Paolo Rossi Home Burgled During Italian Icon’s Funeral

During the funeral of legendary Italian footballer Paolo Rossi, the home he shared with his wife Federica Cappelletti in Tuscany was burgled on Saturday.

Rossi passed away on Thursday aged 64. The former Juventus striker scored six goals as he steered the Azzurri to triumph in the 1982 World Cup, and remains the last man to finish as top scorer, be voted the best player and be on the winning team at the same World Cup.

The news of Rossi’s death came as a surprise for many as the former striker had been working as a pundit for Italian broadcasters RAI at least three weeks before his passing. Rossi’s death came also only a matter of weeks after Diego Maradona, another footballing icon in Italy and beyond, passed away aged 60.

The funeral service was held in Vicenza, where Rossi played more than 100 games across three seasons in the late 1970s. Following the tribute, Rossi’s wife Cappelletti returned to her Tuscan countryside home to find ‘the chaos following a theft’, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. Rossi’s watch was one of the items reportedly stolen and a police investigation is ongoing.

Tributes for Rossi as a player and a person had been pouring out of Italy and beyond since news of his death emerged. Antonio Cabrini helped carry the coffin of his former teammate with Juventus and Italy before paying his respects at the funeral, saying: “I have not only lost a team mate, but also a friend and a brother,” as quoted by the BBC.

“Together we fought, we won and we sometimes lost, always picking ourselves up even in the face of disappointment. We were part of a group, that group, our group. I didn’t think he would leave so soon.”

Rossi’s autobiography is entitled I Made Brazil Cry, after his hat-trick against the revered footballing nation in the 1982 World Cup. Having missed almost two years of football after getting caught up in the Totonero match-fixing scandal of 1980, Rossi – and Italy – made a slow start to the tournament before sparking into life against Brazil.

Both of Italy’s goals against Poland in the semi-final were scored by Rossi, who also netted the opening strike of the triumphant final against West Germany.