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Baggio's Inter: Nerazzurro Pride!
- Thread starter Numancia
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So, here is my story begins, my name is Marco, my friends know me as Marco N. That's because so they could seperate me from other Marcos in my school. About two years ago I landed my dream job as a journalist in Inter channel.
During this two years I have seen the greatest season of Inter Milan in our history. WInning the treble with Mourinho has been the highlight of most, if not all of the Nerazzurri fans. I still remember the final whistle and Mourinho running like mad in Camp Nou after we defeated great Barcelona side in semi-finals. I still remember me crying and singing our "Amala" song of Inter when I saw our captain Javier Zanetti appearing from cloud of players with trophy proudly in his hands.
View attachment 208596
Since then, unfortunately Inter became an unsteady ship. First,captain Jose Mourinho has abandoned us straight after the triumph. Then we gave the charge to shopaholic Rafael Benitez, but refused to give him our credit card to go crazy in player supermarket, so he was out of his comfort zone very quickly. Then we hired Lenardo, the Brazilian legend was a fresh breath of air and just when it seemed like he was building a team for future he jumped in to much fancier and richer ship of PSG.
To put the final nail on the coffin, our savior Samuel Eto'o followed the Leonardo's "getting as rich as possible" passage to join Russian side Anzhi. Things looked bleak and I was fastly loosing any confidence in Inter to win anything for good few seasons unless some drastic changes are made quickly.
Then that day came when no one was expecting it, while I was in coffee shop on Monday morning getting my pre-work drink when my mobile started ringing. It was our director Marco Branca, he said "Marco, get to the office as soon as you can, you need to write a statement in our website, we are about to appoint a new manager and it will be big news".
Getting to Appiano Gentile press office seemed to take forever. Branca never discussed the names over the phone so I didn't even bother to ask who was the new manager. I was guessing names in my head, but when I finally arrived in our press office, Marco Branca told me it was Roberto Baggio. What? Roberto Baggio? is this a joke? Are you serious? All this questions were floating in my head.
View attachment 208597
Marco Branca was sitting with me and rushing me to write the statement, he said "Lets make it short and simple". I couldn't breathe properly with excitement, I mean my favourite football player, my childhood hero and Italian football legend has agreed to take charge in my favourite team. It was dream come true for me. As I look into future my job just got much more enjoyable and exciting.
During this two years I have seen the greatest season of Inter Milan in our history. WInning the treble with Mourinho has been the highlight of most, if not all of the Nerazzurri fans. I still remember the final whistle and Mourinho running like mad in Camp Nou after we defeated great Barcelona side in semi-finals. I still remember me crying and singing our "Amala" song of Inter when I saw our captain Javier Zanetti appearing from cloud of players with trophy proudly in his hands.
View attachment 208596
Since then, unfortunately Inter became an unsteady ship. First,captain Jose Mourinho has abandoned us straight after the triumph. Then we gave the charge to shopaholic Rafael Benitez, but refused to give him our credit card to go crazy in player supermarket, so he was out of his comfort zone very quickly. Then we hired Lenardo, the Brazilian legend was a fresh breath of air and just when it seemed like he was building a team for future he jumped in to much fancier and richer ship of PSG.
To put the final nail on the coffin, our savior Samuel Eto'o followed the Leonardo's "getting as rich as possible" passage to join Russian side Anzhi. Things looked bleak and I was fastly loosing any confidence in Inter to win anything for good few seasons unless some drastic changes are made quickly.
Then that day came when no one was expecting it, while I was in coffee shop on Monday morning getting my pre-work drink when my mobile started ringing. It was our director Marco Branca, he said "Marco, get to the office as soon as you can, you need to write a statement in our website, we are about to appoint a new manager and it will be big news".
Getting to Appiano Gentile press office seemed to take forever. Branca never discussed the names over the phone so I didn't even bother to ask who was the new manager. I was guessing names in my head, but when I finally arrived in our press office, Marco Branca told me it was Roberto Baggio. What? Roberto Baggio? is this a joke? Are you serious? All this questions were floating in my head.
