Maradona and Baggio: Serie A genius that transcended narrative.

In a time when it has never been easier to watch football from the past, it is a curious quirk that much effort is devoted to celebrating great players of yesteryear through the stories that have been told about them rather than their actions on the pitch. For me, it is like trying to understand Mozart by looking at his Wikipedia page, rather than listening to his music.

Diego Maradona and Roberto Baggio were, without doubt, two of the greatest calciatori to grace Serie A over the course of its 123-year history and, the occasions when they faced each other have also provided some of the finest on-pitch entertainment Italy has ever seen. Despite this, for those of us born after their heyday, it is easier to recall moments in the narrative created about them, rather than their footballing genius. 

This focus on narrative is part of a trend in fiction and non-fiction work, a phenomenon recently considered in relation to documentary making by Simran Hans of The Guardian. Here she suggests that this narrative driven approach, ‘only give[s] viewers the power to identify with their subjects rather than understand them’.

For me, the finest achievement of Asif Kapadia’s Maradona documentary is not how he told the story of Diego Maradona, rather how he brought the viewer to understand him by making his football the starting point for exploration. Like many who enjoyed the documentary in the cinema, the wonderful sound design brought a viscerality to Maradona’s work in a Napoli shirt, juxtaposing the border line thuggery of his treatment by defenders with moments of logic-defying skill and athleticism. 

The recent Netflix biopic about Baggio fell into the trap which Hans described. The film gave its viewers much of the struggle of Il Divin Codino but almost none of his genius. His great duels with Maradona are missing, as is his legendary goal for Italy against Czechoslovakia in Italia ‘90 and one of the finest goals scored in Serie A history, his Andrea Pirlo-assisted finish for Brescia in 2001. A newcomer to Baggio watching this film could mistake him for wasted talent, a man who could not come to terms with his natural gifts, whereas the truth on the pitch told a very different story. 

In order to redress this balance, I’d like to focus on possibly my favourite game played in Serie A history, September 17th 1989: Napoli 3 – Fiorentina 2. In the spirit of the German philosopher Edmund Husserl, let’s go ‘back to the things themselves‘ by understanding these two footballers through their football and bracket ourselves away from the psycho drama of Maradona’s late stage Napoli career and Baggio’s re-emergence from a near career-ending knee injury. 

The 1989/90 Serie A season created the most glittering capocannonieri race the league has ever seen with Baggio and Maradona finishing second and third to Marco van Basten. The September face off between la Viola and i partenopei provided an unmissable showcase of world class forward play, despite the fact that Maradona neither started the game nor scored. 

Kick off

The first half undoubtedly belongs to Baggio – Maradona having to watch the next most talented footballer on the globe score twice. Diego’s viewing point is from a prominent position on the bench, resembling a track-suited Che Guevara with long hair and a beard. 

Baggio is wearing the No.10 shirt and his fluid movement and close ball control is worthy of comparison to the greatest to adorn this number, including Diego himself. Like Maradona, Baggio’s artistry inspired some dark arts from opposition players and his first touch in the match is hastily ended by a scything tackle. Noticeably slighter than everyone else on the pitch, he stays down and it is impossible to not be concerned that Baggio might be broken.

He gets up, though, and continues his relentless pressing of the Napoli defence. Minutes later magic happens: a Napoli corner breaks down and Baggio picks the ball up around ten yards ahead of the Fiorentina penalty area, his pace is noticeably electric but the ball stays super glued to his feet as a Napoli midfielder fails to catch him whilst tracking back. Now beyond the halfway line, Baggio glides past a sliding tackle from Alessandro Renica and takes the ball around Ciro Ferrara. One of the finest defensive partnerships of the 1980’s is powerless to stop the viola number 10.

He enters the Napoli penalty area and Giuliani rushes forward, Baggio dummies a shot and dances past him before putting the ball into the empty net with his right foot. Golazzo. Genius realised. A divine goal from a divine talent. The celebration is suitably ascetic with his Fiorentina team mates unsure of exactly how to exalt this rare magic.

