The wonder of Roberto Baggio, who remembers the day of the missed penalty

“”Life is not always easy. If it were, we would not grow or progress as human beings. If we succeed in something, we are often envied; if we fail to achieve a goal, we are ridiculed and attacked. Unfortunately, people are like that. Unexpected pain and suffering can be found on everyone’s path. But it is precisely when you encounter these trials that you must not let yourselves be defeated. Never give up. Never retreat.” Daisaku Ikeda, guide of the day July 17th. “It is not a random day, even if it is a message that applies to every day. On July 17, 1994, thirty years ago, the World Cup final was played in Pasadena, Los Angeles, California, the one of Italy defeated by Brazil, the one of the penalty missed by Roberto Baggio.

Many have remembered that World Cup and that match today. He himself has said many times that if there is one thing he would not do again it is to shoot that penalty high and instead today he writes about it as a lesson, as even that penalty shot to the stars was important.

He has not forgotten it and neither have all those who saw that match, that defeat on penalties is in the collective imagination. For one of the missed penalties, not even the only one, that of Roberto Baggio. The Divine Ponytail, the man who had brought Italy to that final, after epic matches with expulsions and injuries, with results snatched at the last minute, with an impossible suffering. forgethe missed. He shot that penalty into the sky.

A player is not judged by a penalty kick. From Gregori he had already taught it to everyone in front of the television that summer, but at the time it was difficult to believe that it was true. Courage, altruism and imagination had brought Sacchi’s Italy to that final and in the end they seemed not to be enough.

Looking at them 30 years after that final and that missed penalty, they are a symbol of great humanity.the humanity that is in the defeat of the best who comes back closer than ever to the mortals. Roberto Baggio will not be remembered for that penalty, he will be remembered for his courage, altruism and imagination, for always being himself in all the teams he played for. “I am linked to all of them. I had the privilege of playing for big clubs, but in every team I learned a lot, fighting both for the Scudetto and to avoid relegation.”

Even from that penalty kicked to the stars a generation learned and cried over it, the one that was too young to remember the triumph of 1982, lived the one of 2006 as an adult and did not have the World Cup as an eighteen year old. It is that same generation that saw Roby Baggio do wonders on the pitch and bring home a Golden Ball. Yes, he saw him miss the penalty of life, but who hasn’t happened to make a mistake in a decisive moment? It’s that generation that has one certainty: «since Baggio no longer plays, it’s no longer Sunday». Because he has never seen another Roberto Baggio on the pitch.