A blow to the heart for everyone, for football lovers and also, obviously, for those who frequented it, experienced it and appreciated the qualities of the man even more than the champion. Who better than Dino Zoffwho won the '68 European Championship with Gigi Riva and with whom he shared the beauty of 33 years old in blue, can tell fragments of real life, lived intensely that are intertwined with the decades in the national team, made up of glory and triumphs, of difficulties, but above all of loyal friendship. «Gigi's loss is truly a huge loss, not only will the great footballer be missing, but above all the great person. He was a real man, like very few there are: personally I feel enormous pain for the loss of a sincere and loyal friend”, Zoff's first memory, almost strangled by an understandable emotion.
Zoff, can you tell us what you shared with Riva?
«I shared a lot, just think that we were in the military together at the beginning of the sixties. And then in the national team, from 1967 to 2000, they were thirty-three special years, in which we were very close.”
Of your many years in blue, what is your main memory?
«There would be so many memories, even if the years pass and it's not always easy to remember, but obviously how can I forget the European Championship won in '68. And they can't even forget when after the victory under our hotel (in Rome after the double victory over Yugoslavia ed.) hundreds and hundreds of cheering people came. They were moments of great joy, we went to the hotel balcony and were acclaimed like stars: almost sixty years have passed but you never forget certain emotions.”
And if you were to tell us about Riva as a footballer, how would you describe him?
«I would say he has unique power, unparalleled physical strength, an extraordinary left-handed player. I remember like it was yesterday when he kicked on the fly, he kicked the ball with a devastating force and always scored for you: for what he did on the pitch he marked an era.”
Many say he was the strongest Italian center forward ever: what do you think?
«I don't know about always, because there have been various Piolas, Meazzas, but certainly in the last fifty years, absolutely yes. His uniqueness was in being an athlete, sixty years ago, as footballers are today. And then no one else had that left foot with that quality and that strength.”
A champion who was able to bring Cagliari to the Scudetto in 1970, a footballing miracle
«And there too he succeeded in a unique feat. In Cagliari and Sardinia they loved him madly, for everything he did on the pitch and for how he embodied being Sardinian despite not being one by birth. And now, I think they will love him even more.”
How important was it for the national team and for the entire Italian football movement?
«To define it as important I think is an understatement, as far as I'm concerned it was fundamental. It was as a footballer first and it was as a manager then. He had a good word for everyone, present at any moment, always available to the group.”
And how much of Riva is there in Italy's victory at the 2021 European Championships?
«I answer in the same way, his presence was fundamental in 2021 too. Obviously the players who are trained and chosen by a technical commissioner go on the pitch, but Gigi's figure also in that case proved to be of unique importance.”
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