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Paolo Rossi and Diego Maradona in 2005. The Italian died today.
Photo: DANIEL DAL ZENNARO / EFE
The world of football, still assimilating the death of Diego Armando Maradona a couple of weeks ago, suffered a similar blow on Wednesday when it was reported that Paolo Rossi, legend of Italian and international soccer, has died at 64.
The news was released by the RAI channel for which Rossi worked.
⚽ Addio to Paolo Rossi
L’eroe del #Mondiale 1982 aveva 64 anni👇 https://t.co/b96E1VTIcK #calcium #PaoloRossi
– RaiSport (@RaiSport) December 10, 2020
The presenter Enrico Varriale was the one who released the bad news. Then, Rossi’s wife, Federica Cappelletti, confirmed the death on social media with a simple message: “Forever”, with a romantic photo of both.
Initial reports are that Rossi died of an incurable disease.
Rossi was the eldest architect of the Italian team to win the 1982 World Cup in Spain and the match in Barcelona in which he scored three goals against Brazil, which was the favorite of the tournament, is especially remembered.
Rossi later scored the first goal of the final at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium against Germany, to open the way to a 3-1 win. He finished the tournament with six touchdowns and He was the winner of the Golden Boot, in addition to being awarded the Golden Ball to the best player.
Wonderful: Italy’s Paolo Rossi scores v West Germany, World Cup Final 1982. pic.twitter.com/2u7StBfD02
– The Antique Football (@AntiqueFootball) January 19, 2014
At club level, Rossi shone especially with Vicenza between 1976 and 1979 and later with Juventus, but between those two stages was involved in a gambling scandal when he played for Perugia, for which he was punished and could not play for two years.
His story would take on a path of absolute redemption in 1982, when he signed his soccer immortality.
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