
La Gazzetta dello Sport said that Rossi was “the one who beat Zico’s Brazil, Maradona’s Argentina, Boniek’s Poland and in the final, Rummenigge’s Germany.”
La Stampa called him the “hero of Spain ’82”.
Social media was full of messages for Rossi, and #PaoloRossi became Italy’s main trending item on Twitter.
The World Cup victory had sparked a torrent of excitement in Italy and gave rise to hope that the extreme violence, political and social unrest that plagued the country in the ‘Years of Lead’ could also disappear.
Rossi had mixed feelings about the World Cup.
“On the one hand I felt fulfilled. I said to myself, ‘You did it,'” he said in the 2018 documentary.
“On the other hand, I was disappointed that this all just ended. The World Cup was over.
“(But) when you win something big it’s not just about the trophy. It’s about the group you win it with, it’s about your entire career that got you there.
“It’s about your personal redemption.”
(Reporting by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
[ad_2]
