One of the greatest Italian defenders in history, but above all a gentleman champion. On September 3, 1989 he left, near the Polish city of Lodz, Gaetano Scirea, symbol player of Juventus in the 70s and 80s and world champion with the Italian national team (with which he boasts 78 appearances) in 1982. That day exactly 30 years ago, the free man born in Cernusco sul Naviglio from a humble family (his father was a Sicilian emigrant and worked for Pirelli in Milan) had already retired from playing football : he was in Poland as assistant coach of Juventus. Scirea traveled to Poland to watch the Bianconeri's next UEFA Cup rivals, Górnik Zabrze. He did it out of personal scruple, despite the fact that the Juventus coach at the time and his great friend, the legendary Dino Zoff, had told him that the trip was not essential and that he could do without it. Instead it proved fatal.
On Sunday afternoon, Scirea was returning to Warsaw, from where he was supposed to take the flight to Turin, Scirea was accompanied by a local driver, an interpreter and a Górnik executive: the car he was in was rear-ended by a van near Babsk, also catching fire due to four petrol cans that had been crammed into the trunk in case of need. Of the four occupants, only the manager of the Polish team survived who, sitting in the front seat, and having opened the door on his right during the collision, was able to get out of the vehicle. For Scirea, the driver and the interpreter, the fire was lethal, given that, based on the results of the autopsy, they had not sustained any injuries in the impact. Scirea was rescued and transported to a nearby hospital but the doctors could do nothing but ascertain his death at the age of 36. The news was only given in Italy in the evening, live on Domenica Sportiva, and shocked everyone, starting with his thirteen-year-old son Riccardo, now a manager of Juventus, who learned in the most cruel way of the disappearance of his beloved father.
As a player, Scirea was considered one of the greatest, also for his style on and off the pitch: in his long career, despite his role as a defender, he was never sent off and everyone has always celebrated him for his elegance, which was expressed in his discreet and silent character and in his incomparable movements on the pitch. In fact, Scirea had an elegance easily comparable to that of another champion of the time, the caliber of Franz Beckenbauer. Gianni Brera said of him: “Poor Scirea was sweet and composed, with a moderation typical of the great artist. He wasn't an irresistible or surly defender, he was good, but he completed the repertoire with sorties of exemplary timeliness, sometimes even setting himself up to match winner".
Gianni Mura, on the other hand, recalled that “as a boy, Scirea dreamed of Suárez and Rivera, the number 10 shirt, the direction of the orchestra. He got there anyway, with the number 6 shirt: direction of defense and support in midfield and attack ”. Perhaps the synthesis of Mario Sconcerti is even better: “An attacking midfielder in his own penalty area”. For Enzo Bearzot, his coach for a long time in the national team, he was "an angel", while for Trapattoni, Juventus coach in the 80s, Scirea was "the leader in a habit".
Gaetano Scirea's career in Serie A began in 1972 at Atalanta, where in two seasons he collected 58 appearances and scored 1 goal. Then began his long era at Juventus, from 1974 to 1988, a year before his death: 377 overall appearances, ennobled by 24 goals. In black and white jersey the gentleman champion won 7 championships, two Italian Cups, and each of the international club competitions, once each: UEFA Cup, European Cup, Cup Winners' Cup, European Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup. His presence, as starter, in the 1982 world champion national team was unforgettable: he participated by playing all the matches of the Azzurri's triumphal ride.
To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of a death that is still so difficult to accept and metabolize, Juventus has decided to pay homage to the anti-star champion par excellence with an unprecedented photographic exhibition at the Juventus Museum.
