Watching football can sometimes be a slog. For every seven goal thriller, there’s a nil-nil draw. For every perfect hat trick, there’s the frustrating sight of your star striker missing a sitter. But, occasionally, regular viewers are afforded that magic moment when a talent arrives and you can say that ‘you were there’ when the latest superstar took their first steps towards greatness.
Parma 1 Napoli 3, on December 19th, 1993 was one of those days. My ten year old self saw Fabio Cannavaro deliver 32 minutes of perfection from centre back in only the fifteenth league start of his career. What made the occasion feel even more special was the gradual dawning, by legendary commentary partnership Peter Brackley and Ray Wilkins, that they were experiencing the beginning of something special. Perhaps even these experts couldn’t have foresaw that young Fabio, barely twenty years old here, would go on to be the first Neapolitan to win the World Cup and, in 2006, become only the fourth Italian to win the Ballon d’Or.
In the UK at this point in time, Channel 4’s Football Italia coverage was into its second season, the only free-to-air football coverage on TV. Parma v Napoli was presented as potential treat for viewers, with both sides capable of scoring plenty of goals, but the pre-match focus was placed on Parma’s increasingly glitzy team, with ex-Napoli Gianfranco Zola, lining up alongside Sweden star Tomas Brolin and Colombian legend Faustino Asprilla. Napoli in 1993, however, were in decline and approaching financial ruin but new mister Marcello Lippi had begun to work miracles with a squad thrown together by bargains, youth products and the odd remnant of the glorious Maradona era. The game itself was second versus seventh and in the preamble no mention was made of Napoli’s homegrown future World Cup winning captain.
Peter Brackley: The two captains prepare for the toss up. Ray Wilkins alongside me here. It, as James [Richardson] was saying, has a really good feel to it, this game.
As the commentators went through the starting lineups they gave special attention to Alessandro Melli’s goal scoring form for Parma and the fine job Nevio Scala had done with the club to get them up to second in the league. Still no mention of Napoli’s twenty year old, former ball boy who had formed an impressive central defensive partnership with double Scudetto winning captain, his mentor, Ciro Ferrara.
Parma’s early performance in the match didn’t quite live up to their billing and Brackley sounded genuinely shocked to announce that Enzo Gambaro had put Napoli ahead after three minutes against his former club. A few moments later, a long ball nearly put the pacey Asprilla through, he sprinted towards the ball which only had Giovanni Bia between it and the goal but, seemingly out of nowhere, Napoli’s hitherto unmentioned number 5 made a perfectly timed tackle to end the attack.
As the Colombian attacker complained, Cannavaro got back into line alongside Ferrara with no fuss. A millisecond too late with the tackle and he, and Napoli, would have been in trouble. Lesser defenders might not have taken the risk but Fabio, as he has admitted himself, doesn’t treat defending like this. In his piece for the Player’s Tribune, he wrote, “To become a great defender, you have to play against the greatest in the world. And the one ingredient you need? It’s not height, or speed or even ball skills. You must have confidence.”
Thirty seconds later, Asprilla seemed further distracted by the pup Cannavaro’s confidence, mistiming a run and stepping on the ball, all with Fabio as his shadow. Already this seemed like an excellent man-marking display. Soon, however, he was the first name in the book, a twinkle-toed run from Zola left Asprilla with the ball, he lost his balance with Cannavaro next to him and hit the ground.
Brackley: Asprilla, how quickly he was confronted there by Cannavaro who’s been booked for the challenge.
Ray Wilkins: A little bit unfortunate to be booked, I think. It actually looks a lot worse than it is, I think Asprilla was slipping there.
This was the first of many harsh decisions in the first half by the now disgraced Torinese referee Pierluigi Pieretto. As part of the Calciopoli scandal in 2006, it was discovered that he had been in regular telephone contact with Juventus Chief Executive Luciano Moggi, the resultant fall-out led Fabio Cannavaro to leave Juventus for Real Madrid ahead of the World Cup. Another echo of the future of Il Muro di Berlino contained in this match, albeit one with a less fond outcome.
A twenty year old, booked after just eight minutes, up against a fast, explosive, in-form South American forward is usually a recipe for disaster. For most young defenders, of course, but not this kid. His formative experiences for Napoli were key to the confidence which characterised his game. Cannavaro, as a youth team player, when he trained with the first team squad was told by Ferrara that “You don’t just go and tackle Maradona. The ball never leaves his feet.”. During one session, he timed a perfect sliding tackle which floored the great Argentinian, as Cannavaro recalls ‘The only person smiling was Maradona. And at the end of training, he walked up to me and handed me his boots.’
A few moments after being booked, history repeated itself. Asprilla was released on the left hand side of the penalty area by an inch perfect through ball from Parma left back Antonio Benarrivo. Ignoring the received wisdom to ‘stay on your feet’, Cannavaro launched into a slide tackle, catching the ball sweetly as the attack was cancelled out and Parma were awarded a corner. It was a breathtakingly confident maneuver for a centre back in their first full season in the league and Ray Wilkins picked up on the emerging narrative between the Colombian striker and Napoli’s young defender.
