Event 1982 FIFA World Cup Referee Abraham Klein (Israel) | Date 5 July 1982 Attendance 44,000 | |
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Venue Estadio Sarriá, Barcelona | ||
Brazil vs Italy (1982) was a football match that took place between Brazil and Italy at Estadio Sarriá, Barcelona on 5 July 1982. It was the final second round group stage match for Group C in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. The match was won by Italy 3–2, with Italian striker Paolo Rossi scoring a hat-trick. The result eliminated Brazil from the tournament while Italy would go on to win it. The match has been described as one of the greatest football matches of all time.
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Pre-match
Brazil had won all four of their matches prior and were the pre-tournament favourites. They were praised for their attacking style. Italy had come off an impressive 2–1 victory over Diego Maradona's Argentina. In the first round, however, Italy drew all three matches and qualified for the second round on goals scored. Italy's striker Rossi had failed to score up to that point and there was considerable debate about whether he should be on the team. Italy was forced to play for a win to reach the semi-final, due to a worse goal difference.
Summary
The match put Brazil's attack against Italy's defense, with the majority of the game played around the Italian area, with the Italian midfielders and defenders returning the repeated set volleys of Brazilian shooters such as Zico, Sócrates and Falcao. Italian centre back Claudio Gentile was assigned to mark Brazilian striker Zico, earning a yellow card and a suspension for the semi-final. Paolo Rossi opened the scoring when he headed in Antonio Cabrini's cross with just five minutes played. Sócrates equalised for Brazil seven minutes later. In the twenty-fifth minute Rossi stepped past Júnior, intercepted a pass from Cerezo across the Brazilians' goal, and drilled the shot home. The Brazilians threw everything in search of another equalizer, while Italy defended bravely. On 68 minutes, Falcão collected a pass from Junior and as Cerezo's dummy run distracted three defenders, fired home from 20 yards out. Now Italy had gained the lead twice thanks to Rossi's goals, and Brazil had come back twice; At 2–2, Brazil would have been through on goal difference, but in the 74th minute, a poor clearance from an Italian corner kick went back to the Brazilian six-yard line where Rossi and Francesco Graziani were waiting. Both aimed at the same shot, Rossi connecting to get a hat trick and sending Italy into the lead for good. In the 86th minute Giancarlo Antognoni scored a fourth goal for Italy, but it was wrongly disallowed for offside. In the dying moments Dino Zoff made a miraculous save to deny Oscar a goal, ensuring that Italy advanced to the semi-final where they would meet Poland.
Post-match
The result was seen by many as not only a defeat for Brazil, but a defeat of their attacking philosophy by the less talented but more organized Italians. This match has since then been labelled by Brazilian press as the 'Sarrià Stadium Tragedy' (Portuguese: A tragédia do Sarrià).