Paolo Rossi arrived at the 1982 World Cup with his place in Italy’s starting eleven under scrutiny. Having only recently returned from a two-year suspension, he struggled to find his form as Italy went through the opening group stage without a victory. Rossi failed to score in his first four appearances, but Enzo Bearzot stood by his centre-forward despite growing criticism.
That faith would help define one of Italian football’s greatest summers. Against Brazil in Barcelona, Rossi scored a hat-trick to secure a remarkable 3–2 victory. He followed it with both goals against Poland in the semi-final before opening the scoring against West Germany in Madrid. In the space of three matches, a player whose selection had been questioned became the central figure in Italy’s third World Cup triumph.
Rossi finished the tournament with six goals, claimed the Golden Boot and went on to win the 1982 Ballon d’Or. His extraordinary turnaround remains inseparable from Bearzot’s decision to trust him, even as Italy struggled to find its rhythm during the opening stages of the competition.
Rossi would have turned 70 this week. More than four decades after Spain, his hat-trick against Brazil remains one of the defining performances in Italian football history. His celebrations in Barcelona are still among the most recognizable images of that World Cup, capturing the moment a struggling striker began a remarkable three-match run that would forever associate Pablito with the summer of 1982.
