Serie A Italy Thread

alchemist

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He's one of my favourites from that era, had great dribbling ability
Zvonimir Boban probably best described Savićević saying that if there was ever a player born and untouched by any coaching as opposed to taught and trained, it was Savićević... a natural


"U to vreme Bog fudbalske Juge bio je Dragan Stojković Piksi. Kompletan i harizmatičan, predodređen za najveće stvari. Kapiten Zvezde i apsolutna zvezda. Vođa. Dejan je bio prava suprotnost niškom velikanu. Bez obzira na neupitne veličine, meni je faca bio – Dejan. Sve što je Piksi mogao bilo je razumljivo ma koliko veliko bilo. A bilo je. Ali, ono što je mogao Dejan, to niko mogao nije", govorio je hrvatski as i legenda Milana.

"Neko je voleo Gorana Bregovića, neko Branimira Štulića. Tako nekako… Ako je ikad postojao igrač koji je rođen i ostao, ne postao, to je bio veliki Crnogorac. Kao da ga fudbalske škole nisu dotakle. Kao da ga nisu mogle uokviriti, ni odrediti. Bazna tehnika, čista igra, standardi fudbalskog obrazovanja koji se vide kod svih igrača na kugli zemaljskoj, kod njega nisu igrali. Kad bi trebao da odigra povratnu loptu to bi bila muka Isusova, ali štopovati je petom slabijom (desnom) nogom, s igračem na leđima i u primanju ga ostaviti na mestu – bilo mu je lakše. Njemu prirodnije", priča Boban.
 
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The Duel: Rivera vs Cruyff ~ 1969 EC Final

 

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Who's Got the Best Skills? Season 2020/21 | Serie A

 

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HOW ARGENTINE STRIKERS HAVE LIT UP SERIE A IN ONE OF FOOTBALL’S MOST ENDURING RELATIONSHIPS

26/03/2019 by JOSH BUTLER



On the last day of the 2015/16 Serie A season, Gonzalo Higuaín collected a ball on his chest just inside the Frosinone box with his back to goal, swivelled, and struck a sumptuous, acrobatic volley past a bewildered Massimo Zappino. It was a goal indicative of the Argentine’s stellar season with Napoli where nearly everything he touched in the opposition box resulted in a goal.

Yet, for Higuaín, it wasn’t just a goal of extraordinary ingenuity. For as soon as the ball crossed the Frosinone goal line and rippled the net, a record that had stood since 1929 was equalled. Higuaín became the first footballer since 1929 to score 36 goals in a single Serie A season, and in doing so ensured his name would be enshrined in the annals of calcio history forever.

Adored – albeit now loathed in equal measure – by the Gli Azzurri faithful, Higuaín’s tenure in Serie A extended what has been an enduring and passionate love affair between Italian football and Argentine strikers that spans over half a century. Of all the recipients of the Capocannoniere since the award was first bestowed in 1923, no country outside of Italy itself has produced more winners than Argentina.

What has burgeoned from a statistical anomaly to a full-blown obsession, Italy has welcomed and embraced every Argentine striker with a proclivity for finding the net. It has become an incomparable marriage of two continents. Italy and Serie A, the league that dominated the 1990s, producing more Ballon d’Or winners than any other; and Argentina, cultivators of the finest forwards in football history – from Maradona to Batistuta.

Italy’s relationship with South American forwards began modestly; the archives of post-war Italy are sprinkled sparingly with Argentine seasoning, from Antonio Valentin Angelillo to Paolo Manfredini. Both would capture the Capocannoniere.

But it wasn’t until 1984 that the merging of these two great footballing nations began to enter the realms of romanticism when Diego Maradona joined Napoli from Barcelona. At the time, Serie A was a league dominated by the north: in the previous 15 seasons, Milan, Juventus and Inter had won the Scudetto 12 times, while Lazio and Roma had claimed a title apiece.

Maradona’s arrival interrupted this period of dominance as Napoli blossomed from mid-table chancers into regular title-chasers. The fans – as boisterous and vociferous a base as any throughout the vocal ultra scene of Italy – duly anointed him their footballing deity. For seven glorious seasons, forgotten Napoli – eschewed by top players for years in favour of the wealth that could be gleaned further north – could lay claim to possessing the best footballer in the world.


Read | Naples: dancing to the beat of Diego Maradona since 1984

Playing in the famously stingy climes of 80s Serie A, where 0-0 draws were commonplace and even the top strikers rarely reached 20 goals, Maradona clinched the Capocannoniere despite playing in a withdrawn striker role. He inspired Napoli to two league titles and a Coppa Italia. Thus, out of this love sprang obsession. A local newspaper in Napoli proudly declared: “We may not have a mayor, houses, schools, buses, employment and sanitation, [but] none of this matters because we have Maradona.”

Kindled in Naples, the burning love between Italians and Argentine forwards began to engulf the peninsula. In the years that followed, more and more of them would traverse the Atlantic to feed Italian football’s insatiable appetite. Throughout the 90s, clubs like Fiorentina, Parma, Roma and Udinese would mine the veins of Buenos Aries, Rosario and La Plata for the latest gems to cut and polish. As such, Serie A glittered with their labours.

As Maradona’s career in Napoli was winding down at the beginning of the decade and the dominance of Milan and Juventus came to be re-established as a consequence, it was lowly Udinese who would pluck an Argentine from obscurity and propel him into the limelight of Europe’s most exciting league. That man was Abel Balbo.

The hard-working striker had a keen eye for goal and, despite a slow start that saw Udinese relegated in his maiden season, he returned to Serie A with immediate effect. In the 1992/93 season, Balbo established himself as one of Italy’s top forwards, registering 21 goals and finishing second in the Capocanniere, and from there joined Roma where he developed into something of an uncomplicated, consistent goalscorer.

He’d go on to record 117 Serie A goals in 12 seasons for Udinese, Roma, Fiorentina and Parma. While his mark upon Serie A was not as great as some of those who succeeded him, it was indelible; even 20 years later, i Giallorossi fans recall him with gleamy-eyed fondness.

But Italy’s desire was only increasing. Argentina’s Primera División was a conveyor belt of talent, and for many players, the lure of Europe was too great. Following in Balbo’s footsteps came Gabriel Batistuta. Arguably the finest centre-forward of his time, he arrived in Italy a gangly youth who had struggled for goals in his native Argentina and who had only appeared on European radars after a blistering showing in La Albiceste’s 1991 Copa América triumph.

