Christian Vieri is fifty years young today. He scored many wonderful hat tricks, including one on his debut for Inter in 1999, so what better way to celebrate the big man than picking a tripletta of his three best goals?
Vieri: A Fan Favourite
For many Italian football fanatics of the Channel 4 generation he sums up exactly why we fell in love with the game. On one hand, his physical presence, commitment to the game and ability to bully defenders into submission places him in the great lineage of Italian number 9’s like Gigi Riva. On the other, his ability to score long range golazzi and turn past defenders added a more an insignificant sprinkling of gold dust. He also excelled in an era when managers often played two strikers up front and memories of Vieri on the pitch also evoke partnerships with Marcelo Salas, Alvaro Recoba, Hernan Crespo and his club and country telepathy with the immortal Roberto Baggio.
In and amongst all of this was also a fragility which resulted in several lengthy spells on the sidelines due to injuries as well as an unfortunate track record of performing valiantly in many silverware near misses: like Inter’s final day meltdown on May 5th, 2002 or Italy’s controversial exit to South Korea in the same year, when he missed an open goal . His semi-Australian upbringing also ingratiated himself to audiences outside of the peninsula with Vieri being one of the few superstars of Italian football’s halcyon days with fluent English – his aussie twang adding to the entertainment value his on the pitch skills so often provided.
Choosing three goals to best sum up this legendary figure from the 259 that Vieri scored for his national side and across his thirteen professional clubs in Italy and Spain is no easy task. The criteria for selection has been to represent his world class ability but also his uncanny knack for creating drama and getting us football fans out of our seats either in the stadium or watching at home on Channel 4.
Goal 1 – Russia v Italy, 1997. World Cup Qualification.
Vieri saved many of his best performances for Italy. His statistics are also highly impressive for the national side – with nine goals he’s the joint top scorer at World Cups, alongside Paolo Rossi and Roberto Baggio and finished his career with Gli Azzurri with 23 goals in 49 appearances.
His career for Italy began in 1997 during his year with Juventus where he started the 3-1 Champions League Final loss to Dortmund and which would also see him pick up the only league title of his career (he also punched Marcello Lippi at half time during this campaign but that is another story). As many England fans will remember, the 0-0 draw in Rome in October 1997 left Italy in second in Group 2 of World Cup Qualification, and a tricky two legged play-off against Russia had to be negotiated.
The game was iconic for several reasons. Firstly the snow lashed down in Moscow at the Dynamo Stadium, with its 15,000 capacity close to the pitch side and heavily partisan. It was the era of orange balls in snowy conditions and both teams were not afraid to get stuck into each other in weather more suited to the Winter Olympics than football. Secondly, a 19 year old Gianluca Buffon made his Italy debut as a substitute as Gianluca Pagliuca hobbled off after 31 minutes. The now legendary goalkeeper pulled a series of remarkable saves but, with his introduction at 0-0, it added to the tension behind the game.
With the tie scoreless, shortly after half time Roberto Di Matteo sent forward a through ball from just ahead of the half way line. Vieri stole a yard on his marker, who tumbled to the frosty ground. He went through on goal as a nation’s hopes rested on his shoulders – he slotted the ball home with a finish so cold that the sub zero conditions in Moscow looked on with jealous eyes. Italy would draw the game 1-1 and win at home 1-0 but, with only his second international goal coming in such a vital fixture, Vieri’s role as a talisman for the national team was cemented.
Goal 2 – Lazio v Mallorca . 1999 Cup Winners’ Cup Final
There’s an argument to be made that the second half of the 1998/99 season was Vieri’s zenith as a player. He signed for Sven Goran Eriksson’s side for the then huge fee of 25 million Euro, after his successful year in Spain for Atletico Madrid, where he finished as the league’s top scorer. In Rome, after missing most of the first half of the season through injury, Vieri slotted into a side full of stars and his partnership with Salas was one of the best of the 1990’s (their link up against Fiorentina in Serie A very nearly made it into this list).
The last Cup Winners’ Cup Final in history, hosted at Villa Park, was probably Vieri’s greatest match as a player. His performance matched the size of the occasion and, crucially, it was a rare moment in which he came home a victor. His man of the match performance also included a Vieri-esque goal to open the scoring. Left back Giuseppe Favelli launched forward a long ball from just behind the halfway line and Vieri out muscled Mallorca captain Javier Olaizola to head the ball from the edge of the penalty box over a dubiously positioned Carlos Roa. This big game masterclass in positioning and athleticism has to be included in any retrospective of Vieri and his exit after just one season, a year before Lazio would lift the Scudetto, also feels typical of his career.
Goal 3 – Inter v Parma Serie A. 1999/00
Vieri spent the longest period of his career at Inter and his time there was filled with both the sublime and the ridiculous. He scored 123 goals in 190 games, won Serie A Player of the Year and finished as top scorer during his seven years there but only picked up a Coppa Italia winners medal. In many ways his career was typical of that Inter era between the late nineties and mid 2000’s – he often dazzled on a personal level but couldn’t quite be part of a winning team. His time was also blighted with injury, too much partying with the equally injury prone Ronaldo and fallings out with coaches. Massimo Moratti was later found out to be tapping Vieri’s phone to try to control his off the pitch behaviour. In short, a mad career at a famously mad club, known as pazza Inter in Italy.
Choosing a goal to sum up Vieri’s time at Inter is therefore very difficult. There were beautiful moments in his short- lived partnership with Baggio, some lovely work, particularly in Europe with Crespo but it is his partnership with Recoba feels like a hugely underrated partnership.
His goal against Parma in 1999, however, is an individual example of brilliance against one of the best defences in the league. Vieri had an explosive start to his Inter career with five goals in his first four games. The tie against Parma sat in the middle of this run on match day 3. Throughout the match he was marked tightly by Serie A legend and World Cup winner Lilian Thuram but seventeen minutes in, Vieri made him look profoundly amateur.
Paolo Sousa got the ball to Vieri on the edge of the penalty area with his back to goal. A perfect first touch with his left foot and a dummy with his right bought him some space before he turned and launched a glorious left foot curler into the top right corner of Gigi Buffon’s net. Inter went 2-1 up and Vieri was mobbed by his new teammates – he picked himself up off the floor and Inter #7 Francesco Moriero rushed over to imitate shining his shoes. Baggio, in the stands, stood and rightly gave this moment of genius a standing ovation.
Happy Birthday Christian
This ‘birthday present hat trick’ I’ve made here for the man known as ‘Bobo’ contains a precise finish, a header and a moment of magic from his left foot – a microcosm of the striker’s game. All three goals gave his team a much needed lift and showed Vieri to be a terrifying competitor when he was at his best – that, for me, is the most appropriate way to celebrate this 50th birthday. Auguri, Christian.