Gigi Riva (1944-2024) “Thunderclap” of Italian football!

The well-known Italian journalist, Gianni Brera, called Gigi Riva “rombo di tuono” – The Thunder, lightning!

Another world football star has passed away, he passed away at the age of 79, leaving behind forever the class, skill and all the qualities that characterize great players. He will be remembered as the man who gave “Cagliari” the “Scudetto” title (1970), the European championship title to the “Azzura” team, as well as his performance in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. Two inexhaustible loves and three stages where the career of the Italian champion culminated.

Riva was not only an extraordinary champion, but also a champion of elegance, correctness, ethics applied to the game of top foot. For this reason, after his career as a player, he was able to cover the leading roles in the Federation with class and elegance. It was a rock they all clung to, knowing they always got the right advice. As a player, then, it’s almost pointless to talk about this myth. Because Myths are not told. Myths are watched, observed, celebrated….

That’s all!

He was a monument of Italian football. Even today, the most prolific scorer in the history of the Azzurri, with whom he won the 1968 European Championship. Marked the beauty of 35 goals in 42 appearances, when the matches of his time were always against bigger and more successful opponents. With the blue, he also became world champion, in the fantastic adventure of the world champion in Mexico ’70, protagonist in the challenge of the century against West Germany.

Everyone remembers Rivera’s goal, which ended the game. But Riva, a few minutes ago, had already given Italy another achievement, after a beautiful masterful goal. He was born in Legjiuno (Leggiuno) in the province of Varese on November 7, 1944. He had lost his father in an accident at work when he was only nine years old. And also for this reason, after losing his mother, he lived in three dormitories. Football was his great passion, his love, his profession, his life, which was spent entirely in Sardinia. Bologna wanted him, but he almost reluctantly ended up at “Cagliari”.

To then fall in love with the island paradise – where his two children were born – and where he continued to not only play throughout his career, but to live there and cover occasional roles in the club’s management and management staff. . Initially, Gigi Riva stood out in Serie C with Legnano in the 1962-63 season, where he was then bought by Cagliari in the summer of 1963. He stayed in Sardinia for his entire football career. until 1977, writing unforgettable pages of history.

He wore the “rossoblù” jersey 315 times, scoring 164 goals and was one of the great protagonists of the Sardinian club’s championship in 1970. Xixi Riva knew how to combine class, power and courage, so much so that the well-known journalist Gianni Brera called him ” Rombo di Tuono” (thunder). Although he was pursued and coveted by all the big northern clubs, Riva has always reiterated his love for Sardinia, rejecting any transfer proposal. He was the best scorer in “Serie” A in three seasons: 1967, 1969 and 1970! His other favorite jersey was that of the National Team. In 1968 he won the European title (the first for Italy) and then being one of the main protagonists of the “Azzurra” expedition in Mexico 1970, where Italy, after the legendary semi-final that won 4-3 against Germany, lost in the final against Brazil in Pele. Riva has worn the national team jersey 42 times, scoring 35 goals.

He is the all-time leading scorer for the Blue National Team. It is the portrait of a great man and an extraordinary athlete! Today, as they say, professionalism pushes you to change as many teams, jerseys as possible: because this is today’s football. Rives’ football, on the other hand, was one in which he could be inextricably linked to a club, until the end. And this was Riva: a symbol not only of Cagliari, and of the national team, but of the entire football world, mourning a myth that is only seemingly unattainable. A myth that, avoiding excessive words, knew how to win with his greatness as a man and athlete.

January 22, 2024 

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