Ciao Pablito: The hero of Spain ‘82
ROSSI'S EXTRAORDINARY EXPLOITS
- Italy's World Cup glory at Spain 1982, owed everything to Paolo Rossi, who won the Golden Boot for top-scoring with six goals, the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player, and that year's Ballon d'Or.
- Though Rossi was out-of-shape and hadn't scored for Italy in almost 15 hours of action and over three years, coach Enzo Bearzot ignored the media's hullabaloo and 'Pablito', as he became that day in Barcelona, bewildered Brazil.
- After failing to score in the first four matches, Rossi hit a hattrick as Italy downed the star-studded Selecao 3-2 to reach the semifinals. There, he was again Italy's sole scorer in the 2-0 win over Poland, and in the final, he hit the opener as the Azzurri swamped West Germany 3-1.
ONE OF THE BEST FORWARDS OF ALL TIME
- Though Rossi made his professional debut at Juventus in 1973, his initial two-year spell at the Turin club was blighted by knee injuries. He was farmed out to Como, where he made his Serie A debut.
- Rossi then joined Serie B side Vicenza for the 1976-77 season. He was the league's top scorer that year, firing Vicenza to the promotion, and led the Serie A scoring charts the following season.
- While playing for Perugia, Rossi was involved in the infamous 1980 betting scandal known in Italy as Totonero'. He was banned for three years, later reduced to two as he continually protested his innocence. However, he was rehired by Juventus and returned in time for the tail-end of the 1981-82 season.
- Rossi won the Serie A title on two occasions with the Old Lady in 1981-82 and 1983-84, and also lifted the European Cup with the team in 1984-85. Also played with AC Milan and Verona at the end of his career, he scored an incredible total of 134 goals in 338 club matches.
Paolo Rossi, hero of Italian football who fired the Azzurri to victory in the 1982 World Cup, has died aged 64, prompting an outpouring of grief and tributes.
The news of his passing away comes two weeks after the death of Argentina football legend Diego Maradona, winner of the 1986 World Cup.
Rossi's wife Federica Cappelletti announced the death with a post on Instagram alongside a photo of the couple, accompanied by the comment "Forever," followed by a heart.
"There will never be anyone like you, unique, special, after you the absolute nothing....," Cappelletti also wrote on Facebook.
The cause of his death was not revealed but Italian media reported that Rossi had been suffering from "an incurable disease".
Tributes were paid to 'Pablito', the star who was banned for three years for his part in a betting scandal, but returned to win the World Cup in Spain and the Ballon d'Or the same year.
Despite breaking in the early hours, Italian media splashed with the news, while social media lit up with tributes and "Paolo Rossi" was Italy's number one trending search item.
"Football and Italy mourns Paolo Rossi," headlined the Gazzetta dello Sport. Rossi was "the one who beat Zico's Brazil, Maradona's Argentina, Boniek's Poland and in the final, the Germany of Rummenigge," the newspaper wrote.
Rossi was caught up in a bribery scandal and banned for three years in 1980 but won the hearts of Italian fans during the summer of 1982, when his goals dragged Enzo Bearzot's Azzurri to a third world title.
He hadn't scored for Italy in almost 15 hours of action and over three years but yet heading into their fifth outing at the 12th FIFA World Cup, coach Bearzot ignored the media's hullabaloo for his dropping and 'Pablito', as he became that day in Barcelona, bewildered Brazil. Rossi finished the tournament with the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball as Italy finished it as champions.
"On one hand I felt fulfilled. I said to myself, 'you've made it'. On the other hand, I was disappointed that all of this just ended. The World Cup was over," he said in a FIFA documentary in 2018
Fulvio Collovati, a centre-back in the 1982 World Cup team, said: "We have a chat, where only the team from 1982 can access. This morning, this news came from his wife and I'm upset. I can hardly speak. If I'm a World Cup winner, I owe it to him and his goals. That World Cup was fantastic. Then I shared 15 years of my life with him, from the national youth team. This is a terrible year, I never expected this news would come."
Italy's former prime minister Matteo Renzi added on Twitter: "In our hearts, forever. Farewell Pablito."
Dino Zoff, the goalkeeper and captain of that Azzurri team, said he had no inkling that Rossi was seriously ill. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what to say, it was a bolt from the blue. We've always had a great relationship with Paolo, a nice guy, intelligent, we haven't heard from each other for a while, they told us something but I didn't think it was so serious. The relationship with him was wonderful, he was very nice. It's something that is difficult to understand."
Fans flooded Twitter in order to pay their respects to Rossi. "Just heard the tragic news, RIP #PaoloRossi. Still have this poster on my wall," said one fan in his tweet.
Franco Baresi wrote: "Great sadness!! you realized the dream of all Italians and you will always be in our hearts, legends never die. Goodbye Paolo RIP."
Germany's former World Cup winner Juergen Klinsmann tweeted: "Dear Pablito, we always remember you!"
"How can anyone explain football? When I meet people from other sports they often say, "Football is everywhere, it's the king of all sports". But I'm not the one who makes it so. People just love football. God bless whoever invented football. It was the English, I think. And what a fantastic idea it was. A game where the team at the bottom of the table can beat the team at the top. You can score four goals in four minutes and upset all the odds. What other sport engenders as much excitement? Very few. I like other sports but what football stands for is just extraordinary."
---Paolo Rossi
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