Roberto Baggio: the history of a football icon

With his many transfers, his ups and downs, his disagreements with coaches and his stories of overcoming, Baggio is also the most Italian of all players, bringing the traditional, and often stereotyped, emotion and passion of the country's inhabitants to the pitch and, sometimes, times, taking it to extreme levels.

Elected best in the world by FIFA and featured in Italian football for several seasons, at a time when this was the main championship on the planet, Baggio would have even more fame and spotlight if he played today, with full coverage of all bids and games and immediate repercussion. in different digital and social media. He would be a sure bet for the many of those who like to bet on the platforms that currently populate football and the entertainment industry like the best Betting Sites for India.

The start: Vicenza and Fiorentina

Roberto Baggio was born on February 18, 1967, and began his football career at the age of 13, when he reached the youth ranks of Vicenza. In the club's lower divisions, he scored 110 goals in 120 matches, and then made his professional debut, appearing in the last matchday of the 1982/83 season. The team was then playing in Serie C, and Baggio soon won the starting spot, helping him move up to Serie B after the 1984/85 season.

In May 1985, he tore knee ligaments and spent more than a year off the pitch, in the first of several dramatic moments in his career.

The player was already sold to Fiorentina, despite still playing in Vicenza, and it was in the new team that he recovered and debuted in Serie A. His first goal was scored in May 1987, two years after the serious injury, in a draw in 1-1 against Napoli, by none other than Diego Maradona. In that exact match, Napoli celebrated its first title in its history.

The great performances for Fiorentina led him to the selection but were not enough to guarantee Baggio the first cup: he hit the post, with the runner-up of the 1990 UEFA Cup, won by Juventus.

Juventus, Milan, Bologna, Brescia: more goals, more friction

He then transferred, in a millionaire transaction, exactly to Juventus, generating sadness and anger among the fanatical Fiorentina fans, who idolized him. Before making his Juventus debut, he played in the 1990 World Cup, which the Germans won on Italian soil.

For Juventus Baggio made history, scoring 115 goals in 5 years. He became leader and captain of the team, won the Uefa Cup, was named best in the world and reached the 1994 World Cup as the highlight of the competition.

The experience of the World Cap: USA 94

The excellent Italian defense and excellent form of Baggio were hampered by injuries and questionable technical and tactical decisions, but even so the team reached the final, won by Brazil on penalties just after Baggio missed his kick.

The penalty going over the goal and the reactions of the Italian and Brazilian players, under the strong sun of the summer of Los Angeles, will be forever etched in the memory of football fans and in the history of the sport, unfortunately in a traumatic way for Baggio, who he had excelled throughout the world despite having physical problems.

After USA 94: A new path

After the World Cup, he was sidelined for months with a knee injury, but returned to the team in time to put on some good performances and help them win the Italian title - Juventus had been in the competition's lineup for seven years.

With the emergence of Del Piero and other Juve priorities, the player was released by the board and ended up transferring to rival Milan, in another controversial move.

He completed his time at Juventus having made 200 appearances, in which he scored 115 goals and provided 25 assists. It's the team he played for the most times in his career.

In his first season at Milan, he was a two-time Italian champion and formed a good team with Weah, but he had relationship problems with Arrigo Sacchi, with whom he had already fought in the national team, and ended up on the bench.

In 1997, he was released by Milan, and signed with Bologna, aiming to be called up for the 1998 World Cup. With 22 goals in 30 matches, he demonsted he still was able to cover a crucial role and he was called up for the World Cup, in which he played with the number 18 shirt. .

Even with the elimination in the round of 16, again on penalties but this time with Baggio converting his penalty, the player became Italy's top scorer in World Cups, equaling Paolo Rossi and Vieri, all with 9 goals, but he was the only to mark in three different editions.

The final part of his career: the last shows on the fields

He arrived at Brescia in July 2000, and alternated great moments with a few periods out due to injury. Under this justification, that Baggio was not in the best possible physical condition, coach Giovanni Trappatonni left him out of the final squad for the 2002 world cup, which generated huge frustration in the player.

After the World Cup, he was hired by Internazionale to play alongside Ronaldo and Ivan Zamorano, but again there were frictions with coaches and he ended up being placed on the bench. After two seasons, he moved to Brescia, dreaming of another World Cup.

He ended his career at Brescia in 2004, having scored 46 goals and provided 14 assists in 101 matches. For Inter, there were 59 matches, 17 goals and 18 assists.