The streets of Sestola are almost untouched. People park acrobatically and then run to the training field. That portion of the Emilian Apennines usually hosts no more than two thousand inhabitants, but now the numbers have practically doubled. What is the reason for such a commotion? Bologna bought Roberto Baggio.
Summer of 1997. Joseph Gazzoni Frascara he has set himself the impossible task. Why not take the divine ponytail? After all, he is still 30 years old and his cycle at Milan already seems to be over. The coach, Renzo Ulivierimakes him understand immediately that he does not agree. The collective comes first and a champion like that risks undermining the balance. The president, however, goes ahead anyway, convinced that someone like Roby, for a million reasons at least, is always better to have in the team. The agreement with Milan, initially unexpected, arrives: Baggio to Bologna for 5 and a half billion of the old lire. The city is in a swoon.
In half a second, tons of red and blue shirts with the number ten on the back and his name are printed. Only those are sold. Season tickets reach unprecedented heights. The enthusiasm is overflowing. In the press conference, the divine ponytail – even if he will cut it shortly thereafter – caresses the dreams of Bologna: “I chose Bologna”. Roar of joy. Only one person is not satisfied. “Did he take it? This way we’re going down”Ulivieri tells Frascara. A risky and far from accurate prediction. Baggio leads the team with 22 goals, his all-time record in a Serie A season, assists and a number of sumptuous plays. The call-up to the 1998 World Cup in France will arrive and Bologna qualifies for the Intertoto. “Initially I thought about the collective – Ulivieri will later confess – but then I enjoyed it”.
And to think that that wonderful season had almost never happened. Before Gazzoni’s call, the insistent one from Derby County had arrived. The English were offering him a pharaonic salary, in the order of 5 billion a season. Roberto, however, did not want to stay away from the gaze of coach Cesare Maldini and then there was his family: from Emilia Romagna to Derbyshire there were different degrees of adaptation. In reality, even the Milan fans had begged him to stay: at least ten thousand of them, gathered at the Assago Forum, had asked him to reconsider. But he had no answer. A couple of training sessions had made him understand that he was out of Capello’s technical project. Better, then, to lift anchor and set sail for other shores.
If Ulivieri had to be convinced, Gazzoni was enthusiastic. “Baggio – he said during the presentation conference – is not just any player, he represents Italianness, fantasy, beautiful football. He brings prestige to the city and to a club that in theory could not afford it, because it belongs to the so-called second-tier clubs. But the time of bosses’ football is over: Baggio will also serve to extend the notoriety of the Bologna brand. He will be useful commercially, to exploit the stadium, to get more money from pay-per-view.
After 35 years, a great champion returns from Bulgarelli”.
Ponytail cut off, but class intact. The red and blue number ten with the sponsor Granarolo and for a while the captain’s armband too. It won’t last long, but it will still be beautiful.