Back on the pitch Napoli are spooked by Baggio. He floats around the pitch, going deep to cause problems in midfield, toying with full backs on either wing and conducting attacks in between the lines of midfield and defence. Great performances such as this can hypnotise an opposition and Napoli’s goalkeeper, Giuliani throws the ball out directly to Baggio who is occupying the right wing. He bursts into the box to be confronted by Renica who, having already been tormented once, is once more the victim of a power greater than himself, as Baggio’s step over and shimmy takes him past the Frenchman, leaving the Napoli defender short of options. He opts to take the Fiorentina man down and leave it to the fates of penalties. Scoring a penalty: how hard can this be? Baggio steps up and slots the ball into the bottom left hand corner, 2-0. 

Maradona watches on.

Two nil after 33 minutes. Spectators are watching a rare footballing sight: a team being taken apart by a singular footballing talent. Half time is a gift for Napoli, who are bewitched. 

Enter Maradona, centre stage.

Inevitably, the most famous ‘10’ in the world comes on, wearing the No.16 shirt. Roughly 53,000 Napoli fans roar as he takes up his position at the centre circle, a bearded general in light blue giving orders and motivation to his teammates, an arm band-less captain as well as a creative talisman. His presence on the pitch dispels the Baggio magic and early on a Viola defender handles the ball in the box to prevent Maradona receiving it. Scoring a penalty: how hard can this be? El Diego steps up, and his effort is saved. Even the legends miss from the spot occasionally.

Despite the penalty miss, Maradona drives the Napoli team forward and a previously impervious Fiorentina defence starts to overthink. A cross comes in from the left, Maradona is one of three azzurri shirts to attack the ball and Stefano Pioli puts it past his own ‘keeper, 2-1. No change from Maradona, always driving the team forward, going close with audaciously distant free kicks, coming deep to receive the ball, moving from flank to flank, bursting into the box late to occupy the attention of the opposition centre backs.

A ball comes into the box, three defenders have their attention on Maradona who has moved them away from the left hand flank. The pass arrives at the feet of Careca bursting into the space vacated in the box, the Viola ‘keeper realises too late, part of a quartet blinded by Maradona as his Brazilian team mate hits it first time to equalise, 2-2. True greats make magic happen with and without the ball.

Is it possible for two stars to shine on the pitch just as brightly? Thus far, the game has been conducted by two maestri at different times, but Baggio grasps the baton once more, his lightning turn of pace taking the ball past a Napoli defender in front of the penalty box and then Giuliani. The chance, created out of thin air on the right hand side can’t quite be finished, hitting the side netting. The match needs a winner and both superstars are vying to land the killing blow.

Three minutes from time, Maradona works a short corner routine on the left hand side and sends a precise cross into the area for Corradini to dive towards. He connects perfectly and the ball is in the net, 3-2. 

Final whistle.

The football, therefore, tells us the story of these two great players without the need to historicise or present a narrative. As Hamlet says to his players, ‘the play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king’. As devotees of calcio we must not forget to watch the play. By placing a privilege on the actions of these two players on the pitch, we can locate the truth of their talent. Baggio is an individual talent in a team, at Fiorentina he was placed in a position to have to carry a team: in the case of the match against Napoli making and finishing all of the Fiorentina goals.

It is a role that suited him throughout his career and perhaps explains his success coming at clubs outside of the spotlight, as well as his sometimes problematic relationships with coaches such as Arrigo Sacchi, who valued the team above all else. On paper, this reads like a flaw but on the pitch in Naples in September 1989, this was a sight to behold.

Maradona was a protagonist no doubt, but one who was happy to be a leader. He entered the pitch giving instructions and the Napoli side were happy to follow them. In return, a two goal deficit was overturned. For all his undoubted ability, Maradona needed to be listened to and to be put in a position of responsibility. There is a nuanced difference between this protagonism and Baggio’s approach. Both are happy to carry a team but Maradona perhaps understood the value of enabling others to reach their full potential. By watching the vastly improved performance levels of his less talented team mates in Naples and Argentina’s World Cup winning side, one can see this clearly. 

This game serves, therefore, as a microcosm of these two wonderfully gifted but very different footballers. To spin a narrative would be to suggest that we can see how one would retire a World Cup winner and another would not.

But to return to ‘the things themselves’ we can simply enjoy the fact that genius can exist in different forms on a football pitch and give thanks that enough stars aligned to put these two icons on the field at the same time.