Sticking to the script which seemed to dictate that Argentine forwards were duty-bound to join unfashionable teams at the time, Batistuta did what Balbo and Maradona had done before him and shunned the likes of Milan, Juventus and Inter. Instead, he made Florence his home.

Perennial underachievers, Fiorentina’s fortunes were expected to take an upturn with the addition of their latest striker, but they were instead relegated in Batistuta’s second season, despite his excellent form. Expecting to lose their main man for their campaign in Serie B, La Viola faithful were elated to discover Batistuta would accompany them into the lower divisions and, with his 16 goals, they were promptly promoted back to Serie A.

Read | Gabriel Batistuta: the Fiorentina diaries

Over the next few years, adoration blossomed into idolatry. Batistuta would capture the hearts of Florentines like no other player had. Forming a potent partnership with Portuguese playmaker Rui Costa, “Batigol” would lead Fiorentina to Coppa Italia and Supercoppa glory, as well as spearheading a charge into Europe with memorable goals against English heavyweights Manchester United and Arsenal. Intelligent, powerful and a superb finisher, Batistuta defined the way great strikers score goals; no angle was too ludicrous, no distance too great, no situation too impossible.

Even the arrival of Ronaldo in Serie A could not shake Fiorentina fans’ conviction that they had the deadliest striker in the world. And with good reason: in nine seasons, Batigol would plunder 207 goals and assume the mantle of Fiorentina’s greatest ever player. In 2014, the unveiling of a statue of the Argentine hotshot outside the Artemio Franchi would bring Batistuta himself to tears.

As Batistuta was running riot in Serie A, embarrassing the likes of Baresi, Maldini, Nesta and Cannavaro on a weekly basis, Parma stole a march on their rivals by importing the next Batistuta-in-waiting, Hernán Crespo. In a similar vein to Batigol, Crespo made the move to Europe despite a meagre goal return in his native Argentina. Instead, it was an excellent display at the 1996 Summer Olympics, in which Crespo grabbed six goals en route to a silver medal, that persuaded Parma to make their move.

It was August 1996, and Parma were riding the crest of a tremendous wave of success that would see them become synonymous with the golden era of Serie A. Carlo Ancelotti reshaped the Parma front line with the acquisitions of Enrico Chiesa and Crespo – the latter of whom was the latest in a spate of transatlantic signings.

A slow start during which he remained goalless for 12 games didn’t deter Crespo; Ancelotti kept faith and the Argentine eventually returned 12 goals from 27 games. Over the next few years, Crespo grew in confidence, but would fail to match the goalscoring exploits of his illustrious compatriot Batistuta. That being said, Crespo was fast endearing himself to the i Crociati faithful as he led the line in a Parma side that would become the most successful in the club’s history. Crespo’s 30 goals in all competitions ensured a domestic and European cup double in 1998/99.

After 80 goals in four seasons, Crespo made a £35m move to Lazio in 2000, becoming the most expensive footballer in the world in the process. A return of 26 goals was not enough to help Lazio retain the title, as Roma claimed their third Scudetto thanks in no small part to the acquisition of Fiorentina hero, Batistuta.

Crespo would see out another year in the capital before heading north to Inter, where a disappointing season in Milan was not enough to deter Chelsea from convincing him to make the move to England.

Read | After Gabriel Batistuta came Hernán Crespo

With Crespo and Batistuta successful in forging near-mythical legacies in Serie A, Italian clubs in the noughties were intent on unearthing the next South American superstar, and it was Bologna who came closest. Julio Cruz was never a prolific goalscorer in the ilk of Batistuta, Crespo and Balbo, but when he made the move from Bologna to Inter in 2003, few could predict the incredible riches he would reap during his six-year spell.

Content to play second fiddle to the likes of Christian Vieri, Adriano and Zlatan Ibrahimović, Cruz made up for his lack of athleticism and movement in the box with his intelligent and cultured play. He’d go on to win four Scudettos, two Coppa Italias and three Supercoppas, making him the most successful Argentine striker in Serie A history.

By the time the turn of the decade came around, Italy’s obsession with Argentine strikers had waned; the Batistutas and Crespos were relics of the past, and it was homegrown products like Antonio Di Natale who had matured into world-class footballers, leading the assault upon the Capocannoniere. Then, along came José Mourinho who would elevate Diego Milito to European glory.

After putting in the hard yards with Genoa in Italy and Zaragoza in Spain, Milito had established himself as a prolific if athletically-limited striker. Where Batistuta and Crespo were fast, strong and lethal, Milito was far more subtle in his design; his clever movement, endeavour and sharp finishing inside the 18-yard box endeared him to Mourinho who, despite the arrival of Samuel Eto’o, made Milito his main man during their unstoppable march to the treble in 2009/10.

Criminally underrated during his prime, Milito was integral to Internazionale’s most famous achievement. To Nerazzurri fans, Milito represented economy and diligence – and, crucially, success.

Though he never clinched the Capocannoiere a la Batistuta and Crespo, Milito opened the door once more to the hearts of Italian football fans. The love of Argentine forwards was rekindled, though like Milito’s reception it was still lukewarm, but in 2013 it was reignited when two huge names arrived on the shores of Serie A: Carlos Tevez and Gonzalo Higuain.

The former, notoriously flighty, was hardly expected to stay for long, but his brief tenure coincided unsurprisingly with Juventus’ long-awaited return to the summit of Italian football following the Calciopoli scandal that had seem them banished to the wilderness of Serie B years prior.
In the two seasons before Tevez’s arrival, Juventus had won the Scudetto by four points and nine points respectively; in the Argentine’s first season, they romped to the title by 17 points. They repeated the feat in his second season as Tevez registered 20 league goals – and the Old Lady finally had their heir to Alessandro Del Piero.

 

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Fabio Capello's Best XI


Gianluigi Buffon
Cafu - Franco Baresi - Paolo Maldini - Roberto Carlos Fernando
Redondo - Frank Rijkaard
Dejan Savićević - Raúl González Blanco - Marco van Basten - Ruud Gullit - Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima - Francesco Totti

13 players named but hey
 

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Faustino Asprilla, Tino [Best Goals]


probably better known for his time at Newcastle Utd but I preferred him at Parma
 

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THE UNFULFILLED CAREER OF GIANLUIGI LENTINI, ONCE THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE PLAYER

23/03/2018 by STEVEN SCRAGG



In the summer of 1992, Fabio Capello and AC Milan found themselves within the enviable situation of trying to improve upon perfection. The previous season, domestically at least, had been word-perfect for AC Milan. While they might have been nursing a one-season ban from European competition, in Serie A they swept to the title without a loss. As first full seasons in football management go, Capello’s debut campaign was astounding.

