Paulo Rossi
Italian striker Paulo
Rossi was banned from football for two years in 1980
in a ‘match-fixing’ scandal. He only completed the ban
in April 1982 and the Italy manager took a risk in
selecting him for the World Cup Finals.
In
the first three games Rossi did not score and many Italian
journalists called for him to be dropped.
The game against Brazil changed everything. Rossi scored a
hat-trick against Brazil, two more in the semi-final and
one in the final. He was the top scorer of the 1982
tournament