El partido

Piero Trellini was only twelve years old on July 5, 1982, when Brazil and Italy disputed the pass to the semifinal of the World Cup in Spain. The result seemed decided: the Brazilians possessed beauty in technique and execution; the stakes were with them. For the Italians, immersed in an unspoken silence for years and in a war with the world and with themselves, the challenge was impossible. And yet, after that day, football was never the same again. A country that did not dare to dream of a victory won. This book is the story of a passion narrated with the neatness of a historian, the curiosity of a reporter and the passion of an amateur. Everything fits in it, from the previous World Cups to the political trajectories of the countries involved, from the line-ups to the minute-by-minute analysis. It is an exciting chronicle with a cast of unforgettable characters (Rossi, Sócrates, Falcao, Junior, Conti, Tardelli, Zoff) of what was perhaps the best football game in history. But it is not only an ode to the game, it is also the recreation of the political, social and economic environment of the seventies and eighties, a chronological line that transcends sports essays to understand what we were and will never be again.