Inheriting an already remarkable side from his predecessor Arrigo Sacchi, Capello had tweaked minimally. Demetrio Albertini had displaced the ageing and injury troubled Carlo Ancelotti, but beyond that, Capello had stuck to Sacchi’s winning formula. Still within the era of two points for a win, AC Milan took the title by eight points. Juventus, starved of the Serie A title for six years, were runners-up.

In the summer of 1992, Serie A was still the undisputed playground of the good and the great of world football. It was also reaching its supernova when it came to a rich era of widespread competition. Between 1983 and 1991 Roma, Hellas Verona, Napoli (twice) and Sampdoria had all managed to wrestle the Scudetto away from its usual cities of residence: Milan and Turin.

Even Milan, as a Serie A-winning city, had fallen into decline during the early to mid-1980s, rising once again as the decade drew towards a close. For AC Milan’s Dutch powered model of Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard, Inter Milan could boast the Germanic enhanced vintage of Lothar Matthäus, Jürgen Klinsmann and Andres Brehme. Through it all, Juventus had remained the one true constant. Well, until the end of the Michel Platini years at least.

As the unfashionable clubs of Rome, Verona, Naples and Genoa suddenly became fashionable, and the Milan’s of both red and black and blue and black denominations arose from their slumbers, Juventus lost their Midas touch. While 1985/86 might have felt like business as usual for the Old Lady, it had in reality been the end of an era. It was their last Scudetto for nine years.

Juventus failure during that time wasn’t down to a lack of talent, and neither was it down to a lack of investment. Juventus simply could not get the chemistry right. Even the acrimonious and world record arrival of Roberto Baggio from Fiorentina in 1990 could not help them reclaim the balance of power.

The unbeaten AC Milan of 1991/92 essentially marked the coronation of the new kings of the Italian game; a club which now seemed to be consuming their homeland, just as it had Europe when the 1980s passed into the 1990s.


Original Series | The Football Italia Years

While the summer of 1992 saw the dawning of the Premier League, it was Italy where the shots were still called the loudest. As Alan Shearer was becoming the costliest player to move between two English football clubs at £3.6m, AC Milan and Juventus were fighting it out for the signature of a player whose transfer fee would set them back almost four times that amount. A new world record fee was about to be set, but not just that, this was a very defined flexing of muscle between the new and the old alpha-males of Serie A.

AC Milan and Juventus had already traded transfer punches that summer. While the Rossoneri became the first club to break the £10m barrier during their purchase of Jean-Pierre Papin from Marseille, the Bianconeri responded in kind when they ploughed past that fee by splashing out £12m on Sampdoria’s Gianluca Vialli.

With the world record transfer fee already having been broken twice in a costly trilogy, the same two clubs fought it out for the right to break it yet again. This time, Torino’s Gianluigi Lentini was the target. Whereas the signings of Papin and Vialli, two of Europe’s most feared marksmen, had been seen as expensive but sound investments, the pursuit of Lentini was very much an act of one-upmanship and vanity.

While Juventus faced an aesthetic struggle to sign their city rival’s star player, their interest was more than a mischievous one designed to drive up the price for AC Milan. No stranger to controversial signings, Juventus meant business. From Torino’s perspective, Juventus’ interest was simultaneously welcome and unwelcome. While Torino couldn’t countenance Lentini wearing black and white stripes, the fact that Juventus were interested in him drove his value beyond its natural level.

Aged 23, Lentini, a mercurial winger who could operate down either side of the pitch, wasn’t yet the finished article. He may have been a full Italian international but he was still more a vision of potential than a polished world beater. His £13m price-tag and the title of being the most expensive footballer in the world didn’t sit easily for anyone.
“He was a really big talent. Fast, strong, physical. Really good.” Fabio Capello
Italy’s scrutineers in the sports press were aghast at the perceived money-train raging through Serie A, while the Vatican itself took a hard-line by branding the transfer fee “an offence to the dignity of work”.

Lentini was widely admired in Italy, yet remained largely unheralded globally. The Azzurri failing to reach the finals of Euro 92 went a long way in ensuring this was the case. Lentini was denied the opportunity to showcase his talents to a watching world, in the way Roberto Baggio had been gifted two years earlier when he found himself in a similar situation.

AC Milan cared little for these issues and they pressed ahead with their clinching bid. Lentini was to leave Turin for Milan. Fabio Capello’s unbeaten side was being given fresh impetus.

As irate Torino fans rendered the club president, Gian Mauro Borsano, a near-prisoner of his own home due to the sale of Lentini, it was arguably the concept of a potentially great team being broken up, rather than the sale of one individual component, which drove Torino’s fans to the streets in protest.

Lentini had been away from Torino on loan to Ancona as recently as the 1988/89 season. While he’d been assisting Ancona in preserving their Serie B status, in his absence from Torino they’d narrowly slipped to relegation from Serie A. The 1989/90 season, leading up Italia 90, was spent helping Torino return to Serie A under the Serie B promotion specialist, Eugenio Fascetti. Once they were back in Serie A, Lentini became an integral part in a two-season eye of the storm under the leadership of Emiliano Mondonico.

A highly credible fifth-place finish in 1991, inclusive of defeating Inter Milan at home and beating Juventus in the ‘away’ Turin derby brought UEFA Cup qualification. In March 1991 Lentini made his debut for the national side. By 1991/92, Mondonico had assembled a side that looked capable of following in the footsteps of AS Roma, Verona, Napoli and Sampdoria in challenging for major honours. Alongside Lentini was Luca Marchegiani, Pasquale Bruno, Roberto Mussi, Luca Fusi, Roberto Policano, Giorgio Venturin, Rafael Martín Vázquez, Enzo Scifo, Walter Casagrande and the emerging Christian Vieri.

As AC Milan swept to the 1991/92 Serie A title without a loss, Torino continued to show signs of real intent, finishing third and reaching the UEFA Cup final, inclusive of overcoming Real Madrid in the semi-final. Up against Louis van Gaal’s Ajax, both legs of the final were blessed by prolonged periods of open and attacking football from both sides. In the first leg at the Stadio delle Alpi, Torino twice came back from a goal down to eventually draw 2-2, Casagrande scoring both of Torino’s goals, the second of which was laid on to him by a beautifully weighted through ball from Lentini.


