ALBERTOSI Enrico: the artist among the posts
When he took to the Ardenza Ardenza to play his first Serie A game, Ricky Albertosi had just turned nineteen, he had been bought by La Spezia and he had put himself in a good position to learn everything that could be learned from a great teacher like Giuliano Sarti, then twenty-six. It was May 18, 1959, was scheduled Rome-Fiorentina and the viola, in the standings, chasing only one point behind the Milan leaders, who played - among others - with Buffon, Liedholm, Maldini, Galli, Schiaffino and Grillo. For a disqualification of the field imposed by the League, the game would be played in Livorno and Albertosi, all of a sudden, was thrown in, for a slight indisposition of which remained a victim Sarti.
Ricky Albertosi was about to arguehis first match in Serie A. It was 0-0, a result at that time decidedly unusual. And Nicolò Carosio, already famous commentator and also appreciated journalist of "Il Calcio e il Ciclismo Illustrato", commented on the pages of the stupendous weekly sports magazine in Rome: "No purple feast with Rome, but a good first half, a rather opaque second, and zero to the passive above all thanks to the nineteen-year-old goalkeeper Albertosi, debutant, born in Pontremoli and coming from the ranks of La Spezia. At the end of the game - Carosio went on - the excellent Albertosi, who in transmission had made us feel emotions, vertigo, amazement, so daring, so plastic and sure they had been many of his interventions, appeared like any at the end of a common working day. Nothing excited, not moved at all, he looked amazed at all those people who looked after him, who celebrated him, who wished him not to end up with a brilliant and profitable career ». It was the sixteenth day of the 58-59 championship and the first official appearance of Albertosi in Serie A.
The first goal immediately, for the boy from Pontremoli,he arrived eight days later, in Fiorentina-Napoli 4-1. The left wing Petris had already gone to the net for the viola after only 7 minutes of play, but the fifteenth, with a right flattened shot from a few meters within the area, Luis Vinicio - Neapolitan striker - gave the purple goalkeeper the very first displeasure of his career. Another striker - the sampdoriano Milani - pierced Albertosi for the second time, on a free kick, on the occasion of the third game played in A by the young Tuscan goalkeeper. But even on that occasion Fiorentina won the match for 4 goals in 1 and, indeed, reached Milan in first place, even if - at the end of the season - the Rossoneri won the Scudetto with three points ahead of opponents.
During the 58-59 championship, his first tournament, Ricky Albertosi replaced Giuliano Sarti for five times, conceding five goals overall. His first defeat took place on 22 March, in Turin, during the twenty-fourth Sunday of the championship, due exclusively to Omar Sivori, the "cabezon". The Argentinean - with a company to say the least memorable - arrested alone the triumphal march Fiorentina leaders, scoring to Albertosi something like 3 goals, and allowing the Juventus to win the match for 3 goals to 2 (goals some viola brought the signature of the Gratton interior). And the first injury, again for Ricky, came to four Sundays from the end, to interrupt his first, very promising championship, over Genoa-Fiorentina, which ended 0-0. At 42 'of the first half, in a clash with Macaccaro,
Milan, as mentioned, at the end of the seasonwon the Scudetto and Fiorentina was only second. In purple jersey, Albertosi remained ten years. His first championship as a starter, Ricky competed only in 63-64, but was so appreciated that - despite the "coverage" of Sarti - was called to wear the national jersey on June 15, 1961, just in Florence, Italy- Argentina 4-1. At that time, the holder of the blue shirt was Buffon, Inter. But the then Technical Commissioner of the Italian team, Giovanni Ferrari, wanted to reward the champion of Pontremoli who, also, in the league almost never played; and he called him to defend the door of the blue team which, in front of him, deployed Robotti and Benito Sarti; Bolchi, Losi and Trapattoni; Mora, Lojacono, Brighenti, Sivori and Corso. Argentina was defeated without problems,
Albertosi went to Chile, but only as a third goalkeeper.At the World Championships - however unlucky - they played two games Buffon and a Mattrel. And Ricky, after two years of intermezzo spent under the sign of William «Carburo» Negri, returned to the blue shirt March 13, 1965, in Hamburg, during Germany-Italy 1-1, the day when he replaced the same Negri . For two years, Ricky had finally conquered Fiorentina's number 1 shirt, and by now he had also booked the National one, while - in great strides - he was already heading for the World Championships in England. Inhabitable World Cup: Italy began well by beating Chile (tremendous revenge), continued badly losing against Russia and ended miserably, 1-0 defeat by North Korea, in the game that would have to open the doors of the quarter. Curious detail: the race played at Ayresome Park in Middlesbrough with Korea, for Ricky Albertosi was - in blue - the number 13 ... And Albertosi - even without specific faults - thus passed to history as one of the eleven «Koreans», the blue goalkeeper who had to collect the ball thrown at the bottom of the bag by the sergeant-dentist Pak Doo Ik. In short: a shame!
