Roberto Baggio

Roberto Baggio

Roberto Baggio (born 18 February 1967) is a retired Italian footballer. In his career, he played for Fiorentina, Juventus, AC Milan and Internazionale. In 1993, Baggio won both the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year. He is the only Italian player ever to score in three World Cups. Baggio is known as Il Divin Codino (The Divine Ponytail), for the hairstyle he wore for most of his career and his Buddhist background.Baggio was born in Caldogno, Veneto. As a youngster, he always had a keen interest in the sport of football and played for a local youth club over a period of nine years. After scoring 6 goals in one game, Baggio was persuaded by scout Antonio Mora to join Vicenza. Roberto Baggio is the 6th of 8 brothers. His younger brother, Eddy Baggio, is also a footballer who currently plays with Sangiovannese.Baggio began his professional career at native club Vicenza in Serie C1 during 1982. Fiorentina snapped him up in 1985, and during his years there, he rose to cult status among the team's fans who consider him to be one of their best ever players.[citation needed] He made his Serie A debut on 21 September 1986 against Sampdoria and scored his first league goal on 10 May 1987 against Napoli in a match best remembered for Napoli winning the Scudetto for the first time in their history.In 1990, Baggio was sold to Juventus amid outcry from Fiorentina fans in 1990 for €12 million (US$19 million), the world record transfer for a football player at the time. Following the transfer, there were full scale riots on the streets of Florence where fifty people were injured.[1] Baggio replied to his fans saying: "I was compelled to accept the transfer".The match he played for Juventus against Florence in 1990, he refused to take the penalty; and when substituted out he picked up a Florence Scarf threw into the field by fans and kissed it. He claimed: " Deep in my heart i am always purple." The colour of Florence. In 1993, he won his lone European club trophy, helping Juventus to the UEFA Cup, in the final of which he scored twice. His performances earned him both the European Footballer of the Year and the FIFA World Player of the Year titles. In 1995 Baggio won his first Scudetto with Juventus. This was the first of many league titles to come for Juventus in the 1990s.In 1995, after strong pressure from Milan chairman Silvio Berlusconi, he was sold to the Milanese club. At this time, he had been linked with Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League, but no firm offers were made from either of these clubs. He helped Milan win the Serie A title, becoming the first player to win the Scudetto in consecutive years with different teams.[citation needed]In 1997, Baggio transferred to Bologna in order to resuscitate his career, and after scoring a personal best 22 goals that year. After the 1998 World Cup, Baggio signed with Internazionale. This proved to be an unfortunate move, as the then coach Marcello Lippi did not favour Baggio. This caused Baggio to lose his place in the national team. In his autobiography, Baggio later declared that Lippi had effectively dumped him after Baggio had refused to point out which Inter's players had expressed negative opinions about the coach.[citation needed] His last contribution to Inter was two goals against Parma in the playoff for the last remaining UEFA Champions League place.After two years with Inter, in order to be called up for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he transferred to previously unfashionable Brescia. At the start of 2001-02 season, he scored eight goals in the first nine games. Unfortunately, during that season, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee; despite this severe injury, he came back three games before the end of the season, making a 76 days only recovery. In his first game after comeback, he scored two goals against his former team Fiorentina, the first of them after only two minutes from the start of the match. Then he scored again against another team he played for, Bologna.Baggio continued playing at Brescia until his retirement in 2004. He played his last game on May 16, 2004 at the San Siro against Milan. In the 88th minute, Brescia coach Gianni De Biasi subbed Baggio off so he could get his curtain call. The 80,000 present at the San Siro gave him a standing ovation. He ended his career with 205 goals in Serie A, making him the fifth-highest scorer of all time behind Silvio Piola, Gunnar Nordahl, Giuseppe Meazza and José Altafini. His number 10 jersey was retired by Brescia. He scored his 300th career goal on 16 December 2002 in Brescia's 3-1 home victory over Piacenza. He was the first player in over 50 years to reach this milestone, behind only Piola (364) and Meazza (338).
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