Read | Roberto Mancini: the rare genius who led Sampdoria and Lazio to unprecedented heights

In the return game at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, Torino were denied by the frame of the goal as much as they were by Ajax. In as open a goalless draw as you could wish to see, Torino twice hit the post and also hit the bar in the dying seconds of the game. Lentini was again central to most of Torino’s best moves, but the UEFA Cup was to belong instead to Ajax.

Eleven days later, Lentini played his last game for Torino prior to the auction for his signature beginning. He scored the last goal in a 5-2 victory over Ascoli in front of his adoring audience at the Delle Alpi.

The repercussions of Lentini’s switch to AC Milan have long been lost behind the mystery of the car crash which almost killed him in August 1993. At high speed, on the outskirts of Turin, Lentini lost control of his yellow Porsche 911. Being flung from the wreckage almost certainly saved his life. The crumpled shell of his car strikes a startling image. It was an incident he had no right to survive. In a split-second, the landscape of Lentini’s life changed forever.

After a debut season at the San Siro which had brought him a Serie A title win and a lost Champions League final, the world had seemed to be at Lentini’s feet. He had fluctuated in form, swinging from the sublime to frustrating, often within the span of the same game. Enough had been seen, however, to believe that greatness could be his.

From a run of unexpected Serie A champions challenging the popular convention of the scudetto always residing in Turin and Milan, Serie A has only twice been won by clubs other the Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan during the last quarter of a century. The gap which had narrowed during the second half of the 1980s had been reopened to near unbridgeable proportions with that trio of record-breaking transfer fees in the summer of 1992. The playing field tilted dramatically.

Lentini was of course never the same player again. That he managed to return at all was a miracle in itself, and he was an unused substitute at the Olympic Stadium in Athens in May 1994 when Capello’s AC Milan dismantled Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona Dream Team.
milan capello van basten
Read | Fabio Capello and the legendary Milan years

Lentini remained with the club until the summer of 1996, appearing sporadically and never being anything other than an optional extra, picking up more winners medals along the way. The effortless balance which was once his trademark, along with a will to dribble the ball, was now largely lost to him. A semi-regular blurring of vision and memory retention problems robbed Lentini of his power spontaneity.

It seemed fitting that as Lentini left AC Milan, Torino simultaneously slipped to relegation from Serie A once again. His old club had lifted the Coppa Italia in 1993, but then fallen into regression.

In 1996 still aged just 27, Lentini again teamed up with his former Torino mentor Mondonico, this time at Atalanta. Linking with the burgeoning talent of Filippo Inzaghi, Lentini started out impressively, even gaining a recall to the national side, but ultimately offered only flickering glimpses of the player he used to be. His time with Atalanta would stretch no further than one full season, but he helped them to a comfortable mid-table finish, avoiding their regular flirtation with relegation.

On his departure from Atalanta, Lentini made an emotional return to Torino, with the club still marooned in Serie B. A near miss on promotion in 1997/98, losing out on penalties in a promotion play-off, was remedied the following season when he helped the club to a runners-up spot behind Verona and a return to Serie A. Mondonico was the coach who brought Lentini to life once more.

Torino and Lentini both struggled with the step back up to the Serie A, however, and relegation was a bludgeoning experience. In the summer of 2000, Lentini departed Torino for the final time, joining fellow Serie B side Cosenza, which allowed him one more return to the Stadio delle Alpi as a visiting player.

Lentini, widely seen as a footballer unfulfilled, proved to be a man who struggled with the idea of letting the game go, continuing to play for a string of lower league clubs inclusive of ASDC Canelli alongside another former Italian international in Diego Fuser. It was one of the most enjoyable periods of his career. He played out his final games at his home town club Carmagnola, retiring at the age of 43, a full two decades on from becoming the most expensive footballer in the world. He still turns out in charity and exhibition games on a regular basis and with no interest in a coaching career; it is his son Nicholas who continues to carry the Lentini name at professional levels, as a goalkeeper rather than a winger like his father.

For four seasons Gianluigi Lentini tormented opposing defences on a weekly basis. Propelled into becoming the most expensive footballer in the world, it all came to him a year or so too soon. It was a move which changed football more than it is ever given the dubious credit for. He was a brilliant footballer but he was nowhere near being the best player in the world. A car crash at high-speed took away from him the opportunity to prove he could become that player, however. That car crash and that transfer fee will forever shield the player he was and the player he could have become.

By Steven Scragg @Scraggy_4

https://thesefootballtimes.co/2018/03/23/the-unfulfilled-career-of-record-breaker-gianluigi-lentini/

 

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THE GLORY OF CARECA AT NAPOLI

15/11/2017 by GARY THACKER



Antônio De Oliveira Filho was born in the city of Araquara in the Brazilian state of São Paulo on 5 October 1960. His nickname, Careca – which roughly translates as ‘bald’ – came to him during his childhood due to his likeness of the famous Brazilian clown Carequinha who, very much like the young boy, had a fulsome mop of black hair.

His early career was spent with local club Guarani, whom he joined in 1978. The young striker’s pace, natural ability to score goals and uncanny knack of knowing how to be in the right place at the right time to finish off attacks quickly blossomed, and his first season brought him 13 goals in just 28 games. For a newcomer to the league, it was an impressive opening statement, but there was more to come. In his five years with the club he scored more than a century of goals, and his continuing development brought him to the attention of São Paulo FC. In 1983 he moved to the state capital and joined the Tricolor.

By now he had already broken into Brazil’s national team and was earmarked to make the trip to Spain for the 1982 World Cup finals, but injury thwarted those ambitions. He was, however, a part of the squad that finished as runners-up in the 1983 Copa América. The 1986 World Cup would be his big international coming out party, and his performances in that Mexican summer were to provide the last piece in the jigsaw that saw him recognised as a world-class striker. They would earn him a move to Serie A and the Partenopei.

Before that, though, he would enjoy a hugely successful three-year period with São Paulo. Again, he demonstrated his ability to be successful without any need for a settling-in period. His first season brought him 17 goals, tying the total of the renowned Zico and finishing as joint-second top scorer. The total made the transfer look a shrewd investment by the Tricolor and he would go on to underscore that assessment, despite a second season in which he failed to appear in a single game in Série A.

It was back to the old routine the following season, as Careca plundered a dozen goals in just 17 games. In the 1986 season, his goals would guide São Paulo to the championship and Copa de Brasil double. He was top scorer in both competitions and was awarded the Bola de Ouro, unsurprisingly recognising him as the season’s outstanding player.