View attachment 208597
Marco Branca was sitting with me and rushing me to write the statement, he said "Lets make it short and simple". I couldn't breathe properly with excitement, I mean my favourite football player, my childhood hero and Italian football legend has agreed to take charge in my favourite team. It was dream come true for me. As I look into future my job just got much more enjoyable and exciting.
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Thanks
Cheers, but I don't think there will be too much activity going on, at least this season.
While I sat in a plane that was flying from Milan to Beijing for the Supercoppa Italiana between Inter and AC Milan, I was thinking what to write about our first signing under Roberto, Andre Ayew. He joined us just a day before and he was already named in the squad.
It was the first Derby Della Madonnina of the season, the first game of Roberto Baggio in charge of the Nerazzurri. Nothing could match the atmosphere at San Siro for this kind of game, but when I saw the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing it was pure magnificent piece of human engineering.
View attachment 208683
"From China" was great little restaurant near our hotel, I sat there enjoying my dinner with rest of the crew. Finally I received a text with team news for the big day. No Sneijder in starting line up. He has been replaced by Ayew, all of our Argentinian players are unavailable due to playing with their National teams in World Cup quilifiers.
Julio Cesar, Maicon, Ranocchia, Lucio, Nagatomo, Motta, Poli, Ayew, Zarate, Coutinho, Pazzini. Then AC Milan line up came in: Abbiati. Abate, Silva, Nesta, Taiwo, Flamini, van Bommel, Ambrosini, Sedorf, Pato and Ibrahimovic. By the look of it they had all of their main players available and fit, where we didn't have our Il capitano Javier Zanetti, our rock Cambiasso and new signing Forlan. I was still confident though, there was some kind of magical optimism since Baggio became the man in charge.
When the game kicked of, AC Milan started creating some decent chances and I became very nervous, I just couldn't stand losing to AC Milan, I hate them and their pensioners. First half was quite bad for us as we were second best and Andre Ayew injured himself quite badly and had to be replaced by Sneijder. After the break Inter started to play much better and created few really good chances. We were all getting ready for extra time.
Then came the 83rd minute. Jonathan who came on for Zarate just after the hour mark made a fantastic run and passed the ball to Coutinho, he managed to shrug off the challenge from Abate and shoot! Top right corner of Milan goal. I jumped up and started shouting "goaaaaal". Whole stadium seemed to explode, there were more Inter fans than AC Milan fans in China. It was easy to see from black and blue sea of fans at Bird's Nest.
View attachment 208703
View attachment 208702
[video=youtube;_qQP6qtmNdI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qQP6qtmNdI&feature=g-upl[/video]
View attachment 208704
It was the first Derby Della Madonnina of the season, the first game of Roberto Baggio in charge of the Nerazzurri. Nothing could match the atmosphere at San Siro for this kind of game, but when I saw the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing it was pure magnificent piece of human engineering.
View attachment 208683
"From China" was great little restaurant near our hotel, I sat there enjoying my dinner with rest of the crew. Finally I received a text with team news for the big day. No Sneijder in starting line up. He has been replaced by Ayew, all of our Argentinian players are unavailable due to playing with their National teams in World Cup quilifiers.
Julio Cesar, Maicon, Ranocchia, Lucio, Nagatomo, Motta, Poli, Ayew, Zarate, Coutinho, Pazzini. Then AC Milan line up came in: Abbiati. Abate, Silva, Nesta, Taiwo, Flamini, van Bommel, Ambrosini, Sedorf, Pato and Ibrahimovic. By the look of it they had all of their main players available and fit, where we didn't have our Il capitano Javier Zanetti, our rock Cambiasso and new signing Forlan. I was still confident though, there was some kind of magical optimism since Baggio became the man in charge.
When the game kicked of, AC Milan started creating some decent chances and I became very nervous, I just couldn't stand losing to AC Milan, I hate them and their pensioners. First half was quite bad for us as we were second best and Andre Ayew injured himself quite badly and had to be replaced by Sneijder. After the break Inter started to play much better and created few really good chances. We were all getting ready for extra time.
