Sometimes life is a road accident that goes sideways, a truck that swerves, you that crash, the sound of bones breaking, the luck of still being left hanging on to this existence. The problem is that Daniel Passarella is only 9 years old and everything still needs to be done. He lives in Chacabuco, deep in the Argentine Pampas. Distinguishing features: he breathes football and already shows good talent. So when the doctor shakes his head he refuses to believe it. Okay, the right leg was shattered, but imagine if you dream of giving up. He is discharged, they place him in an armchair and he awaits that recovery for an indefinite time. But it cannot stand still. He retrieves a ball and, since his right foot is damaged, he starts bouncing it home using his other foot. Thus was born the solemn education of the weak foot which, by dint of being urged, becomes prodigious.
A powerful time leap forward sees him hoist the world cup with his Argentina, in 1976. I will do the same in 1986, but without being the protagonist. In the meantime he has become the charismatic leader of the defense River Plate. Many things about him are striking. Even if he seems to be drowning in that baggy suit, even if he is only 1.74 meters tall, he seems like a rock always capable of reducing other people’s ambitions to pulp. Because another thing Passarella loves is flying. So, even though he is not a giant, he trains for a lifetime in jumping. He understands how to make an almost outrageous third half for his opponents, because he wants to stay up there not caring about gravity and often overpowers the rams. That’s not enough: Daniel is armed with fierce determination. He never pulls his leg back, he throws himself into the crowd, he elevates roughness to a virtue.
But then, when it comes to kicking, he displays a surreal delicacy with that left foot. She scores and scores. Passarella is a concentration of footballing and moral skills. The crowd is in a swoon. And he immediately renames it “Caudillo”, general, because in the area of the pitch where he acts as libero, other people’s attempts are defeated. Daniel rules and wins. Enough to attract the lights of the top European clubs. Real Madrid and Roma want him, but the Fiorentina of the Pontello accounts wins it. The price tag, in that summer of 1982 – right after the World Cup in which we were world champions – was 1 billion and 600 million lire.
The Viola fans welcomed him radiantly, but it took him a while to get going. The fact is that in Argentina he had more freedom of movement, while now Mister De Sisti expects him to remain more stuck at the back. However, having digested the Italian tactics, Passarella becomes dominant. And his tendency to score is once again satisfied: with his header, with torpedoes from outside the area and with the house specialty, a silky free kick. In the 1985-86 season, when he helped drag Fiorentina to third place in the championship, he even scored 11, becoming the most prolific defender in a Serie A year. Only Marco Materazzi he will manage to break the record by doing 12, at the beginning of the 2000s. Overall, with the purple shirt, he will make 35 in 139 appearances.
However, what is most captivating about him remains his attitude: Daniel is an irredeemable fighter. One who accepts the dispute without fear. Someone willing to get mushy on the pitch for the team.
The fans love him and, also for this reason, when leave the viola after a defensive reign that lasted four years, to go to Inter, the feeling cannot be one of acrimony. They haven’t often seen a general on the banks of the Arno.