#pazzagli

Parco Pazzagli a Firenze

Pazzagli Park in Florence

Sometimes the more peripheral players in the drama of world football are called upon to take a starring role. For Andrea Pazzagli that time undoubtedly came in December 1990 when Milan faced Olimpia Asuncion in the World Club Cup Final. He was not found wanting.

The Florentine goalkeeper's career was always at a good level but never quite in the upper echelons. He played for his hometown Primavera side and travelled around most of Italy before starting to get attention at Perugia and Ascoli. It was enough to persuade Arrigo Sacchi he was good enough for the Rossoneri in 1989.

He was signed as a back-up and potential replacement for fellow Tuscan netminder Giovanni Galli but he was overtaken in the rankings by Sebastiano Rossi who signed a year later. Nonetheless, he managed to tot up a decent number of appearances for the Milan giants during a golden age for the club. None was more significant than their shot at a second successive Intercontinental crown.

It proved to be a resounding triumph for the boys in red and black. They struggled to get into their stride but once Frankie Rijkaard nodded home a Ruud Gullit cross late in the first half there was little doubt about the result. Their Paraguayan opponents had little to offer in attack and what they did, Pazzagli dealt with comfortably.

The second half was a bit of a Marco Van Basten show, although he never found the net. First he danced through the opposition defence and duped the goalkeeper only to have his shot handballed onto the post by a despairing defender. Giovanni Stroppa spared the referee having to award a penalty by tapping a shot home.

Then Rijkaard was on hand after an audacious Van Basten chip had hit the post to steer it into the net. The 3-0 scoreline could have been more but by the closing stages it was clear both the Italians and their opponents had accepted the result. Pazzagli and his team-mates were on top of the world.

It would never quite be as good again for the goalkeeper. It became clear he was second-choice to Rossi so he moved on to Bologna. He subsequently went to Roma without featuring before finishing his career closer to home with Prato. The triumph in Tokyo was undoubtedly the highlight.

After hanging up the gloves in the mid 1990s he went into coaching - where he was highly valued - as well as indulging a passion for music. One of his songs, Glorie Viola, encapsulated his childhood love of his hometown side.

News that he had passed away at just 51 rocked Italian football in general but Milan and Fiorentina in particular. He was a regular calcio guest on Tuscany's Radio Blu while his son, Edoardo, is a goalkeeper on the Viola's books. The shockwaves of his death sent ripples down the Arno.

A quietly spoken, thoughtful man he was never harsh in his criticism of players, always constructive. Perhaps he realised that, as in his own career, talent and effort were also reliant on opportunity. He took his with both hands when it came his way and helped to lift one of world football's greatest prizes. But now he has been taken from the game much sooner than anyone expected. Addio Andrea, un campione col Milan ma un'anima Viola.