Wilkins: It must be said he’s got a tough old task Cannavaro, this afternoon, Asprilla is one man that really is in form and he’s got electrifying pace. It’s going to be a tough defensive job for him.
As Cannavaro prevented another Benarrivo sprung Asprilla chance, Brackley picked up on the increasingly impressive defensive performance.
Brackley: Napoli defending doggedly and Parma not really into their stride as yet.
The duel continued: Asprilla burst into the box, Cannavaro stayed with him and let the goalkeeper clear it. Parma tried to send a long ball towards Asprilla, Cannavaro headed it away and drew a foul. Massimo Crippa tried a cross towards Asprilla, Cannavaro tosses it up and scissor-kicked it away. Asprilla tried coming deep, Cannavaro followed him and won yet another sliding challenge. On the rare occasion he missed a tackle, his intelligence and pace mean that moments later he was next to Asprilla once more. An almost perfect fifteen defensive minutes since getting booked – this boy’s a bit special and Wilkins saw the impact of the job Cannavaro delivered:-
Wilkins: You can see he’s getting a little bit agitated, Asprilla, he’s being marked very, very closely.
Twenty five minutes in and Cannavaro made another exquisitely timed tackle on Asprilla, Pierietto saw it differently and blew for the foul. Brackley and Wilkins weren’t happy at the young centre back being penalised:-
Brackley: Asprilla trying to wriggle through, Cannavaro, as ever, right on his shirt tail.
Wilkins: It’s a good battle they’re having. I think Cannavaro is just in front at the moment. It really is a good battle. It actually looked as if he played the ball – it was a good tackle.
The first half moved on but soon the prodigal performance was brought to a forced end. Asprilla tugged on Cannavaro after losing out on another long ball, Cannavaro hit the ground in agony and Pierietto inexplicably gave Parma a free kick. The commentary team had a palpable disappointment from seeing the engaging contest come to a close.
Brackley: Again he couldn’t outsmart young Cannavaro but the free kick has been given in favour of Parma. Cannavaro who has come up through the youth ranks at Napoli looks a good prospect, Ray.
Wilkins: Yes he does, he just got his studs caught in the ground. He’s actually marked Asprilla really well, not too tightly so he can roll him and turn him. It’s good that a young guy coming through the ranks can take on such a tough old task.
He tried to struggle on, limping and in clear agony but he couldn’t keep up with the game. Ferrara took over marking Asprilla as Cannavaro broke down several times on the pitch. Playing through the pain is another example of the courage that was his trademark through the years. Brackley explained the importance of his presence in the team:-
Brackley: On the three occasions that he hadn’t played for Napoli this season, his team have ended up on the losing side in each one.
Wilkins: Hopefully he’s ok to carry on.
Brackley: Certainly his coach Marcello Lippi has a lot of faith in him and believes he can go on to achieve great things.
Lippi and Cannavaro would only be together for one season at Napoli but the World Cup winning coach had no doubts as to Fabio’s ability to handle first team football from an early age. His first start for Lippi’s Napoli was in match day three, marking Beneto Carbone against Torino. Lippi deliberately tasked the infamous fitness coach Giampiero Ventrone with putting Cannavaro through an intense session the day before his call up. The Neapolitan defender was up to the task and this early test of character was passed with flying colours. Eleven years later, Lippi would make him the captain of Gli Azzurri having learnt everything he needed to know about Cannavaro during his breakout year in Naples.
Back on the pitch in Parma, a chaotic sequence in the penalty area ended Fabio Cannavaro’s game. Moved to mark the less pacey Melli, an impressive tackle couldn’t end a Parma attack and Ferrara mistimed a lunge on Asprilla in the box. Penalty to Parma and Cannavaro limped off, to be replaced by Scudetto winning Napoli legend Giancarlo Corradini. A firecracker went off in the crowd,
Brackley: Maybe that’s the Napoli coach who shot himself? No, it’s not that serious.
Wilkins: Ha ha ha. No it isn’t that serious but it is a penalty. I think Cannavaro is limping off of the field and limping out of the action which is a shame because he’s had an exceptional half an hour and has played very well indeed.
It only took 32 minutes but Fabio Cannavaro’s star was firmly established to the international audience watching on TV. It wasn’t just my bewitched ten year old self and Brackley and Wilkins who felt this way, at the end of the following season Parma paid Napoli £6 million and signed Cannavaro, breaking many Neapolitan hearts who only saw their hometown boy take to the pitch sixty eight times. Meanwhile, I continued to watch Channel 4 in the hope of seeing more superstars arrive and, luckily for me, Messrs Richardson, Brackley and Wilkins were there to guide me through many a future star being born.