By now he was also the focal point of the Seleção’s attack, and after the disappointment of 1982, when Brazil lost out to Italy in the second group round thanks to a Paolo Rossi hat-trick and a 3-2 defeat in a pulsating game, the 1986 tournament offered a chance of redemption for one of the perennial tournament favourites. They had been unable to include Careca in 1982, but he would play a full part in the tournament in Mexico.
Brazil skated through the initial group stage, winning all three games. Careca scored three times, netting the winner against Algeria and a brace in the 3-0 victory over Northern Ireland. In the round of 16, he again scored in the 4-0 rout of Poland. In the quarter-final against France, a 1-1 draw took the game to penalties, and despite having converted from 12 yards against the Poles, Careca was surprisingly not chosen to take one of the five spot-kicks. At the end, a miss by Júlio César saw the Seleção eliminated again.

Careca at Guarani

If the tournament was ultimately a disappointment for the national team, it was a huge success for Careca and confirmed his ranking on the international stage as one of the top strikers on the planet. He finished as second-top goalscorer, trailing Gary Lineker by a single strike. With the summer over, the Tricolor succumbed to the lure of the lira, and Careca decamped from Brazil to join Napoli for a reported 4 million lira fee. It turned out to be a bargain buy for the newly-crowned Serie A champions as Careca swapped São Paulo for the San Paolo.

It would be wrong to say that the arrival of the Brazilian striker kicked off a golden age for Napoli. They had already secured the Scudetto the previous season for the first time in the club’s history and had added the Coppa Italia for good measure. They also had the mercurial Diego Maradona in their squad, along with Bruno Giordano, who had joined in 1985, one year after the Argentine maestro.

When Careca arrived to complete the triumvirate of stars, though – which quickly became known as ‘Ma-Gi-Ca’ – the club was catapulted to a new level. Such a powerful cocktail was a heady brew, but as with any over-indulgence, there’s always the hangover to come. In 1987, that was way down the line. Napoli were on a roll and ready to set Serie A alight with their irrepressible football.

Any time he had arrived at a new club, Careca had quickly assimilated into the way the team played. His time with Napoli was no different. Some may argue that it would be easy to play alongside a talent such as Maradona in his prime, others would argue the reverse; but the rapidity with which the Brazilian striker struck up a relationship with the Argentine genius argued very much for the former – at least in his case anyway. They were the two elements of a dovetail joint that fitted perfectly together to build success for Napoli. Maradona was the light drawing defenders to him like moths to a flame, while Careca was the stiletto, the striker finding the space for Maradona’s carefully crafted passes and driving home the killer strike.

In his first season in Italy, Careca scored 18 goals across all competitions. If that seems a relatively small amount, remember this was his first time in Serie A where the price of goals was exorbitant and defences ruled. It was, in fact, an outstanding contribution to a season when, having pipped Juve to the title the previous season by three points, they finished second by the same margin to Arrigo Sacchi’s AC Milan. Maradona top-scored in the league with 15 goals, but Careca was a mere two strikes behind him. A first-round exit in the European Cup – albeit to the might of Real Madrid – was probably the only dark moment of their season.

The following year, Napoli again finished as runners-up to a club from the San Siro, but this time it was Inter that lifted the title. Careca upped his goal tally to 19 in his second season, leaving him just three short of Aldo Serena who topped the charts to be awarded the Capocannoniere title. It was in Europe, though, that their light blue star shone brightest.

A lack of European success had been a yawning gap in the history of the Partenopei. Whilst Juve and the Milan clubs had all claimed the biggest pot in European club football and Sampdoria, Parma and Lazio had garnered success in the Cup Winners’ Cup and UEFA Cup, Napoli had yet to win a major continental trophy.


Read | Naples: dancing to the beat of Diego Maradona since 1984

By now, Ma-Gi-Ca had been broken up as Giordano had moved on to Ascoli, but it hardly seemed to check Napoli’s progress. Their second-placed finish the season before had given them a place in the UEFA Cup and a chance to claim a European prize for themselves. In the first round, they began in fairly inauspicious fashion, a 1-0 home victory against PAOK thanks to a Maradona penalty handing them a slender lead to take to Greece.

When Careca netted in the ninth minute in Thessaloniki, a comfort blanket was created that offered a smooth passage into the next round. A single second-half strike from Skartados did little to ruffle it.

The second-round tie against Lokomotive Leipzig looked a little more difficult, especially when Matthias Zimmerling scored to put the East Germans ahead. An equaliser by Giovanni Francini five minutes later put Napoli back in the ascendency with an away goal, and back at the Stadio San Paolo, another strike from Francini with just two minutes gone and an own goal by Heiko Scholz saw them safely through.

In the round of 16, a 1-0 win against Bourdeaux in France and a goalless draw back in Italy meant passage to the last eight. If the earlier rounds had been stodgy fare, it was now time for the serious business to begin, and in particular for Careca to show his worth once again.

The quarter-final was an all-Italian affair with Napoli pitted against the Old Lady of Turin. At the Stadio delle Alpi, a 2-0 win for the Bianconeri looked to have put them well on their way to the last four, but back in Naples, a sterling home performance saw the home team level things up before going through in extra-time. The next task was a semi-final against Bayern Munich. It would be a tie dominated by Careca.

The first leg was played at the San Paolo, and Napoli executed the perfect home performance. For most of the first period it was a cagey affair, with both teams aware that the first goal would have a significant influence on the outcome of the tie. Caution was to the fore, and it took a bit of magic between the home team’s two stars to break the deadlock.

With just Maradona and Careca on an attacking sortie, the Argentine seemed boxed in by a trio of red-shirted defenders. Careca, however, had faith in his teammate and peeled away on a forward run. Ever aware of the possibilities open to him, Maradona neatly lifted the ball into the path of the onrushing Brazilian. As was almost invariably the case, the pass was inch perfect, and as a defender lunged to try and intercept, Careca brushed past him, controlled and then pulled the shot back across the goal and into the net. The crowd erupted as he ran towards them, kissing his shirt before being mobbed by team-mates – plus a few fans who had found their way onto the pitch. Napoli went into the break ahead.

The second goal came on the hour mark. A short corner led to Maradona hoisting a cross into the box to be met with a powerful header from Andrea Carnevale. A two-goal lead and a clean sheet that was preserved to the end of game brought a highly-satisfying conclusion to the game. It would now need a remarkable comeback from the Bavarian club if they were to turn the tie around two weeks later in the return leg.

Despite the need to score and fairly continuous pressing in the first period of the game, at half-time in the game at Munich’s Olympiastadion, the two-goal lead for the Italians remained intact. Bayern may well have been fretting that, as time ticked away, they would be compelled to force themselves forward in pursuit of a goal that may expose them to a Napoli counter laced with the guile of Maradona and the power of Careca. And so it was.


