The Divine Ponytail. Roberto Baggio is one of world football's immortals. He had all the skills on pitch to succeed and blended that with a one-of-a-kind look. He had the ponytail (which no one has managed to pull off as well as him since), the earrings, the socks down and shirt out - always. An effortless look which suited his effortless style of play in iconic Diadora boots.
It wasn't easy for the golden boy of Italian football though. As good as he was - you can't help but feel his career also had a lot of "what could have been" about it. Why? That's largely down to a game early in his career at Vicenza in 1985, aged 18, when he was playing against Rimini. Baggio mistimed a slide tackle and in the process shattered both the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus of his right knee. An injury deemed serious enough to end many a players career back then. The timing didn't help either, with Baggio just about to sign a transfer to Fiorentina - luckily the Florence club stuck by him and signed him for £1.5 million and we saw one of the greatest players of all time begin to bloom.
Even though Baggio struggled with more chronic knee injuries and moved around a lot due to coaches not fully appreciating his talents and building teams around him - due largely in part to managers wanting to change the way teams played at the time without room for Baggio type players - he still went on to have a successful career both personally and at the clubs he played for, picking up two Serie A titles, a Coppa Italia, UEFA Cup and won the 1993 Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player Of The Year awards along the way.
One of the best and worst periods for Baggio came the year later at the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Some of the football he played at the tournament was extraordinary, almost single handedly carrying Italy to the Final against Brazil where, yep, he missed that horror penalty which handed Brazil the trophy after the game had ended 0-0. It was an unfair way for Baggio to finish the tournament having played such a starring role, only to be remembered in the history books so cruelly.
Something that sums up his status in the games is the fact that even though he played for the big 3 in Italy - Juventus, Milan and Inter - there was a sense that he never fully belonged to any of those teams. The enigmatic genius with dodgy knees was the peoples champion, doing things his way and wowing the crowds so much that still to this day, fans from all of those clubs love him equally.
With much heartache throughout his career and some surprising moves to clubs like Bologna, Baggio got the fitting end his career deserved at Brescia. Brescia were far from a big club at the time, but a club that allowed Baggio to play freely and full of enjoyment, which resulted in some of the best football seen in his career, even though he was in his twilight years.
Baggio took Brescia into Europe and one highlight from his time there was the goal he scored against his former club, Juventus, after a pinpoint pass from none other than a young, long haired, Andrea Pirlo found Baggio who in one motion took the ball down and past the oncoming Edwin Van Der Sar in the Juventus goal to score one of his greatest ever goals. Applauded by all.
Baggio was a true icon and fans across the globe recognised he was different and just appreciated the things he did. Buddhist first, footballer second. A man who just wanted to play the beautiful game beautifily. We'll never see a player like him again.
To celebrate Roberto Baggio's career - we recently reached out to Diadora, who we have just started stocking, to see if we could bring any of the Diadora Baggio 03 Italy OG's to Australian soil for the first time. Guess what? We did.
The sophisticated boot made from luxury materials pays tribute to the career of Baggio, specifically tying back to the 2003/04 season, Baggio's last, with the classic white colourway only able to be pulled off by players that share a similar love for skill and character on the pitch.
Whether you decide to rock or stock these - they are not to be missed if you are a fan of greatness. With limited numbers available please don't wait on them to avoid disappointment. You just can't beat the hand crafted quality, straight from the Diadora factory in Italy, much like you can't beat watching The Divine Ponytail - joy in it's purest form. Get yours in store at Ultra HQ in Sydney or online here.
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