A door in the sky

“Every game I play is one game less than I have left. I’ve always known this.”

Autobiography, in the style of the book-interview, on one of the last romantic heroes of Italian sport. An athlete covered with an aura of melancholy, capable of making even those who have no interest in football fall in love with him. Because Roberto Baggio was this: the impossible that became reality, the homey smell of Sunday afternoon, a ball stopped in midfield waiting for someone to make it fly.

Written a few years before the definitive farewell to the competitive activity, the book traces fundamental stages of the footballer’s life in public and private life, with answers to questions left outstanding over the years, to “gentle outbursts” against those who had not learned the intellectual honesty of man.

The hero born with an innate talent would have paid an outrageous price for the gift received from heaven, with injuries that would have forced him to play throughout his career with “a leg and a half”.

A constant pursuit of overcoming insurmountable obstacles, which has been a source of inspiration for many. A hymn not to throw in the towel, but to keep getting back on your feet when your legs are too tired, when giving in would be the easiest choice, but not all made for easy choices. To some it is only the uphill road that gives meaning to life.

Hence the most significant message of the book: never having regrets, leaving every game with your head held high with the awareness of having given everything. Then if the results do not arrive as desired, or if someone does not understand the efforts, it is not important. The chase at breakneck speed for the World Cup 1998 and 2002 call thus become two sides of the same coin. No victory, no defeat.

For those who were children, seeing Baggio playing represented the beauty of becoming adults, for those who were already adults, seeing him play meant returning to children. Reading this book means for both of them to go back and run happily behind a ball full of hopes.

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Roberto Baggio, A door in the sky, Limina, Arezzo, 2001