Original Series | The Football Italia Years

Careca struck just past the hour to put the visitors ahead. Maradona bullied a defender off the ball, then looking up saw Careca where he would inevitably be, free in the box and awaiting his pass. The Argentine supplied the assist; the Brazilian coolly netted. The lead was up to three, with the added bonus of an away goal, leaving Bayern now needing four. The lead in the game lasted a mere 120 seconds before Roland Wohlfarth netted after a defensive scramble, but it hardly seemed to put a dent in Napoli’s confidence as conceding three more looked a very slim possibility.

There was little to lose now, though, so Bayern continued to drive forwards, but the next goal was almost a textbook example of how to score from a breakaway. Losing possession on the edge of the Napoli box, Bayern were quickly exposed. A forward pass found Maradona driving forwards, but with a defender closing him down. In such situations, a look for a teammate is usually required. Maradona did so, knowing that Careca would be storming upfield in support, outstripping any covering defender. A sweet caress with his left boot saw the Argentine set his teammate in the clear.

Driving powerfully forwards, Careca fired ruthlessly into the net. It was a glorious goal, executed with sublime precision and involving just three passes after Bayern had squandered possession so expensively. Careca and Maradona hugged and the Italian fans celebrated noisily. With less than 15 minutes to play, it was surely the winning goal; Bayern now needed four again, but it simply wasn’t going to happen. A late goal by Stefan Reuter gave the Bundesliga leaders the slimmest of consolations, but as the whistle went, it was clear that the Maradona-Careca axis had simply been too proficient for them.

Another German team, VfB Stuttgart, awaited Napoli in the two-legged final. The first leg took place on 3 May in Naples, but it didn’t all as planned for the Partenopei. Initially it looked like the Germans would avoid the rocks of Capri when the first 15 minutes passed fairly uneventfully, if with no little tension. A couple minutes later, a free-kick just outside the Napoli area was tapped sideways for Maurizio Gaudino to shoot from distance.

While well struck, the ball seemed destined for goalkeeper Giuliano Giuliani. Whether there was a late slight swing in the flight of the ball is unclear, but the home stopper fumbled the save and only managed to divert it into his own net.

The home fans were stunned into a temporary silence as the Stuttgart players celebrated not only taking the lead, but perhaps more importantly, in the long run, having pocketed an invaluable away goal. On the home bench, heads were bowed as the Germans trotted back to their own half for the game to recommence. The remaining minutes of the first half were taken up with Napoli pressing forward but without any tangible reward. With just over 20 minutes to play, though, things swung back in the home team’s favour in a hugely controversial moment.

A cross into the German area was nodded on by Carnevale towards Maradona closing in at the far post. Attempting to control, the Argentine first touched the ball with his shoulder and then seemed to throw out an arm to bring the ball back towards him, before firing off a shot. The ball struck a German defender on the arm from no more than a yard away. Blue-shirted arms went up in appeal, but it was surely more in hope than expectation.

Greek referee Gerasimos Germanakos, with the impassioned howls of 81,000 in the crowd screaming for justice, pointed to the spot. The visiting players protested to no avail. German goalkeeper Eike Immel was booked for his trouble and Maradona coolly slotted home. To take something meaningful from the game, another goal would be needed, so the scorer raced into the net to retrieve the ball and back to the centre circle to get the game restarted. Maradona had done his bit, and now it was time for Careca to do his. He wouldn’t let Napoli down.


Read | Gianfranco Zola and Diego Maradona at Napoli: the student and the mentor

It was the 87th minute when another ball into the box found Carnevale. He controlled and laid it off to Maradona. Neatly lifting the ball past a defender, he almost reached the goal line before squaring the ball across to where his teammates should have been waiting. Inevitably, it was Careca in place. He controlled, touched the ball once, twice and then a third time as he manoeuvred past both a teammate and an opponent, before placing the ball wide of Immel and into the net for the most precious of winning goals. It was a typical Careca strike: professional, polished and highly valuable. He would repeat the act two weeks later when Napoli travelled to the Neckarstadion for the return leg.

If the first game was tight and tense in the fiery atmosphere of the San Paolo, the game in Germany was full of drama and goals. The Germans started brightly, knowing that, thanks to Gaudino’s goal in Naples, a 1-0 victory would see them to victory on away goals. An early cross into the box found the head of skipper Karl Allgöwer, but his attempt was comfortably smothered by Giuliani. When the first goal came, though, it was for the visitors.

Brazilian midfielder Alemão had joined the club the previous year, and with just over 15 minutes played, it looked like an injury would curtail his presence on the pitch. After treatment, he played on and, a couple of minutes later, gave Napoli the lead. Racing onto a through ball, he held off closing defenders to prod the ball past Immel. The goalkeeper touched the ball but couldn’t prevent it rolling into the net to give Napoli their away goal.

The lead was short-lived, however. Jürgen Klinsmann had missed the first leg but was now back to lead the Stuttgart line and, on 27 minutes, levelled the scores on the night. A corner from the Stuttgart left found the striker’s blond locks at the far post as he towered above Ciro Ferrara, who hardly seemed to jump, and a fierce header back across goal brooked no argument from the goalkeeper. Ferrara would have his own say shortly afterwards.

The clock was ticking towards the last five minutes of the half when Maradona struck a corner in from the Napoli left. Klinsmann headed clear but it fell straight to Maradona, who nodded back into the German area. The ball looped towards the six-yard box, but Immel appeared transfixed on his line when he could surely have taken a couple of steps forward and gathered it. Ferrara, up from his defensive post for the corner, wasted no time and swept home the ball. It was now 1-2, and with two away goals to add to their lead in Italy, Napoli appeared to be on the way to their first European trophy.

The Germans were now compelled to push forwards, but in such circumstances, the rapier striking of Careca is always an inherent danger. Just past the hour mark, a break saw Maradona running forward, but halted by a defender and looking inside, the man he expected to be up in support was there, outstripping the defender who was trying in vain to keep pace with him.

Maradona slipped the ball inside, and as Immel came out, Careca neatly clipped the ball over him to make it 5-2 on aggregate. The deal was done. An own goal by Fernando De Napoli five minutes later offered false hope, and a late goal by Olaf Schmäler on 90 minutes mere consolation, but Napoli were home and dry. They lifted the UEFA Cup, with Careca the top scorer in the competition.