Then came the 83rd minute. Jonathan who came on for Zarate just after the hour mark made a fantastic run and passed the ball to Coutinho, he managed to shrug off the challenge from Abate and shoot! Top right corner of Milan goal. I jumped up and started shouting "goaaaaal". Whole stadium seemed to explode, there were more Inter fans than AC Milan fans in China. It was easy to see from black and blue sea of fans at Bird's Nest.
View attachment 208703
View attachment 208702
[video=youtube;_qQP6qtmNdI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qQP6qtmNdI&feature=g-upl[/video]
View attachment 208704
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25 November 1998, I remember that day like yesterday. It was the day I fell in love with football, that was the day I fell in love with Roberto Baggio. My father took me to my first football game in San Siro, as an eleven year old it was something special for me. It was a big game in Champions League group stage between Inter and Real Madrid.
When the game started whole stadium was buzzing. More than 77000 fans watched their superstars in action, all the fans were ecstatic with joy watching the likes of Zamarano, Ronaldo, Zanetti, Seedorf, Raul, Simeone, Campo and many more other best of football could offer at the time. The game itself was fantastic, both teams playing attacking football with quality in passing and movement.
Zamarano gave us the lead early in second half, but Real Madrid equalised very quickly with a good, solid header from Clarence Seedorf who would join us the season after before signing for our rivals AC Milan.
As the things stand at 1-1, Inter's progression to next round was under serious question. With less than 10 minutes to go manager brings on Roberto Baggio for Ivan Zamarano. Game started to get nervy and tense, both teams having chances to score. 86th minute, Inter putting some nice touches together with Baggio at the heart of it, then he plays one-two with Simeone, he gets lucky to get the ball with deflection from Real Madrid defender Ivan Campo. He shoots with his favourite right foot, goalkeeper does his best but can't stop the ball and it ends up at the back of the net. To this day I can not describe how good that felt. I have never heard the noise like that, whole stadium was jumping up and down and shouting. It was magical.
[video=youtube;x6cdE-QsRCk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6cdE-QsRCk&feature=related[/video]
[video=youtube;d6FOJP710No]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6FOJP710No&feature=related[/video]
Whole Inter team jumped on top of Roberto Baggio. It was hard to settle into my seat throughout the game, I don't think I sat down for one second. 90th minute, Simeone passes the ball to Baggio, who is clear on goal, he goes round the Real Madrid goalkeeper with cool trick and places the ball into the net, 3-1! What a player! What a game! He instantly became my hero and from that day on I was in love with football, ever since that day football became a big part of my life!
Grazie Baggio!
When the game started whole stadium was buzzing. More than 77000 fans watched their superstars in action, all the fans were ecstatic with joy watching the likes of Zamarano, Ronaldo, Zanetti, Seedorf, Raul, Simeone, Campo and many more other best of football could offer at the time. The game itself was fantastic, both teams playing attacking football with quality in passing and movement.
Zamarano gave us the lead early in second half, but Real Madrid equalised very quickly with a good, solid header from Clarence Seedorf who would join us the season after before signing for our rivals AC Milan.
As the things stand at 1-1, Inter's progression to next round was under serious question. With less than 10 minutes to go manager brings on Roberto Baggio for Ivan Zamarano. Game started to get nervy and tense, both teams having chances to score. 86th minute, Inter putting some nice touches together with Baggio at the heart of it, then he plays one-two with Simeone, he gets lucky to get the ball with deflection from Real Madrid defender Ivan Campo. He shoots with his favourite right foot, goalkeeper does his best but can't stop the ball and it ends up at the back of the net. To this day I can not describe how good that felt. I have never heard the noise like that, whole stadium was jumping up and down and shouting. It was magical.
[video=youtube;x6cdE-QsRCk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6cdE-QsRCk&feature=related[/video]
[video=youtube;d6FOJP710No]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6FOJP710No&feature=related[/video]
Whole Inter team jumped on top of Roberto Baggio. It was hard to settle into my seat throughout the game, I don't think I sat down for one second. 90th minute, Simeone passes the ball to Baggio, who is clear on goal, he goes round the Real Madrid goalkeeper with cool trick and places the ball into the net, 3-1! What a player! What a game! He instantly became my hero and from that day on I was in love with football, ever since that day football became a big part of my life!
