Considered by pundits to be a highly promising prospect in his youth, Baggio later established himself as one of the best players of his generation, and as one of Italy's greatest players ever; indeed, Baggio is regarded by many in the sport – including his former Milan manager Fabio Capello – as the best Italian footballer of all-time, and by some in the sport, as one of the greatest players in the history of the game. Italian journalist Gianni Brera, who had observed both Giuseppe Meazza and Gianni Rivera, stated that Baggio was the best Italian player he had ever seen. During his time at Juventus, the club's former chairman, Gianni Agnelli, referred to Baggio as an "artist," comparing his elegance to the painter Raffaello, while he described the emerging talent Alessandro Del Piero as Pinturicchio. In a 2011 interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Del Piero stated that Baggio, along with Zinedine Zidane, was the best player with whom he had ever played, a view shared by Baggio's former Brescia teammate Pep Guardiola in 2010, and his former Inter teammate Javier Zanetti in 2020, while Matthew Le Tissier named Baggio as his best ever opponent in 2012. In 2017, Baggio's former teammate Ravanelli instead labelled Baggio as the greatest player of all time. In 1993, Giampiero Boniperti stated that he believed that Baggio was "already one of the greatest number tens ever." In 2018, Cathal Kelly of The Globe and Mail described Baggio playing in the 1994 World Cup as "the best player in the world" at the time, while The Guardian described him as "The definitive player of the decade," also adding that "the 1990s belonged to Il Divin Codino," and labelled him as "probably the finest player in the world between 1992 and 1995." In 2015, Les Carpenter of The Guardian described Baggio as "perhaps the greatest player of his time," while his colleague Emmet Gates dubbed him "the best player of his generation." In 2010, Marco Gori of TuttoMercatoWeb labelled Baggio as "one of the best footballers in history." Baggio received praise from numerous sporting figures and pundits ahead of his 50th birthday in 2017: Stefano Edel of La Gazzetta di Mantova described Baggio as "the Italian Maradona," echoing Sacchi's words prior to the 1994 World Cup, when he compared Baggio's importance to Italy with that of Maradona to Argentina. Zico described him as "one of the best players in the history of Italian football," while Tommaso Pellizzari of Il Corriere della Sera called him "the greatest pure talent of Italian football." James McHie of Calciomercato.com instead named him as Italy's greatest player, calling him "the greatest player [...] to pull on the Azzurri shirt," a view shared by Stefano Discreti of Mediaset, who called Baggio "the best Italian footballer of all time" in 2019. Giuseppe Bergomi described Baggio as "extraordinary," in 2017, and as a "pure talent," who was "devastating when he played because he was capable of deciding games on his own." In 2004, Gianni Rivera described him as "one of the greatest Italian footballers ever," while in 2019, Marco Gentile of Il Giornale described Baggio as "one of the best Italian [...] players in the history of football," and also as "one of the best players in the history of world football." In 2020, Luca Stamerra of Eurosport described him as one of the "best number 10s in the history of this sport." In 2019, Dino Zoff listed Baggio as one of the best players he ever coached, while author Paolo Condò ranked Baggio among the greatest players of all time, a view shared by Roberto Mancini, and John Keilman of the Chicago Tribune, who both described Baggio as one of the "all-time greats" in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Former RAI commentator Bruno Pizzul, who served as a pundit for the Italy national team's World Cup matches between 1986 and 2002, named Baggio as his favourite player, and as one of the best footballers he ever saw, among both Italian and non–Italian players. In 2020, Matteo Marani of La Stampa dubbed Baggio as "one of the purest expressions of talent that world football has produced," also adding "Roberto was the game of football in its pureness. The beauty of one of his technical gestures, the polished movements, the speed of thought. Throughout his career he painted football, filling the eyes of those who were passionate about this sport and not only of the fans of the clubs whose shirts he wore. Vicenza, Fiorentina, Juventus, Milan, Bologna, Inter, Brescia and the Italian national team enjoyed his talent, his strength and his goals. Roberto baggio is undoubtedly one of the names that made football great."
Roberto Baggio Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family
|