Naturally, when he resumed the blue activitythe colossal «scourge» post-Corsa did not spare anyone, or almost. Of the eleven "guilty", only Facchetti, Guarneri and Mazzola remain in the team, and Ricky Albertosi is replaced by none other than Giuliano Sarti, his master of a time now passed to the great Inter. The turnover is short-lived. In fact, Dino Zoff and Albertosi were soon back in contention for the number 1 jersey, and in Rome - at the European Championships in '68 - it was the Napoli goalkeeper to take the field and take away the satisfaction of redeeming Italian football in the famous double final with Yugoslavia, the first equalized for 1-1, the second won by 2-0. Immediately after the conclusion of the European Championships, Albertosi - from ten years to Fiorentina - was bought by Cagliari, Riva's team
By one of those jokes that often the fate plays in football, as soon Albertosi abandon the purple shirt, Fiorentina won the league title. It's the 68-69 season. For Albertosi, however, the great ransom comes just the year after, in the 69-70 season. The Cagliari, in the championship that is a prelude to the World Championships in Mexico City, is not wrong almost nothing, going to win a memorable championship, thanks to the contribution of world-class players such as Cera, Domenghini, Gigi Riva and, of course, Albertosi, who to conquer the first championship of his career, also establishes the record of the fewest number of goals suffered in a 16-team league: only 11.
When indeed, at the end of the season, Cagliari wins in Turin, against the grenade, even for 4 goals to 0, the only players who can boast of having pierced the goalkeeper Cagliari are Facchin (Vicenza, 2. day), Suarez (Inter, 6. day), Cuccureddu (Juventus, 9. day), Troja (Palermo, 12. day), Prati (Milan, 14. day), Vitali (Vicenza, 17. day), Boninsegna (Inter, 21 day), Peirò (Rome, 23. day) and Anastasi (Juventus, 24. day). Anastasi has beaten Albertosi from eleven meters, and these nine athletes are also added teammates Domenghini and - inevitable - Niccolai, protagonists of unfortunate autoreti respectively to the 10. day (in Verona) and to 24. (in Turin with Juventus) . In short: in 30 league matches, Albertosi complains only 11 goals conceded, two of which on an own goal and one on a penalty kick. Even on four occasions is beaten in the last few minutes of play (are the goals of Facchin, Cuccureddu, Vitali and Boninsegna) and only in Turin, against Juventus, Ricky collects more than one goal (to be exact two). An authentic company, which serves Cagliari to close victoriously at 45, with four points ahead of Inter and 7 on Juventus, the two big disappointed in the championship.
The sensational performance of Albertosiit can not go unnoticed in the blue shirt. The World Championships in Mexico City are on their doorstep and Albertosi, on the wings of the success achieved in Cagliari, has recently regained the position in the national team, to the detriment of Zoff. The goalkeeper of Pontremoli is about to turn 31, is at the height of his technical-athletic maturity and is about to play his third World Championship, the second from the holder. After the reversals, more or less resounding, of the World Cup in Chile and England, the Blues are preparing to embark on this Mexican adventure with some apprehension. Without enthusiasm, they cut the finish line of the quarterfinals closing the first three games unbeaten and inviolate (Albertosi does not suffer nets and Domenghini gives us the network of victory against Sweden). Then they get 4-1 to Mexico, the historic 4-3 to the Germany of Beckenbauer (with Schnellinger who mocks Albertosi at 90 'and our goalkeeper who covers him with insults, only to repeat himself, a few minutes later, at the address of the unfortunate Poletti, entered instead of Rosato and totally unable to put a stop to Gerd Muller) and, finally, the clear and yet debated defeat with Brazil, in a final that sees Italy crash in the second half, and Carlos Alberto, Jairzinho and his companions present undisturbed in front of a completely Albertosi helpless. Against Brazil, at the Azteca stadium, Ricky Albertosi plays his twenty seventh race in blue. entered in place of Rosato and completely unable to put a stop to Gerd Muller) and, finally, the clear and yet debated defeat with Brazil, in a final that sees Italy crash in the second half, and Carlos Alberto, Jairzinho and his companions present undisturbed in front of a completely helpless Albertosi. Against Brazil, at the Azteca stadium, Ricky Albertosi plays his twenty seventh race in blue. entered in place of Rosato and completely unable to put a stop to Gerd Muller) and, finally, the clear and yet debated defeat with Brazil, in a final that sees Italy crash in the second half, and Carlos Alberto, Jairzinho and his companions present undisturbed in front of a completely helpless Albertosi. Against Brazil, at the Azteca stadium, Ricky Albertosi plays his twenty seventh race in blue.
His parenthesis in the National team , now, is running out, and the great Ricky in fact still plays seven matches, including the double and disappointing meeting with Belgium, which marks the elimination of Italy by the Europeans of 72. His latest appearance dated 21 June 1972 and takes place at the Levski Stadium in Sofia, for the friendly Bulgaria-Italy 1-1. He had started playing in blue alongside Mora, Sivori and Corso and ended up playing with Spinosi and Marchetti; Bedin, Rosato and Burgnich; Causio, Mazzola, Anastasi, Capello and Prati. More than eleven years have passed since the day of the debut and now, it is said, Albertosi is old, certainly started on the avenue of the sunset ...
But Albertosi is very young.And in the summer of 1974, at the age of almost 35, the great Ricky was bought by Milan, which after the time of Cudicinì no longer had a successor to measure. At each start of the season it is said that, for Albertosi, it should be the last championship of Serie A, but the great Ricky is stainless, and surprises everyone. It allows the luxury of saving Milan from the first relegation of its history and, finally, ends with a fantastic career beauty winning a Scudetto (which Milan chased for twelve years) to forty years of age, a real record . With the 1979-80 championship and following the involvement in the controversial affair of football-betting, where he was disqualified for two years, the great Ricky steps aside, and leaves the scene. In the ranking of each time for the Serie A appearances,