Read | The decline of Napoli post-Maradona: from Paradiso to Inferno

The following season was something of a consolidation for Careca, as he only netted 10 goals across the season. They were all valuable strikes as Napoli again lifted the Scudetto, two points clear of Milan. It was party time for Napoli with their fans, and Careca was very much at the centre of things, as the Brazilian’s relationship with Maradona drove the team forward. Maradona scored 17 goals but was booed everywhere he went after Argentina had eliminated the Azzurri from the World Cup on penalties in the semi-final – ironically at the San Paolo. Careca’s World Cup campaign was much more subdued. Although he scored twice in four games, it was a below-par result for the Seleção to be eliminated in the last 16.

If the 1989/90 season had been a triumph for Napoli, capped off with what would be Careca’s last trophy with the club when they defeated Juventus 5-1 in the Supercoppa, the following years would see a steady decline as the Partenopei floundered on their own set of rocks. Rumours had been rife that Maradona’s off-field life had deteriorated amid reports of inappropriate liaisons with members of the Camorra and involvement with prostitutes and drugs.

The latter was confirmed on 17 March 1991 when the Argentine failed a drugs test following a game against Bari. He had tested positive for cocaine. Despite the traumas and upheavals of the season, Napoli finished in eighth-place in the league. It hadn’t been a stellar defence of their title, but given the goings on around the club, and particularly with its star player, it was an achievement of sorts.

The golden period had now lost a lot of its glitter, but Napoli still had Careca, plus a bunch of other players, such as Gianfranco Zola – an apprentice of Maradona, at least with regard to matters on the field – breaking through into the team. Spearheading the club’s efforts, Careca bagged a highly-credible 15 goals to take Napoli to fourth place in Serie A. It was a performance way above expectations as the club spiralled downwards.

The burden was too great, however, and that season would be Careca’s last hurrah as a top-line striker. The following term, his last with the club, he would score just seven goals as mid-table mediocrity dragged Napoli, the once strutting all-star team, back into its cloying fold.

The Brazilian, now nearly 33, would be shipped out of Italy to play for Kashiwa Reysol in Japan’s formative J League, scoring 40 goals in four years there before returning to Brazil for a last wander around three clubs. In his time in Naples he had scored just five short of a century of goals in 225 games, making him the sixth-highest scorer in the club’s history.

Goals are very much the defining measure of a striker, but coupled with that is the value of each one. The fourth goal in a 5-0 victory is good, but its value pales when compared to the winner in the last few minutes of a European final. Careca scored so many goals that really counted for his team, and the fans at the San Paolo loved him even more for that.

In the brief years he was in tandem with Maradona, Napoli became a team capable of taking on anyone and winning out, with each partner of equal worth. If there’s a fitting epitaph to the time Careca spent with the Partenopei, perhaps it’s that when paired with one of the greatest players of all time, he delivered and lost little in comparison.

By Gary Thacker @All_Blue_Daze

 

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THE HEARTBREAK OF RONALDO AT INTERNAZIONALE

18/09/2018 by BLAIR NEWMAN



Ronaldo was more force of nature than footballer. He was an irrepressible dribbler, a powerful runner and an unerringly precise finisher. In Italy, the term ‘fantasista’ is strictly reserved for playmakers, but it also applied to this Brazilian striker, who was pure fantasy. Indeed, his combination of blazing speed and stocky build was something usually seen only in virtual reality.

He was the PlayStation attacker every gamer has created, at one point or another, just to see what it would feel like for someone so unstoppable to exist on a pitch. Opponents could only watch and hope, defenders were rendered obsolete. Ronaldo, in his prime, was a collective footballing hallucination made real.

However, on 12 April 2000, he looked devastatingly human. After months out through injury, he returned to the field of play that day in order to try to turn around a game. Inter Milan were trailing Lazio by two goals to one in the Coppa Italia final first leg and they needed their superstar. But, while no mere marker could prevent him from scoring, his own body could.

Receiving a flick-on, Ronaldo looked to run at the Lazio defence. Expectations rose as this icon, this irresistible force, began to gain momentum. The ball was at his feet and the penalty box was near, which meant, in all likelihood, that a goal loomed on the horizon. For Inter fans, these moments signalled hope. But as soon as dreams of an equaliser had appeared they faded away again amid a heartbreaking sight.

Having motioned to turn right, Ronaldo’s right knee buckled. He fell swiftly to the ground clutching his right leg, crying in pain. Immediately, the Lazio players who seconds before had feared him sought to help him, waving their arms in the air for medical assistance. As Ronaldo was carried off on a stretcher, Interisti hope was definitively crushed.

Inter lost 2-1.

AC Milan were the team to beat in Italy throughout the early-to-mid-1990s. Following their retention of the European Cup in 1990 under Arrigo Sacchi, Fabio Capello took the reins in 1991 and implemented a functional yet thrilling style of play that saw them win three successive Scudetti and dismantle Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona Dream Team 4-0 in the 1994 Champions League final. And, after a rude interruption by Marcello Lippi’s Juventus in 1995, they returned to the top of the Serie A hierarchy the following year.



Read | The enigmatic, puzzling genius of Inter and Uruguay legend Álvaro Recoba

Not only did Capello’s Milan have one of the finest back fours of all-time, replete with Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini, but they were showered by foreign stars courtesy of Silvio Berlusconi’s millions. Marcel Desailly relentlessly patrolled the midfield, Zvonimir Boban created and Dejan Savićević worked his magic between the lines. The Rossoneri had it all, and their great city rivals could only look on enviously.

Inter were the ‘other’ Milanese team during this period, their form wavering erratically as they bounced from title tilt to mid-table nothingness with disconcerting speed. However, in 1995, Massimo Moratti became president of the club and, in a bid to rejuvenate the ailing giant, spent big in the transfer market.

Paul Ince was one of the first to arrive, signing from Manchester United, and over the following two years the Englishman was joined by a procession of exciting new players. Inter brought in the likes of Youri Djorkaeff, Iván Zamorano, Aron Winter, Nwankwo Kanu, Benoît Cauet and Diego Simeone in their attempts to compete once again for the Scudetto.

And then there was Ronaldo.

At just 20 years of age, the Brazilian was already of international renown by the time Inter paid a world record transfer fee of £13.2 million to take him from Barcelona in June 1997. In all competitions during his one year with the Catalan giants, he scored 47 goals in 49 games, building on the 54 in 57 outings for PSV Eindhoven in the two years prior. On top of that, he had been crowned FIFA World Player of the Year in 1996, becoming the youngest ever recipient of the award.

