Luigi Riva obituary

[Celerity]

One of Italy’s greatest forwards and the star of the Sardinian side Cagliari when it won the 1970 league title

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/feb/08/luigi-riva-obituary

Luigi Riva, right, in a World Cup semi-final in Mexico, 1970. He was one of the scorers when Italy beat Germany 4-3. Photograph: Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images

The Italian footballer Luigi Riva, who has died aged 79, was his country’s all-time leading scorer with 35 goals in 42 international appearances between 1965 and 1974. A swift and deadly forward, he established his reputation by making the most of the limited opportunities offered to attackers confronting the stern defensive tactics espoused by coaches in Italy’s domestic league.



Just under six feet tall, with a saturnine visage, a lean build and a devastating mixture of speed and shooting power, “Gigi” Riva scored the first of two goals in the final of the 1968 European championships, giving Italy victory over a highly rated Yugoslavia team in Rome. Two years later in Mexico City he scored in Italy’s enthralling 4-3 victory in extra time over West Germany in a World Cup semi-final, before making much less impression as he and his teammates were humbled 4-1 in the final by Pelé’s resplendent Brazil.

But Riva is most fondly remembered as the star of a club team from Sardinia who, under the coach Manlio Scopigno, known as “the philosopher”, won the Italian first division championship in 1969-70. Only six years after leading Cagliari to promotion from the second tier, Riva unlocked catenaccio (doorbolt formation) defences to score the goals with which they captured the Serie A title from the northern giants of Turin and Milan.



The depth of that Sardinian affection could be seen at his funeral, held in the city where he had seen out his playing career despite lucrative offers from Juventus and other clubs, and where he lived for the rest of his life. An estimated 30,000 people – almost twice the current capacity of the club’s stadium – congregated in Cagliari outside the Basilica of Our Lady of Bonaria, waving flags, banners and scarves in the dark red and blue club colours he had worn with such distinction.

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