Grazie Baggio!
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"Marco, dinner is ready"
I wasn't paying attention to my mom's calls as I sat in her coach watching the live coverage of the Champions League group stage draw. Inter's name came up quickly in group G. Villareal was our first opponents, Basel next and then Otelul. Very pleased with the result.
View attachment 208820
"Chao mama", as I said goodbye to my mom and about to get on my way to my apartment, I started dialing : "Marco we just signed Leandro Damiao" said my friend and fellow journalist at Inter website Allesandro. That brings our signings to two. We got rid off Christian Chivu and Muntari which I am very happy about as I was one of the fans crying out for their resignations.
View attachment 208827
View attachment 208828
I wasn't paying attention to my mom's calls as I sat in her coach watching the live coverage of the Champions League group stage draw. Inter's name came up quickly in group G. Villareal was our first opponents, Basel next and then Otelul. Very pleased with the result.
View attachment 208820
"Chao mama", as I said goodbye to my mom and about to get on my way to my apartment, I started dialing : "Marco we just signed Leandro Damiao" said my friend and fellow journalist at Inter website Allesandro. That brings our signings to two. We got rid off Christian Chivu and Muntari which I am very happy about as I was one of the fans crying out for their resignations.
View attachment 208827
View attachment 208828
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September-October 2011
Serie A
View attachment 209641Couldn't have wished for better start of the season than winning Super Cup with great victory against arch rivals AC Milan. The first game of Serie A was tricky away game versus Napoli at San Paolo. Inter dominated the game and we dully deserved our victory. Game was decided with a header by Lucio and Diego Milito had a great chance to make it 2-0 with a spot kick, but he missed the penalty .
Serie A
View attachment 209642Diego Forlan scored his first goal for Inter in this game. Lazio defender Gugliermo Stendardo gave visitors the lead on 68th minute but Forlan's spot kick just minutes after equalised the score for Nerazzurri.
Champions League
View attachment 209643Magical Inter! Nerazzurri completely dominated the game. Maicon, Poli and Zarate scored three spectacular goals, that is why I decided to upload the video of this game, just watch and enjoy!
[video=youtube;B4Qr2bkzU4M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4Qr2bkzU4M[/video]
Seria A
View attachment 209644Once again, we were much better side and did not give any chance for Palermo in this game. Lucio opened the scoring and in form Philippe Coutinho doubled the lead for Inter in 83rd minute of the game.
Serie A
View attachment 209645New signing Leandro Damiao scored his first goal for the club and what a goal it was! Andrea Ranocchia also scored his first goal of the season in what was very comfortable win for the Nerazzurri
Serie A
View attachment 209646What a come back! And what a win againts this cheating scums! First half I have to admit we were the second best, but after the break we completely dominated them and deservedly won the game with great goals from Leandro Damiao and Diego Forlan. YES!!!
Champions League
View attachment 209647Fisrt defeat of the season for Inter and first defeat ever as manager for Roberto Baggio. This game had bad omen for Nerazzurri as not only have we lost but we also lost new signing Andre Ayew to long injury.
Serie A
View attachment 209648Esteban Cambiasso was sent off in 15th minute and Novara became quite confident that they could get something out of this game. Despite playing most of the game with a man down we were better side and deserved to win.
Serie A
View attachment 209649Back to winning ways with goals from Philippe Coutinho and Leandro Damiao. Much more comfortable win than scoreline suggests.
Champions League
View attachment 209650Two great goals from Wesley Sneijder and Diego Milito has ended his goal drought. A good win.
Serie A
View attachment 209651We should have won this game comfortably, Genoa scored from two chances they had in the game where we wasted too many of them. Goals from Milito and Damiao.
Serie A
View attachment 209652Made it hard for ourselves, but win and 3 points nonetheless. Two goals from Diego Milito who can't stop scoring at the moment and Ranocchia has scored the winning goal.
View attachment 209388
Serie A
View attachment 209641Couldn't have wished for better start of the season than winning Super Cup with great victory against arch rivals AC Milan. The first game of Serie A was tricky away game versus Napoli at San Paolo. Inter dominated the game and we dully deserved our victory. Game was decided with a header by Lucio and Diego Milito had a great chance to make it 2-0 with a spot kick, but he missed the penalty .
