Paolo Rossi

Paolo Rossi (Santa Lucia, Prato, Tuscany, September 23, 1956-Siena, December 9, 2020) was an Italian soccer player who played as a forward. He led Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup, scoring 6 goals, to win the Golden Boot for top scorer, and the Ballon d'Or for best player of the tournament. Rossi is one of only three players to have won all three awards at one World Cup, along with Garrincha in 1962, and Mario Kempes in 1978. Rossi was also awarded the 1982 Ballon d'Or as European Footballer of the Year for his performances. of the. Along with Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri, he is Italy's top scorer in World Cup history. He trained as a footballer at Cattolica Virtus in Florence and at Juventus.

Biography

Early Years

Paolo Rossi began playing soccer for San Michelle Cattolica Virtus, a small Tuscan society of which he was a member until he was 11 years old. At the age of 16, he was signed by Juventus as a youth player. He was loaned out to Como Calcio in Italy, debuting there in 1976, that same year he was loaned to Lanerossi Vicenza.

Vicenza's manager, Fabri, decided to put him as a center forward due to the injuries suffered by the starting striker, and Rossi couldn't have responded better, since in his first season he won the Golden Boot of the Italian Serie B. With Vicenza's promotion, Rossi did not worsen his performance, scoring 24 and 15 goals in his next two seasons in Serie A.

Argentina World Cup 1978

At that time, at the end of 1977, Enzo Bearzot saw his formidable qualities and despite not having played in the qualifiers, Rossi, then 21 years old, received his first call up to the Italian team and was called up for the 1978 World Cup already with the & #34;National" classified. In the Argentine World Cup he was the figure of the & # 34; Azzurri & # 34;, thanks to his ability, speed and ambition, scoring 3 goals and making a great attacking pair with Bettega. Italy was a semifinalist, taking fourth place in the tournament and Rossi, due to his outstanding performances with the & # 34; azzurra & # 34;, was chosen as one of the best players in the tournament. The present and future of him looked bright with Italy.

Totonero Scandal

In 1979 and with Vicenza's relegation to Serie B, he would sign with Perugia, already being one of the fittest forwards in all of Europe. In 1980, the scandal broke out in Italy known as Totonero and where Rossi was indicated as one of the gamblers, where AC Milan and SS Lazio were relegated to Serie B and Rossi was banned for two years. of professional soccer practice. Rossi always defended his innocence and claimed to be the victim of a conspiracy against him.

World Cup in Spain 1982

Rossi returned just in time for the 1982 World Cup, although his lack of physical fitness was criticized, Bearzot, who already knew him from the '78 World Cup, blindly believed in him and his scoring nose, and would be the answer to a compact and competitive Italy but devoid of goals. In the first three games of the group stage, Rossi did not score and Italy obtained only 3 points, thanks to 3 draws and just 2 goals, ranking second behind Poland and only by goal average left Cameroon out. The Italian press claimed that Rossi looked like a "ghost" on the field of play, but coach Enzo Bearzot trusted Pablito Rossi to the death as the team's starting striker, and he wouldn't let him down.

In the second phase, in the fourth game, he had a bad time bringing the defense of Argentina and although he did not score, he was a fundamental piece in the 2-1 victory. In the fifth game the best of his career was yet to come, for this quick and intuitive striker, a monumental hat-trick by Rossi served to keep the best team of the tournament up to that moment out of the World Cup: the favorite and powerful Brazil of Sócrates, Zico, Falcão and Eder winning 3-2, in one of the best matches in the history of the World Cup. In the semifinals of the championship he continued unstoppable, a double of his served to eliminate the tough and effective Poland 2-0, and in the grand final, Rossi opened the scoring with a header in the 3-1 victory that Italy endorsed West Germany to win the world championship and be the top scorer of the tournament with 6 goals.

Paolo Rossi's moment of glory had finally arrived, after many difficult moments in his career. That same year he was elected European Ballon d'Or.

Juventus FC

After the 1982 World Cup (where Rossi was the main figure in Italy), Rossi signed for Juventus in Turin, where he won two Scudettos, an Italian Cup, a European Cup Winners' Cup, a Super Cup of Europe and a European Cup where "Juve" He formed one of the best teams in its history along with many teammates from the national team and stars such as Platini and Boniek. After his stage juventina , where he had an irregular performance, Rossi signed for AC Milan.

