One of the greatest free players in football history and close friend of Zoff. Portrait of a player who won everything, without ever giving up fairness
straight back
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And when some archival image appears on television – straight back, elegance not as a pose but as an attitude, cleanliness in every touch and in every movement – one thinks that someone like Gaetano Scirea was an anomaly, a luxury, a privilege that Italy enjoyed, albeit briefly, until a bastard fate took him away from this land at the age of only thirty-six: there was still everything to be done. Beyond the extraordinary career and trophies – he won everything at Juve, he was crowned world champion in 1982 with Bearzot-Scirea’s Italy and was the custodian of the most underrated of qualities: composure. For Juventus fans and for those of the national team, it was a consolation to identify with him and to have confirmation that his way of acting was the best way to be in the world.
team man
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A gentleman with the number 6 on his shoulders, an exemplary footballer for fairness – in his entire career he has never been sent off – and for his natural inclination to appease excesses, always trying to understand, to have a high gaze. Where class ended, man’s elegance began. His wife Mariella once said that when they returned to the car together after the games at the Comunale – as they used to in the family – she would comment on the salient facts of the game just played and perhaps point out some mistakes by Gaetano’s teammates. He listened, mentally went over the actions of the game and found a justification for everything, he explained that in football he is never wrong alone, but as a team. She didn’t do it knowingly, but because he believed in it.
the deputy zoff
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Scirea, born in 1953, the son of workers at Pirelli who struggle to make ends meet, the third of four brothers, was born in Cernusco sul Naviglio, at a time when Serie A free players were all born there – he, Tricella, Galbiati – and he begins to play as a midfielder – he has good feet and an idea of the game – to then be reinvented as a libero at Atalanta. For a couple of years he teamed up with Percassi, the current president. He plays with his head held high, safe and serene even in the chaos. In 1974 Juventus took him, after a private negotiation between Agnelli and the Bergamo president Bortolotti, which ended with the boy’s transfer to Turin for seven hundred million lire, plus Mastropasqua, Marchetti and Musiello. Alongside him over the years only implacable scorers took turns, first Morgan Morini and then Sergio Brio. It is Parola who intuits that he could potentially become a great defense commander, but it is with Trapattoni that Scirea becomes the strongest interpreter in his role worldwide. In black and white he remained fourteen seasons, until 1988, when – he was thirty-five years old and the trophies were overflowing: seven championships, all the cups – he knew that after 552 appearances (fourth in the all-time standings, behind Del Piero, Buffon and Chiellini ) the time has come to quit and he begins – as deputy to his friend Dino Zoff – his very brief adventure on the bench.
an unforgettable assist
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Scirea arrives in blue in 1975, when the Bernardini-Bearzot couple is overcoming the defeat at the World Cup in Germany by launching a new generation. There are 78 of his matches for the national team (2 goals, against Poland in a friendly and against Greece in the World Cup qualifiers 82), the last one (as captain) in Mexico City at the World Cup – the third he took part in – which sees Italy go out in the round of 16 and certifies the end of the glorious cycle of Bearzot, which Scirea launched and defended. Eleven years in the center of defence, as a silent commander, together with the many Juve teammates – over the years Zoff, Gentile, Cabrini, Benetti, Tardelli, Causio, Rossi, Bettega – who form the backbone of the national team. Scirea re-enters the iconic shot of the 1982 World Cup, when Tardelli scores the momentary 2-0 against West Germany and then releases his happiness with the most famous Scream in the history of our football. It all started with a perfect counter-attack, with Conti advancing and Italy bringing two defenders into the opposing area, Bergomi and precisely Scirea, in spite of the bolt: he is the one who supplies the assist which favors the shot of the teammate.
Gaetano and I were one person
Gaetano – Gai for friends and teammates – played his last match for Juventus on May 15, 1988, a home defeat against Fiorentina, the last of a championship that will see him take the field only six times. That summer, as mentioned, he accompanied Zoff on his first adventure as a coach, obviously on the Juventus bench. When they played they shared the room in retreat. In the national team, their room is “Switzerland”, for the tranquility that reigns there. On the night in Madrid – after the glory of the Bernabeu – Dino and Gai go back to their room, lie down in bed, light a cigarette, exchange a chat – but really two – and say goodnight. Gaetano Scirea died on 3 September 1989. He was in Poland, sent to follow Gornik Zabrze, Juventus’ next opponent in the UEFA Cup. The Fiat 125P in which he travels with the president and two Gornik employees collides with a Zuk van and catches fire. He leaves behind his wife Mariella and son Riccardo, who was twelve at the time: he used to accompany his father to training, in the end they would indulge in twenty minutes of running and shooting on the lawn together. Fifty thousand paraded at his funeral, Gaetano was buried in Morsasco, in Monferrato, his wife’s town of origin. Italian football pays homage to him as “the best free player in the history of Italy”. Lifelong friend Dino Zoff is heartbroken. He says: “Gaetano and I were one person”.
back to school
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One last thing, a small flash that photographs his humility and greatness: after his triumph in 1982, Scirea returns to school, enrolls in evening classes, a master’s degree. In the afternoon he trains, in the evening he studies. He’d quit as a boy, in second grade, when he’d been forced to go to work as a turner. He had always had the regret of not having completed his studies. He graduated as a master in 1987, when at the age of thirty-four and as world champion he took the final exam. No, there hasn’t been another like Gaetano Scirea.
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