When the writers at Scottish Comedy FC were given the challenge of writing an article about their favourite player, the first thing I immediately thought was ‘who the hell am I going to write about?’ It’s like asking what your favourite song of all time is, it’s been different songs, in different eras and different times in your life, I think my favourite footballer is just as difficult a question to answer!
I decided to eliminate anyone who had played for either Celtic or Scotland due to emotional attachment and just thought about players I have admired greatly despite having no affiliation with their team. The ones whom I simply loved to watch play.
I narrowed it down to about 10 players and quickly realised that something they all had in common was they all played in the 90’s. I was in my teenage years and despite being taken to games for years, was starting to understand and enjoy football. The Premiership and Champions League were both formed, Football Italia was on the TV every Sunday and trust me, as a Celtic fan in the 90s you had to look around to get any enjoyment from football!
The 90’s also boasted the ’94 World Cup in the USA, my personal favourite tournament, the first one I can remember being engrossed in every game. As a 13 year old my mates and I would watch the late kicks offs and spend the next day pretending to be Romario, Hagi, Stoichkov, Klinsmann, Batistuta, Dahlin and the rest.
When the argument of “who is the greatest player of all time” is thrown around, you often hear about Maradona “winning the World Cup single-handedly in 1986” and they are probably right, but one man came mighty close to doing it in 1994, only to be denied with the last cruel kick of the ball.
That man is Roberto Baggio.
Let’s start with his most famous few weeks, where I and millions of others fell in love with him, that World Cup in 1994. Italy were in a group with Ireland – to whom they famously lost thanks to a goal from Castlemilk’s favourite Irishman Ray Houghton – Mexico, and Norway. All 3 teams won one, lost one and drew one, all finished on four points, with Italy scraping through as the best 3rd placed team, scoring two goals in the process. Massaro scored in a 1-1 draw with Mexico and Baggio’s namesake Dino grabbed a winner in the game against Norway.
Once the tightest of tight groups was over, Baggio found devastating form in the knockout stage, a double against Nigeria in the last 16, a goal vs. Spain in the quarters, then another double to knock out Stoichkov’s Bulgaria in the semis dragged the Azzuri all the way to the final, to say he did it single-handed is maybe a slight on some great players in the Italy squad, especially defensively, but there is no doubt that without the mercurial talents of their talisman they would have been nowhere near the final.
A final where they met Brazil in oven-like heat ended up being the worst game of what had been a great tournament, ended 0-0 after extra time and the greatest prize in sport would have to be decided on penalties for the first time. Baresi and Massaro missed for Italy, Marcio Santos for Brazil, leaving the score 3-2 in Brazil’s favour. Up stepped Baggio, a man renowned for scoring from 25 yards from a tight angle round a wall, and ballooned the ball miles over the bar. Diana Ross would have had made a better effort.
Sadly, that’s all most people remember of Baggio, that he lost the World Cup: bottled it in a final the rest of the Italian team would have been watching at home on television were it not for him. But the World Cup is just a small part of the Baggio story
Baggio started off at lowly Vicenza, quickly earning a move to Fiorentina where he became a fan favourite. As mentioned above, his deadball skills were superb and he also was an instinctive finisher, but his dribbling was his biggest strength. He was superb at beating people without having to go near them, a drop of the shoulder or slight shift in balance sending defenders the wrong way. “The guy marking him had to pay at the turnstiles to get back in” could have been written about him. He was versatile too, able to play up front, as a number 10, or on the wing with ease.
After a few seasons at Fiorentina including an appearance in the UEFA Cup final, Juventus came calling and Baggio was sold, a move which to this day (he transferred 25 years ago!) pisses Fiorentina fans off so much that they treat Juventus as a derby game. When it was announced a riot ensued in Florence where 50 people were injured. Juventus paid £8 million, a world record transfer fee at the time.
At Juventus he enjoyed league and European success before Lippi decided the club were too reliant on him, and wanted to move to a more traditional 4-4-2, and could not accommodate both Baggio and their new wonderkid, Alessandro Del Piero. He was sold to Milan and the fans he left behind were raging once again (but stopped short of rioting). In fairness it’s hard to argue with Lippi’s decision considering how successful Juve became under him.
Lippi also had personality clashes with him, and I think the experience when leaving Juventus sums up two of the three major problems Baggio faced, (the other being injuries), often teams in Italy’s tactical rigidity would mean managers felt they could not accommodate a player like Baggio – Ancelloti says he pulled out of signing him for Parma for this very reason, a decision he later regretted – and personality clashes with managers and coaches, a guy who was nicknamed the Divine Ponytail, a Buddhist and humanitarian whose interests include Burmese politics, its easy to see him clashing with tactical, disciplinarian coaches.
At Milan he won another Serie A and played for a period under Tabarez behind George Weah, in what should have been a devastating strike pairing. Unfortunately Tabarez had a nightmare as coach and Milan stumbled to a low finish.
After a spell at Bologna he wound up at his boyhood team Inter, where he ended up managed by the man who sold him at Juventus: Marcello Lippi. Again they clashed and injuries hampered his progress. Inter and Parma finished joint fourth that season and a play off decided who would take the final Champions League spot, which Lippi had been told he had to secure or be sacked. Injuries led to Baggio being played, and ever the professional, he scored a double in a 3-1 win, saving his adversary’s job in the process
He finished his career at Brescia, a smaller club who punched way above their weight with him. I honestly think at this point he just wanted the freedom to play as he liked and moved to a club that would allow him to do just that.
The factors which contributed to Baggio not being seen as one of the all time greats are already documented, but he still won two Serie A’s, a UEFA Cup, a Ballon D’or and is one of Serie A’s all time leading scorers. Fans love watching players who can finish from any angle, who can stick it in the top corner from a free kick, or who can beat four men and slot it past the keeper, Baggio could do all of that and more. His World Cup in 1994 is like a microcosm of his career, stifled at times, but spectacular when given freedom, and ultimately, one kick of the ball from immortality.
Words can not really do the skills of Il Divin Codino justice, put your feet up and watch the video, the man, the myth, the legend… Roberto Baggio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-5cXeBGvNc
Celtic are his one true love but he is also fond of Arsenal, Dortmund, Parma, Valencia, Ghana, Croatia, Argentina, Clyde and Pollok Juniors. He is genuinely addicted to football and will watch any game from anywhere ahead of almost everything and suffer from seasonal affective disorder when the season ends. He gets through it on a cocktail of the Womens' World Cup, Toulon Tournament and Masters 5-A-Sides.
Eddie was the winner of Scottish Comedian of the year in 2012.
• “Hilarious articulate observations fused with a sadistic dry Scottish humour” – Mumble Comedy