Serie A
View attachment 209642Diego Forlan scored his first goal for Inter in this game. Lazio defender Gugliermo Stendardo gave visitors the lead on 68th minute but Forlan's spot kick just minutes after equalised the score for Nerazzurri.
Champions League
View attachment 209643Magical Inter! Nerazzurri completely dominated the game. Maicon, Poli and Zarate scored three spectacular goals, that is why I decided to upload the video of this game, just watch and enjoy!
[video=youtube;B4Qr2bkzU4M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4Qr2bkzU4M[/video]
Seria A
View attachment 209644Once again, we were much better side and did not give any chance for Palermo in this game. Lucio opened the scoring and in form Philippe Coutinho doubled the lead for Inter in 83rd minute of the game.
Serie A
View attachment 209645New signing Leandro Damiao scored his first goal for the club and what a goal it was! Andrea Ranocchia also scored his first goal of the season in what was very comfortable win for the Nerazzurri
Serie A
View attachment 209646What a come back! And what a win againts this cheating scums! First half I have to admit we were the second best, but after the break we completely dominated them and deservedly won the game with great goals from Leandro Damiao and Diego Forlan. YES!!!
Champions League
View attachment 209647Fisrt defeat of the season for Inter and first defeat ever as manager for Roberto Baggio. This game had bad omen for Nerazzurri as not only have we lost but we also lost new signing Andre Ayew to long injury.
Serie A
View attachment 209648Esteban Cambiasso was sent off in 15th minute and Novara became quite confident that they could get something out of this game. Despite playing most of the game with a man down we were better side and deserved to win.
Serie A
View attachment 209649Back to winning ways with goals from Philippe Coutinho and Leandro Damiao. Much more comfortable win than scoreline suggests.
Champions League
View attachment 209650Two great goals from Wesley Sneijder and Diego Milito has ended his goal drought. A good win.
Serie A
View attachment 209651We should have won this game comfortably, Genoa scored from two chances they had in the game where we wasted too many of them. Goals from Milito and Damiao.
Serie A
View attachment 209652Made it hard for ourselves, but win and 3 points nonetheless. Two goals from Diego Milito who can't stop scoring at the moment and Ranocchia has scored the winning goal.
View attachment 209388
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Trophy_Whorder
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Love the lay out inter is a fun team to play and not an easy one so best of luck i will follow
Thanks. yeah you right, not easy, started well but now form is dipping a bit
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TottenhamBoi90
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Some quality content in this story. Ive enjoyed the Baggio clips as well as match highlights. Think i'll catch up on this when your abit futher in. Good start though!
Normally, I check the news in the morning after the International matches not to see the scores, but to find out if any of the Inter players has got themselves injured. For some reason players seem to come back in worse conditions than when they left.
Naturally I check Argentina and Brazil, majority of our key players play for those two nations. I kind of had a feeling one or two players would come back with knocks but there were two bombshells! Our No1 Julio Cesar had a pulled hamstring and will be out for upto 3 months.
View attachment 209474
Argentinian defender Walter Samuel had cruciate ligament problems during their training and likely, will be out for 3-4 months. That is a big blow for us. Suddenly things don't look that great, yes we have Ranocchia and Lucio, but what if one of them gets injured or suspended? who can come in to replace them? Even as a massive Nerazzurri fan I can't think of anyone.
View attachment 209475
This brings me to believe that we had a poor transfer window, ok our back-up keeper Luca Catellazzi is quite solid, but we have sold Chivu and Muntari which I am happy about, but we didn't buy any defenders. We started the season with only 3 center backs.
Maybe Baggio's inexperience is showing a bit. Maybe he needs some help and advice, I don't know. He bought two players, Andre Ayew and Leandro Damiao. Ayew has been quite poor since he joined us, at £11.5 million, he is suddenly looking like an expensive gamble. Damiao has showed glimpses of what he is capable of, but does that worth £20 million we paid for him? Baggio is one of the most patient people in football, I have never seen him lose his temper or argue with referee in his playing career, so I might be blowing the horn little bit early here.
