The European Footballer of the Year. This was a bit predictable: Italy won the World Cup and Paolo Rossi was the hero of the winning team. By the end of 1982, he was already the top scorer of the World Cup finals and voted best player at the finals. So… to be number 1 in Europe was expected. And he won the trophy practically unchallenged: with 115 points. Second was Alain Giresse (France and Girondens Bordeaux) with 67 points. Third – Zbigniew Boniek (Poland and Juventus) with 53.
Well, Rossi was king and considering the troubles he went through in the recent years, it was nice to see him at the very top. But… practically, Rossi triumphed thanks to just 2 games. True, he played vital role, particularly in scoring the goals which made Italy champion of the world – and that counts a lot.
Pictures like this one were fresh and influential.
However, it was pictures like this one, which made Rossi a big star and rightly so. But this one was already old and almost forgotten photo of his days with L.Vicenza. Back than he scored a plenty. Now, he was playing for Juventus, where it was difficult to score so many goals – the competition was very harsh. Among so many stars it was difficult to distinguish Rossi and he was not exactly the key player of the team. Unfortunately, scorers and particularly scorers in important finals get the glory and journalists are slaves of glory. Rossi, then… even when others had much stronger overall season: Platini (9th with 5 points), Antognoni (11th with 3 points), Pezzey (12th with 2 poinst), Breitner (15th with 1 point). Yes, none was world champion. And none won much this year. All that counts at the end is winning… one may play great football, but without a victory nobody cares. So Rossi was the best of all with his two matches.