Top scorer in the history of the Nazionale, Luigi “Gigi” Riva, who died on Monday January 22 at the age of 79, was one of the emblematic faces of Italian football in the 1960s and 1970s, a prosperous period when he won Euro 1968 and reached the final of the legendary 1970 World Cup.
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In Mexico, he was one of the players in one of the biggest matches in World Cup history, the 4-3 semi-final win against Germany, alongside other big names like Gianni Rivera, Giacinto Fachetti and goalkeeper Dino Zoff. He scored one of the five goals scored during the crazy overtime which sent Italy to the final against Pelé’s Brazil (4-1).
Two years earlier, he had scored the most important of his 35 goals in the “azzurro” jersey, that of the opening score in the Euro final, at the Olympic stadium in Rome, against Yugoslavia (2-0). . It was a replayed final, after a draw (1-1), and after a qualification obtained in the semi-final against the USSR… in the draw, the penalty shootouts having not not yet been established.
“ Rombo di Tuono » (“ Thunderclap ), as he was nicknamed, had exceptional striking power, particularly on free kicks, but only from the left. “His right foot is only used to get on the tram,” joked his trainer Manlio Scopigno.
At club level, Riva, a native of Lombardy, was the man of only one jersey, that of Cagliari, in Sardinia. Several times he refused offers from major teams, notably Juventus Turin.
Gigi Riva has passed away at 79 years old – a legend to Italian football.
He has the most goals for Italy of all time (35), won Euro 1968, and was a runner up at World Cup 1970.
He was an ICON to Cagliari, winning their first and only Scudetto in 1969/70.
Rest In Peace, legend… pic.twitter.com/0JG15UoW7G
— Italian Football TV (@IFTVofficial) January 22, 2024
A poet according to Pasolini
In 1970, his 21 goals in 30 days took the team to a historic title, as it was the first time that the Scudetto went to a team from the South.
The man whom the writer and filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini considered a poet of the ball narrowly missed the Ballon d’Or: second in 1969 during the coronation of his compatriot Gianni Rivera, then third in 1970 behind the German Gerd Muller and the Englishman Bobby Moore.
Top scorer for Calcio in 1967, 1969 and 1970, he scored 35 goals in 42 caps for the Italian team, a feat in the ultra-defensive era of the triumphant “catenaccio”. It was more than Silvio Piola and Giuseppe Meazza, the architects of Italy’s first two world titles in 1934 and 1938.
When you hear it separately, you know what you are bifolchi and it is time for Riad to leave the companion during the second time. #NapoliInter in occasion of the ricordo di #GigiRivamorto poco fa.
This is how much merit it has to make the end result for the petrol dollar. pic.twitter.com/SB29B8GxND
— Ciro Pellegrino (@ciropellegrino) January 22, 2024
Riva was born on November 7, 1944 into a modest family and lost his father at nine years old. First a player for his hometown club, Leggiuno, in D3, he was recruited in 1963 by Cagliari, then in Serie B. The two big Milanese clubs, AC and Inter, would later bite each other’s fingers to have missed the phenomenon.
Plagued by injuries, he hung up his boots in 1976 at just 31 years old. Subsequently, he was briefly president of Cagliari in 1986 then a member of the national team management between 1988 and 2013.
In 2005, his former club retired his number eleven in his honor.
(With AFP)