All these things going through my head as I try to look for targets in January transfer. We have spent most of our transfer budget already and have around £8 million, I don't think Moratti will be giving any more money as he is obsessed with bringing Inter's spending down due to Fair Play regulations. Honeymoon period looks like over for Roberto Baggio, some challenging and tough decisions have to be made.
Naturally I check Argentina and Brazil, majority of our key players play for those two nations. I kind of had a feeling one or two players would come back with knocks but there were two bombshells! Our No1 Julio Cesar had a pulled hamstring and will be out for upto 3 months.
View attachment 209474
Argentinian defender Walter Samuel had cruciate ligament problems during their training and likely, will be out for 3-4 months. That is a big blow for us. Suddenly things don't look that great, yes we have Ranocchia and Lucio, but what if one of them gets injured or suspended? who can come in to replace them? Even as a massive Nerazzurri fan I can't think of anyone.
View attachment 209475
This brings me to believe that we had a poor transfer window, ok our back-up keeper Luca Catellazzi is quite solid, but we have sold Chivu and Muntari which I am happy about, but we didn't buy any defenders. We started the season with only 3 center backs.
Maybe Baggio's inexperience is showing a bit. Maybe he needs some help and advice, I don't know. He bought two players, Andre Ayew and Leandro Damiao. Ayew has been quite poor since he joined us, at £11.5 million, he is suddenly looking like an expensive gamble. Damiao has showed glimpses of what he is capable of, but does that worth £20 million we paid for him? Baggio is one of the most patient people in football, I have never seen him lose his temper or argue with referee in his playing career, so I might be blowing the horn little bit early here.
All these things going through my head as I try to look for targets in January transfer. We have spent most of our transfer budget already and have around £8 million, I don't think Moratti will be giving any more money as he is obsessed with bringing Inter's spending down due to Fair Play regulations. Honeymoon period looks like over for Roberto Baggio, some challenging and tough decisions have to be made.
Trophy_Whorder
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kyle walker would be a great buy i sold him in the fourth season for 17 million but in the first season you can pick him up for 6 to 9 million max
thanks a lot,
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Really? Walker? is he ready to play in big games?? I am talking about biggest games in football like Milan derby, champions league knock out stages?? which team did you try him on? I need someone who can settle straight away
Watching grown men cry
17 July 1994 - one of the darkest days for Italian football and Roberto Baggio fans. Many Italians had high hopes for the Azurri to do well in 1994 FIFA World Cup, they had worlds best player in their team. Think of phenomenal Lionel Messi today or Luiz Ronaldo in late 90's, or maybe Maradona of 80's. That is what Baggio was for Italians in 1994.
I remember as a small kid just starting in school, everyone was talking about football and Baggio, everyone was so passionate about the World Cup and how Italy was going to win it. Anticipation was building up, for many it was the first World Cup which they could watch live on tv.
First game of the tournament for Azzurri had a challenge of overcoming Republic of Ireland, a game which we expected to win quite comfortably. How wrong we were! Ireland has tought us very harsh lesson. Optimism was turning into rage, anger, fear and dissapointment. Somehow we have managed to get into knock out phase, but it wasn't a team that looked like capable of winning any game let alone the World Cup.
[video=youtube;Dq_Av65L4R0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq_Av65L4R0[/video]
Then a moment everyone was waiting for arrived. Whole team was reborn, Roberto Baggio was reborn. Suddenly he was unstoppable. He almost single-handedly carried Italy to the final. He saved us in Round of 16 game against Nigeria where Italy was losing until he scored in last minute and one more, a "golden goal" in extra time.
[video=youtube;fZEoXdyUFCA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZEoXdyUFCA[/video]
Another fantastic late winning goal for Baggio in quarter finals against Spain booked a semi-final place for the Azurri.
[video=youtube;ztY_tWI73sA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztY_tWI73sA[/video]
In semi-final we played the surprise of the tournamnet Bulgaria, another great perfomance by the Divine Ponytail and with two goals to show for it.
