Il overturning of the roles gave Italian football two memorable moments in 19 days: a goalkeeper who scores goals (on 19 September the Lazio player Provedel in the 95th minute of the Champions League match against Atletico) and a center forward who improvises as a goalkeeperarmoring l-0 with the reckless exit on the feet of Puscas (Milan player Giroud on the Genoa pitch on 7 October). The exceptionality that makes the news: and if one episode goes around the world in its atypicality, the second in less than a month reiterates the concept that the charm of football it is not only in the beauty of the plays, but also in his own unpredictability.
The anomalies produced literature: the English title won by Leicester in 2016, the Champions Cup won twice in a row by Nottingham Forest (1979 and 1980). David overthrowing Goliath: the USA’s success over England (1950 World Cup), Italy’s defeat in the face of North Korea (World Cup 1966), the reigning world champions defeated in the opening match of the following tournament (Argentina beaten by Cameroon in 1990 and France beaten by Senegal in 2002). But in the cases of Provedel and Giroud there is something particular: theexaltation of madness of a role. The doorman. The loneliest player on a football team. The most transgressive: only he can use his feet and hands. Modern football has expanded its skills. Today those who stay between the posts are asked to initiate action: in some cases statistics have shown that the doorman he had even touched the ball more frequently than his other teammates.
The goalkeeper is literature. Albert Camus he performed between the posts. Tuberculosis put an early end to his career and he then devoted himself to full-time writing, but continued to follow football, supporting Racing Club of Paris because, as he declared to France Football in December 1957, “has the same colors as Twothe team I played for Algiers”. The goalkeeper is revolution: Ernesto Che Guevara, also fond of swimming and rugby, played football. He found himself between the posts due to an old rule of this sport (the one who is weakest with his feet goes to goal) and because of the asthma that tormented him since he was a child, but he also showed in this role revolutionary spirit which marked its existence. He told his friend one day Alberto Granadowith which he made the memorable one tour of South America on a motorbike, that “Che courageously threw himself among the feet of opponents.”
The gesture that exalted Giroud in Genoa was precisely this: he launched himself low for counteract Puscas advanced and deflected the ball with his fist. “It was as good as scoring a goal,” the delighted comment of the French center forward, sent between the posts by Pioli after the expulsion of Maignan. Giroud was not the first and will not be the last outfield player to improvise as a goalkeeper with authority. The former Juventus player Felipe Meloat the time of Galatasaray, in 2012 he finished between the posts againstElazigspor and saved a penalty; in Atalanta-Manchester City of 2019, after the expulsion of BravoGuardiola was forced to ask Walker to replace the Chilean goalkeeper; David Di Micheleat the time at Udinese, saved a penalty in 2004 Vucinic in a match against Lecce; in 1976, he closed the game between the posts Ciccio Graziani in Turin-Borussia Moenchengladbach, an image delivered to the epic thanks also to the television in black and white.
The other side of Giroud’s feat is the headbutt of Ivan Provedel in the Champions League, with the Lazio shirt. A goal from a thoroughbred center forward, not a coincidence: the goalkeeper from Pordenone played in attack as a boy. Provedel’s story is, if anything, a fairy tale in reverse: the coaches wanted to use him as a striker, but he preferred the solitude of the posts and gloves. L’exultation of the Lazio goalkeeper after the 1-1 draw against Atletico, between amazement and happiness, is the image of that memorable evening. Provedel and Giroud played against each other on 30 September, in the match won 2-0 by Milan. They will find themselves faced with the return and the curiosity on the face to face between the two it is legitimate: when they find themselves face to face, what theirs will be thoughts?
2023-10-08 13:24:03
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