Last years and death

In 1985, Rossi signed for Milan. Although he only stayed for one season with the San Siro club, Rossi left behind good moments, such as the two goals he scored against Inter Milan. In 1986 he would be called up to play in the 1986 World Cup, but could not play any game due to injury. After the World Cup, Rossi signed with Hellas Verona, where he had a fleeting and insignificant stint, retiring in 1987 at the age of 31.

After his retirement as a professional footballer, Rossi worked regularly as an expert television commentator on Sky Sport Italia, Mediaset Premium and Rai Sport, until his death. He died in Siena on December 9, 2020 at the age of 64, as a result of lung cancer. He was buried in the municipal cemetery of Perugia.

In the list drawn up by FIFA and Pelé in March 2004, Rossi was included among the 100 best footballers of the XX century, together with 13 more Italians: Roberto Baggio, Franco Baresi, Giuseppe Bergomi, Giampiero Boniperti, Gianluigi Buffon, Alessandro Del Piero, Giacinto Facchetti, Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Nesta, Gianni Rivera, Francesco Totti, Christian Vieri and Dino Zoff.

National team

He was capped for the Italy national soccer team 48 times, scoring 20 goals. He participated in the 1978, 1982 World Cups (in which he was champion, top scorer with 6 goals and named the best player of the tournament) and 1986 where he did not play any game due to injury.

Participations in World Cups

World	Headquarters	Outcome	Parties	Goles
1978 Football World Cup	Argentina	Fourth place	7	3
1982 World Cup Soccer	SpainSpain	Champion	7	6
1986 World Cup Soccer	Mexico Mexico	Final Octavos	0	0

Clubs

The clubs he played for are listed below.

Club	Country	Year
Juventus F. C.	Italy	1973 - 1975
Calcium	Italy	1975 - 1976
Vicenza Calcio	Italy	1976 - 1977
Perugia Calcio	Italy	1978 - 1981
Juventus F. C.	Italy	1981 - 1985
A. C. Milan	Italy	1985 - 1986
Hellas Verona F. C.	Italy	1986 - 1987

Statistics

Clubs

Club	Div.	Season	League		National Cups(1)		International Tournaments(2)		Total		Average score(3)
			Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles
Juventus F. C. ItalyItaly	1. a
		1973-74	-		1	0	-		1	0	0
		1974-75	-		2	0	-		2	0	0
		1981-82	3	1	-		-		3	1	0.33
		1982-83	23	7	11	5	9	6	43	18	0.42
		1983-84	30	13	7	0	9	2	46	15	0.33
		1984-85	27	3	6	2	10	5	43	10	0.23
	Total club		83	24	27	7	28	13	138	44	0.32
Calcium ItalyItaly	1. a
		1975-76	6	0	-		-		6	0	0
	Total club		6	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	0
Vicenza Calcio ItalyItaly	2. a
		1976-77	36	21	6	2	-		42	23	0.55
	1. a	1977-78	30	24	4	2	-		34	26	0.76
		1978-79	28	15	3	2	1	0	32	17	0.53
	Total club		94	60	13	6	1	0	108	66	0.61
Perugia Calcio ItalyItaly	1. a
		1979-80	28	13	4	0	4	1	36	14	0.39
	Total club		28	13	4	0	4	1	36	14	0.39
A. C. Milan ItalyItaly	1. a
		1985-86	20	2	3	1	3	0	26	3	0.12
	Total club		20	2	3	1	3	0	26	3	0.12
Hellas Verona F. C. ItalyItaly	1. a
		1986-87	20	4	7	3	-		27	7	0.26
	Total club		20	4	7	3	0	0	27	7	0.26
Total in your career			251	103	54	17	36	14	341	134	0.39

Honours of Prizes

National Championships

Title	Equipment	Headquarters	Year
Series B	Vicenza Calcio	ItalyItaly	1976-77
Series A	Juventus F. C.		1981-82
Cup Italy			1982-83
Series A			1983-84

International Championships

Title	Equipment	Headquarters	Year
World Cup Soccer	Selection of Italy	SpainSpain	1982
Coup Europe	Juventus F. C.	SwitzerlandSwitzerland	1983-84
European Super Cup		ItalyItaly	1984
European Champions Cup		BelgiumBelgium	1984-85

Individual awards