[video=youtube;r4zt1EKfxqw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4zt1EKfxqw[/video]
Then the final came! Brazil! The best team in the world at the time. Full of stars and they stormed into the final with magical tricks and samba moves. But Italy had a hope, they had Baggio, they had newly found confidence and belief. As expected very tight game, nerve-racking until the end. Despite many good chances both teams failed to score in full time and then in the extra time.
[video=youtube;voT5W9Doa-s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voT5W9Doa-s[/video]
Everyone in Italy seemed to be watching that game, life seemed to stop for a while, everything was so quite in streets. Everyone was at home or in neighbour's home watching the game. Whole nation was hypnotised by magic of football. But when Baggio took that penalty kick grown men started crying, it was like funeral. Next day, it seemed to me whole Italy was mourning. People who send endless praises in Baggio's way just a day ago was cursing him in hatred. He was the biggest villian, although it wasn't long before people fell in love with him again.
At the time I was only seven, I didn't know alot about football. But now it seems so unfair. Even if he scored that penalty, chances are, Brazil still would have won the cup as they had one more kick to win it. But unfortunately Roberto Baggio always will be remembered for that penalty miss.
Let's hope his managerial career will be success without the pain and the heartbreak.
17 July 1994 - one of the darkest days for Italian football and Roberto Baggio fans. Many Italians had high hopes for the Azurri to do well in 1994 FIFA World Cup, they had worlds best player in their team. Think of phenomenal Lionel Messi today or Luiz Ronaldo in late 90's, or maybe Maradona of 80's. That is what Baggio was for Italians in 1994.
I remember as a small kid just starting in school, everyone was talking about football and Baggio, everyone was so passionate about the World Cup and how Italy was going to win it. Anticipation was building up, for many it was the first World Cup which they could watch live on tv.
First game of the tournament for Azzurri had a challenge of overcoming Republic of Ireland, a game which we expected to win quite comfortably. How wrong we were! Ireland has tought us very harsh lesson. Optimism was turning into rage, anger, fear and dissapointment. Somehow we have managed to get into knock out phase, but it wasn't a team that looked like capable of winning any game let alone the World Cup.
[video=youtube;Dq_Av65L4R0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq_Av65L4R0[/video]
Then a moment everyone was waiting for arrived. Whole team was reborn, Roberto Baggio was reborn. Suddenly he was unstoppable. He almost single-handedly carried Italy to the final. He saved us in Round of 16 game against Nigeria where Italy was losing until he scored in last minute and one more, a "golden goal" in extra time.
[video=youtube;fZEoXdyUFCA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZEoXdyUFCA[/video]
Another fantastic late winning goal for Baggio in quarter finals against Spain booked a semi-final place for the Azurri.
[video=youtube;ztY_tWI73sA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztY_tWI73sA[/video]
In semi-final we played the surprise of the tournamnet Bulgaria, another great perfomance by the Divine Ponytail and with two goals to show for it.
[video=youtube;r4zt1EKfxqw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4zt1EKfxqw[/video]
Then the final came! Brazil! The best team in the world at the time. Full of stars and they stormed into the final with magical tricks and samba moves. But Italy had a hope, they had Baggio, they had newly found confidence and belief. As expected very tight game, nerve-racking until the end. Despite many good chances both teams failed to score in full time and then in the extra time.
[video=youtube;voT5W9Doa-s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voT5W9Doa-s[/video]
Everyone in Italy seemed to be watching that game, life seemed to stop for a while, everything was so quite in streets. Everyone was at home or in neighbour's home watching the game. Whole nation was hypnotised by magic of football. But when Baggio took that penalty kick grown men started crying, it was like funeral. Next day, it seemed to me whole Italy was mourning. People who send endless praises in Baggio's way just a day ago was cursing him in hatred. He was the biggest villian, although it wasn't long before people fell in love with him again.
At the time I was only seven, I didn't know alot about football. But now it seems so unfair. Even if he scored that penalty, chances are, Brazil still would have won the cup as they had one more kick to win it. But unfortunately Roberto Baggio always will be remembered for that penalty miss.
Let's hope his managerial career will be success without the pain and the heartbreak.
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