Paolo Rossi: Unlikely hero of Italy
Paolo Rossi was born on 23 September 1956. Rossi is an Italian former football striker. In 1982, he led Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup title, scoring six goals to win the Golden Boot as top goalscorer, and the Golden Ball for the player of the tournament. Rossi is one of only three players to have won all three awards at a World Cup, along with Garrincha in 1962, and Mario Kempes in 1978.
Paolo Rossi
Surname: Rossi
Firstname: Paolo
Country: Italy
Date of birth: 1956-09-23
Birthplace: Prato
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 66.0 kg
Playing Career
Position: Striker
Clubs: Como (1975-76), Vicenza (1976-77), Peruggia (1978-81), Juventus (1981-85), AC Milan (1985-86), Verona (1986-87)
International appearances: 48
International goals: 20
International debut: 21/12/1977, Belgium-Italy (0-1)
Last international appearance: 11/05/1986, Italy-China (2-0)
First international goal: 02/06/1978, Italy-France (2-1)
Last international goal: 03/04/1985, Italy-Portugal (2-0)
Playing Honours
International : World Cup: winner (1982), second round (1978, 1986), 3 appearances, 14 matches , 9 goals, top scorer (1982, 6 goals)
Club
-European Cup (1985)
-Intercontinental Cup (1985)
-European Supercup (1984)
-Cup Winners' Cup (1984)
-Italian Championships (1982, 1984)
-Italian Cup (1983)
Other honours
European player of the year (Ballon d'Or) 1982
Top scorer in Italian championship (1978/24 goals)
Unlikely hero
The prolific Italian marksman Paolo Rossi completed a wonderful career turnaround in 1982 when he overcame a two-year ban for alleged match fixing to lead his country to World Cup glory scoring a thrilling hat-trick against Brazil on the way.
Rossi was top scorer and architect of some of Italy's most important goals, but the fact that the Juventus striker was even on the pitch was credit to national coach Enzo Bearzot, who had stood by him despite his disgrace.
As one of the players at the centre of a scandal known as the "Totonero", he found himself kicked out the game for two years in a scandal that rocked the foundations of Italian football.
In his early days in Serie A he had terrorised defences with his darting runs, wonderful control and uncanny knack of finding the back of the net.
Fame in Spain
When his ban ended on April 29, 1982, there were only weeks to go before the kick-off to the 1982 World Cup, but a handful of appearances for Juventus were enough to convince Bearzot to take him to Spain.
The Squadra Azzurra began their campaign quietly, drawing their opening three group matches and squeezing into the second round on goal difference.
There they found themselves up against South American giants Brazil and Argentina.
After victory against Argentina, Italy moved on to Brazil, one of the pre-tournament favourites.
Rossi broke out of a mini-slump with a sublime performance, scoring a hat-trick as Italy won a thrilling match in Barcelona to book a place in the semi-finals.
Now brimming with confidence, Rossi continued his goal spree with two more goals against Poland (2-0 win) and now only West Germany stood between Italy and their first world title since 1938.
They didn't disappoint their supporters as Rossi grabbed the opening goal of the final with a header after 56 minutes as Italy built a 3-0 lead, running out 3-1 winners.
Heysel pain
Rossi meanwhile finished as the tournament's top scorer with six strikes and had forever left his mark on the competition's history.
Even though he had been suspended for three months of 1982, it was a great year for Rossi, who was named European Player of the Year (Ballon d'Or) and lifted the Italian championship with Juventus.
The Italian went on to win a host of other European and domestic honours, although the European Cup final victory in 1985 was overshadowed by the disaster at the Heysel stadium, which claimed 39 lives when a stadium wall collapsed.
Rossi left Juventus the next season and finished his career with brief stints at AC Milan and Verona.