10 December 2020
In this terrible 2020, Paolo Rossi has passed away. Pabilto occupied an important piece of Juventus history and for Italy as a country, which was never so united as in 1982 when his goals helped lead Italy to an unexpected World Cup win.
PAOLOROSSI
In 1982, Paolo Rossi became the most famous name in the world thanks to those six goals that clinched the World Cup for Italy. Three goals against Brazil in one of the greatest football matches ever played. A brace against Poland in the semi-finals. And last but certainly not least, his goal against Germany in the final – a header which saw him beat even team-mate Antonio Cabrini to the ball. Their embrace afterwards became a common sight at Juventus after that, as the Italy No.20 became the Juventus No.9.
BEFORE 1982
Paolo Rossi became a Juventus man at the age of 15. Italo Allodi, a key operator at Juventus under Giampiero Boniperti, discovered him playing for an amateur side in Tuscany, signing him for a few million lire. The young Rossi caught the eye in the Juventus Primavera side, playing predominantly on the right wing. His first-team debut came on 1 May 1974, in an away win over Cesena in the Coppa Italia. After a brief stint at Como, it was at Vicenza that Rossi exploded. Now a centre-forward, he carried the team into Serie A, where he won the top-scorer gong in 1978 with 24 goals, helping Vicenza to a memorable second-placed finish and earning a call-up to the Italy squad for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. Paolo became Pablito, producing some wonderful form in the blue of the Azzurri. Juventus enquired with Vicenza over the possibility of signing Rossi (still co-owned by the Bianconeri), but Boniperti’s offer of 800 million lire was blown out of the water by Vicenza – Rossi stayed put. Yet the Vicenza dream was about to fizzle out, with Rossi moving to Perugia on loan after the team slumped to relegation.
THE FIRST GOAL IN UDINE
Rossi did join Juventus in 1981, scoring his first goal for the club in a game where the stakes could hardly have been higher. It was 2 May 1982, away at Udinese. All eyes were on the 25-year-old Rossi, just back from a harsh suspension, with Juventus needing a win in order to stay in the title race with three games to play. The team didn’t disappoint, and Pablito – visibly emotional – didn’t either, getting on the scoresheet as Juventus won 5-1. It was enough to convince Italy boss Enzo Bearzot to select him for the 1982 World Cup in Spain. As fate would have it, Rossi’s header against Udinese was almost a carbon copy of the one he’d score a few months later, in the World Cup final between Italy and Germany.
FOX IN THE BOX
When you think Paolo Rossi, you think penalty box. Few players were as lethal inside the area as he was. He was always in the right place at the right time, particularly when it came to the six-yard box. He was an opportunist like no other, a quality that enabled him to profit from the half chances – the fumbled saves, the momentary hesitations in defence. Between 1982 and 1985, Rossi scored 44 goals for Juventus, some of which were hugely significant – like the brace against Standard Liege or the 90th-minute strike against Manchester United, two extraordinary European nights for the Juventus history books.
PORTRAIT OF A CHAMPION
“He’s a smart lad, a player that possesses the rare gift of being able to recognise the exact trajectory of the ball far before his opponents. He makes full use of that natural skill, sometimes going under the radar but always making an invaluable contribution. He’s not the kind of egotistical striker who lazily parks up in the penalty box, waiting for a move to fall in his favour. He’s always moving, participating in the play, supporting his team-mates with precious overlapping runs and using his exquisite technique to benefit his attacking colleagues,” was how the recently departed Angelo Caroli once summed him up in Hurrà Juventus. In truth, we could have picked from a plethora of pieces written by journalists from all over the world. Such was the universal acclaim for the late, great Paolo Rossi.
