The 82 World Cup would not be understood without talking about Paolo Rossi, although it was not so clear that he could participate
Splashed by the ‘Totonero’ scandal, Enzo Bearzot opted for him against all odds
Sometimes a coach makes decisions against the grain. Enzo Bearzot did it when choosing the 22 summoned from Italy for the 82 World Cup. He called a footballer who had been inactive for two years. More than one analyst criticized him, saying that he was not in shape. But Bearzot turned a deaf ear. And he was right. Paolo Rossi agreed with him with what he knew how to do best: score decisive goals.
‘Pablito’, as he was known, he was one of the great hopes of transalpine football. Formed in the quarry of the Juventuscontinued his career in Like, Lanerossi Vicenza and Perugia. That’s where his hell began.
His name appeared in the investigations of one of the biggest scandals in the history of football, the ‘Totonero’, about clandestine bets and match fixing. Rossi was accused of participating in the arrangement of a Perugia-Avellino He always denied it, but justice was implacable: three years of disqualification that was reduced to twowhich allowed him to return to the fields at the end of the 1981-82 season.
Bearzot considered that the one who in the eyes of more than half of Italy was the ‘fallen angel’ should be among the 22. And not only that. He lined him up as a starter in the seven games for the ‘squadra azzurra’. He endured the shower of criticism after the very weak first phase, but in Barcelona everything changed.
Rossi scored a hat-trick against Brazil that put his team in the semi-finals. Framework two more goals against Poland and one more in the final against Germany, in Madrid. ‘Pablito’ was world champion, tournament top scorer, World Cup Golden Ball and, at the end of 1982, European Golden Ball.
On December 9, 2020, at the age of 64, Paolo Rossi died of lung cancer. It was goodbye to who he was the great protagonist of the 82 World Cup.