Italian Luigi ‘Gigi’ Riva, legendary Cagliari striker and all-time top scorer of the Italian national team, died this Monday at the age of 79 at the Brotzu Hospital in Cagliari, where he was admitted due to a heart attack he suffered . this Sunday.
Italian football is in mourning again. To the recent deaths of Gianluca Vialli and Sinisa Mihajlovic, this Monday was added that of the team’s main striker, the Azzurra’s all-time top scorer with 35 goals in 42 games, two more than Giuseppe Meazza and four more than Adolfo Baloncieri.
That same afternoon, about an hour before his death, the hospital where he was admitted issued a medical bulletin that revealed a certain optimism when it came to a patient who was not in critical condition, although he may need cardiac intervention.
‘Gigi’ (Leggiuno, Lombardy, November 7, 1944), nicknamed ‘Rombo di tuono’, something like the ‘rumble of thunder’, was the current honorary president of Cagliari, the club of his life that he was part of all the time . career, from 1962 to 1976, played 315 matches and scored 164 goals.
He led the Sardinian club in its golden era, the era in which the club collected the only ‘Scudetto’ from its showcases in the 1969-1970 season.
He made his debut for Italy in 1965, won the 1968 European Championship and became champion at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, where he scored the decisive goal to advance to the final.
In addition, he was part of the technical staff of ‘Azzurra’ from 1990 to 2013 and took part in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, which Italy eventually won.
There are already many Italian teams that have mourned the death of one of the legends of ‘calcio’. The first is his Cagliari, which will remember him forever: “Forever GIGI RIVA”, expressed the Sardinian team in their ‘X’ account.
‘Fiore’, Inter, Udinese and Roma, among others, joined the condolences.
Also some legends like Dino Zoff: “I lose a great friend, we had a long life together. From the army to many memories in the national team. Infinite sadness, I am deeply sad, I cannot talk.”
And the President of the Government, Giorgia Meloni: “A great athlete leaves us who marked the history of football and our team. May the earth be light for you, champion,” she published in ‘X’.
Source: El heraldo
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