Ronaldo wasn’t simply a signing; he was a statement. At a time when many of the finest players from around the world found themselves in Serie A, the very best had chosen Inter as his next destination. The misfortune was over, the gloom had been lifted. Moratti had financed the deal to end the waiting, Inter would be Milan’s ‘other’ team no longer. No more would they feel the need to curse Berlusconi, an alleged Interista, for financing Milan’s domestic hegemony. The tables, it appeared, were turning.

The first six months were surprisingly predictable. Ronaldo scored goals, and lots of them. And Inter won games, regularly. The Nerazzurri went undefeated for the opening 12 fixtures of 1997/98 and, at the halfway point of the campaign, were one point behind Juventus in the race for the title. Furthermore, they had beaten their rivals from Turin at the San Siro thanks to a strike from Djorkaeff. The provider of the goal? Ronaldo.

Shrugging off Paolo Montero and evading a lunge from Ciro Ferrara, his cross left his French team-mate with the easiest of finishes.

Luigi Simoni, appointed head coach in the summer of 1997, had galvanised the team, building a fast, reactive, counter-attacking unit with Ronaldo as his attacking hub. ‘Il Fenomeno’ was the only Inter player instructed not to get behind the ball in the defensive phase, acting as a beacon for Inter’s attacking transitions with his pace, strength and aggressive running.



Read | Ronaldinho and the eternal journey to joy

Ronaldo’s adapting so quickly to the tactically detailed, defensively resolute confines of calcio was noteworthy, as was his ability to carry the fantasies of a club, owners and fan-base included, that so desperately craved a concerted period of success. His shouldering of the burden was all the more impressive considering the calibre of those who had failed before him; when he retained his status as FIFA World Player of the Year in 1997, he saw off competition from Roberto Carlos and Dennis Bergkamp, two ex-Inter players who experienced sharp upturns in their personal fortunes after leaving the club.

After a rocky mid-season spell, Simoni’s men won six league games in a row, with Ronaldo scoring in each. This streak of form included a 3-0 victory over Milan in which the player found the net with a wonderful lobbed finish. It was one among many outstanding moments in his stunning debut term. But, cruelly, Ronaldo and Inter’s first Serie A season together would end in acrimony rather than celebration.

Essentially, the Scudetto race boiled down to one match: the Derby d’Italia between Juventus and Inter. They met at the Stadio delle Alpi with four fixtures left, and with just one point separating them at the top of Serie A. Tensions were high throughout the game as robust challenges and cute dives punctuated this special clash of Italian football titans; Simeone was studded by Edgar Davids, while Ronaldo was repeatedly hurdled off the ball by uncompromising markers.

Alessandro Del Piero gave Juventus the lead at the midway point of the first half with a beautiful improvised shot. This forced a retaliation from Inter, who knew defeat would mean the opening up of a four-point gap. But, try as they might, an equaliser wouldn’t come. And, with just 20 minutes left, there was an eruption of controversy.

Ronaldo, bursting into Juventus’ penalty area, was unmercifully body-checked by Mark Iuliano having toe-poked the ball beyond the Italian centre-back. But the penalty didn’t come. Referee Piero Ceccarini allowed the game to play on and, as the home side launched a counter-attack, he found himself running away from vociferous protests. Seconds later he did blow his whistle, however, pointing to the spot after Del Piero was decked by a mistimed Taribo West kick.

Simoni and his players could barely contain their outrage and, even though the spot-kick was saved by Gianluca Pagliuca, the feeling of being cheated carried through as Juventus went on to win the match and, subsequently, lift the title.

Away from contentious domestic affairs, Ronaldo dazzled in continental competition, aiding Inter to the UEFA Cup final where they saw off Lazio. He was unplayable against the Roman outfit, hitting the bar with a scorching long-range effort before sealing a 3-0 win having coolly rounded Luca Marchegiani to pass into an unguarded net. Yet, in spite of the victorious finale, Inter’s 1997-98 season was permeated by a sense of injustice.



Read | Romário: the menacing, outspoken but consistently majestic Samba star

What could have been? This is the question all Inter fans must silently ask themselves when reflecting upon the Ronaldo years.

His first campaign had been intoxicating. Even the most dogged Italian defences were left floundering in his wake. His dribbling style, an avalanche of step-overs, feints, twists and turns performed all at once and at lightning speed, was spellbinding. His explosiveness was a genuine wonder, but even then his body was seemingly in a constant struggle to keep up with itself.

In 1998/99, the injuries began. He played just 28 times and scored 15 goals, less than half as many as he had managed in his maiden Serie A voyage. Inter slipped to eighth in the league. Coaches came and went, and an underwhelming normality was resumed.

Ronaldo ruptured a tendon in his right knee on 21 November 1999 in a league game against Lecce. He went away determined to come back stronger, but by this point the weight of the club’s hopes, the media glare and the lucrative sponsorship deals was too much to handle.

He returned in the 2000 Coppa Italia final, emerging eagerly from the substitute’s bench, begging his body to comply with his demands. But his ascent from a very personal hell lasted just seven minutes. Floored by one of his own feints, there was a disturbing hopelessness to the player’s trauma. Beforehand, Ronaldo’s name conjured up a fierce aura. The world had looked on in anticipation with his every touch. Now the world still looked on, only this time in horror. He was prone, he was fragile and, at 23-years-old, his future was uncertain.

The striker Jorge Valdano had once likened to a herd was now a lonely individual, looking on from the sidelines. Countless operations followed in a bid to get him back to his best, but he would miss the entirety of the 2000-01 season as Inter finished fifth.

Ronaldo would rise again, but not with Inter. And Inter would eventually end their long wait for a Scudetto, but not with Ronaldo. The partnership of player and club was, ultimately, one of unfulfilled expectation but, if only for a short while, it produced spectacular results.

It’s 3 March 1998 and Ronaldo is where he likes to be: the opposition penalty area. It’s the UEFA Cup quarter-final first leg and Inter are playing Schalke. Johan de Kock watches on intently, no doubt whispering to himself, “Keep your eyes on the ball”. Olaf Thon steams in to help his team-mate. Ronaldo sees the German coming and pulls the ball back. De Kock sticks out a scared left leg, but Ronaldo drags the ball out of sight again. Then, with Thon encroaching from behind, he nutmegs de Kock.

Three seconds, three subtle movements, two defenders without the ball. Ronaldo carries on. Inter fans watch on with hope.

By Blair Newman @TheBlairNewman


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at his best, R9 is the best centre forward I have watched
 

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The Italian Job - The Serie A Story 93/94 : Football Italia

 
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