Gigi Riva was once one of the world’s best strikers. Now the 1970 World Cup finalist has died at the age of 79.
Italy mourns the loss of its football idol Gigi Riva. According to his family, the national team’s record goalscorer died on Monday at the age of 79 as a result of a heart attack. He had previously been admitted to a hospital in Cagliari, Sardinia.
The Lombard native, who played almost his entire career for US Cagliari, was one of the world’s best strikers in the 1960s and 1970s. In Germany he is best known for his goal in the “game of the century” at the 1970 World Cup semi-final in Mexico (4:3 nV) – on the German side, the recently deceased Franz Beckenbauer played with his arm in a sling.
35 goals in 42 international matches
Luigi “Gigi” Riva was honorary president of US Cagliari. He only needed 42 appearances for his 35 international goals. He became European champion in 1968 and, after the “game of the century,” his team also reached the World Cup final in 1970, which Italy lost 4-1 to Brazil.
Former teammates paid tribute to the deceased as a “force of nature on the pitch,” as Roberto Boninsegna, also a goalscorer against Germany in 1970, put it. Goalkeeper legend Dino Zoff said he was losing “a good friend, it’s incredibly sad.”
Gabriele Gravina, President of the Italian Football Association FIGC, emphasized: “A national monument has passed away. Gigi Riva embodied the myth of the free man and the exceptional footballer: his pride, his class and his sense of justice united generations and millions excited by people.”