“I would have expected anything but to see Niccolai on worldwide television.”
The joke by Manlio Scopigno, Cagliari’s championship-winning coach, had gone down in football history. And it had even inspired a book entitled “Niccolai in mondovisione”.
But Scopigno was one of his most ardent supporters: Niccolai, born in 1946, was the youngest of the team. And also the most pampered.
Valcareggi also noticed him and wanted him as a starter at the World Cup. On world television. Mexico cursed for Niccolai who got injured in the 37th minute of the opening match against Sweden: he left his place to Rosato. In the end, he too, was vice-champion of the world.
A strong defender, but when you think of own goals, the comparison is inevitable: he only scored six, but in some way they made history. In the history of football, even in Italy, there are those who have scored even more, see Ferri and Baresi. But the crown has always remained on his head. Italian football is now mourning his passing, at 76, in hospital in Pistoia, in his native Tuscany. He is remembered as a player of another football, of another era. Perhaps some of his own goals today would have been awarded to the striker who took the shot. Others, no, they were all his. Unforgettable.
NICCOLAI’S OWN GOAL AGAINST JUVE – THE VIDEO
With an unforgettable name, Comunardo, a choice linked to the family passion for the Paris Commune. He had left not from the French capital, but from Uzzano, a small town near Pistoia. As a boy, he had left his homeland to seek and find fortune in Sardinia. First at Torres, then at Cagliari, which had just arrived in Serie A.
His debut in Serie A on May 1, 1966 at the age of nineteen against Lanerossi Vicenza. His first goal two years later. But what is remembered most about him are his own goals. The most sensational one is in the key match of the 1969-70 championship. A cross to the center from the right and he heads it in before Albertosi, who was already ready to block the ball: “At that moment – he told Sandro Ciotti – I was afraid I had ruined everything. And Albertosi also got angry, things on the pitch that pass quickly. The first to encourage me was Nenè, then Cera, Martiradonna and all the others”.
In 1972 he also managed to dribble past his goalkeeper Albertosi in a Bologna Cagliari 2-1: his attempt to then push the ball back out of his goal was useless. In the years of Cagliari’s decline, Niccolai was one of the last to give up: his memorable goal at Sant’Elia in 1975 against Lazio with the scudetto on his shirt.
At the end of his career he returned to his hometown. And he began a career as a coach for the Italian youth national teams. He did not choose Sardinia forever like his teammates Martiradonna, Poli, Brugnera, Riva, Nenè, Tomasini, Greatti. There is also a photo of Niccolai, along with those of his teammates in the window of the Greatti insurance agency, in via Sant’Alenixedda, in Cagliari. And many this morning touched his image and made the sign of the cross for a final farewell.
President Tommaso Giulini was also moved on social media: “We will always carry with us the example given by the kindness and style of one of the strongest defenders in our history. Ciao, Comunardo”. And then the fans on Instagram and Facebook: “Ciao, please say hello to Gigi”. But also Mario (Martiradonna), Giulio (Zignoli), Eraldo (Mancin), Claudio (Nenè), Bobo (Gori), Moriano (Tampicci), the old friends of a championship that no one in Cagliari forgets.
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