The Azzurri are in mourning. The top scorer in the history of the Italian football team, Luigi Riva, died this Monday.
Luigi Riva is no more. The eternal “Gigi” for the Italian people died this Monday at the age of 79, in a town of Cagliari which made its legend: 207 goals in 374 matches in the 60s and 70s. The former international striker had fallen ill and was admitted to Cagliari hospital the day before.
The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) announced the sad news this Monday evening in a press release: “ It is a true national monument which has left us. Gigi Riva embodied the myth of the free man and the extraordinary football player: his pride, his class and his sense of justice united generations and passionate millions of people. »
2006 world champion
“ I am shocked and deeply saddened », adds the president of the FIGC Gabriele Gravina, not without specifying the formidable record of the man who remains to this day the top scorer of the Italian selection, with 35 goals for 42 caps endorsed. Winner of Euro 1968 with the Azzurri, Luigi Riva was one of the heroes of the 1970 World Cup, lost in the final against Pelé’s Brazil. He was still part of the transalpine staff during the 2006 World Cup won by Italy at the expense of the Blues.
