A few days before the championship match, the Monza on its official website it wanted to celebrate a double ex from the match against the Lazio: Happy Pulici. Historic goalkeeper of the first Biancoceleste Scudetto, in 1977 he moved to the Brianza club which, with the following text, remembered him thus:
“Tradition and legend – which often go hand in hand in football – draw from history and identify, supported by dozens of sensational examples, Monza above all as a ‘kingdom’ of legendary goalkeepers. To be cradled. To be shaped. To be made to grow. To be made to decline .
Today we tell – in our way – the unforgettable season of a great number 1.
Who with the red and white shirt was able to find new stimuli to relaunch a career previously rewarded by the eternal glory of a championship.
Sunday 30 October 1977. At 13 years old you live on enthusiasm: during the week the newspapers gave the news of the move of Felice Pulici – goalkeeper of the 1974 Italian champion Lazio originally from Sovico – to Monza in Serie B. And I’m not more in the skin. At 13 years old it is not yet time to wear yourself out with too many questions: why did Vinicio – the blue and white coach – eliminate him in favor of Garella and trigger fierce protests from the Lazio fans? Why did his move to Pelè’s Cosmos fade away? I honestly couldn’t care less. At 13, facts matter: around 2.30pm on October 30, 1977, from my little corner of paradise in the ditch of the central steps of the Sada, I stared at the legendary tunnel and saw a bright yellow sweater emerge, worn by a great goalkeeper who won the scudetto . While the teams carry out their usual pre-match rituals in midfield, I don’t take my eyes off the number 1 for even a second. Partly to convince myself that it’s all true, partly to get excited about ‘my’ Monza who managed to win get a player like that. Among other things, to further confirm this, in that match (Monza-Bari) Giovanni Lorini also made his red and white debut, another player who has already experienced Serie A with Milan and Vicenza.
Magni’s boys fleece the cockerels with a goal from Duino Gorin assisted by the eternal idol Gigi Sanseverino. It’s the championship of the great run-up: shock start (1 point in the first 5 matches), lifeblood from the autumn transfer market, imperious comeback culminating in the unforgettable 4-2 at Ascoli (my most iconic match for over 40 years until Pisa 2022) and a dream brutally broken in Pistoia. Pulici’s season is profoundly charismatic in the name of a very high average performance: his leadership, above all, compacts the defensive department. When the numbers say it all: in 31 red and white appearances Felice recorded 17 clean sheets and only conceded 21 goals. Of which 5 were penalties. My sweetest memories of Sovico’s goalkeeper are linked precisely to two episodes from the spot. The first is the feat with which in Cagliari he rejected the second penalty from Marchetti (who had always put the Sardinians ahead from eleven metres) preserving the magnificent guest comeback led by Scaini and a brace by Silva.
The other ‘forever’ represents a sporting revenge that made my 13 year old very proud.
Before the return leg: Monza-Modena at Sada. Magni’s boys dominated for the entire first half and found the well-deserved advantage at the end through Blangero. At the beginning of the second half, referee Governa of Alessandria awarded the Emilians a penalty for an indisputable foul by Lanzi committed clearly outside the area. The VAR is not yet even a distant hypothesis, the protests are as prolonged and furious as they are useless. A nightmare called Bellinazzi appears on the disk.
The black man in the canary-colored shirt. Match winner in the first leg and – above all – heartless killer on the cursed last day of the previous season when his shot, deflected by Michelazzi, extinguished the red and white dreams of Serie A. Experience and coldness suggest Pulici to stay in feet as long as possible and only sketch at the very last useful moment the slightest hint of a dive to his right, exactly where Bellinazzi was intending to direct the ball. It’s a subtle psychological game of infinitesimal thousandths of a second: the Modena center forward decides to change direction while running but angles too much and the ball comes out not far from the post to the left of the Monza goalkeeper. Sada explodes in a roar of intensity equal to that of a goal.
The splendid year in red and white will give the goalkeeper three magnificent championships in Serie A with the Ascoli shirt. The idols chosen at 13 remain inside forever. And so I continued to follow and admire Pulici the man even at the end of his career between the posts: his degree in law with specialization in sports law, the study of sign language which led him to become extraordinary commissioner of the Italian Deaf Sports Federation, the profound sense of belonging to Lazio of which he was a passionate manager with various roles of great importance and representativeness. A couple of years before his death (16 December 2018), Felice recounted significant episodes and expressed sensations full of chills in an intense interview on Il Giorno by that master of the word and professor of narration that is Dario Crippa. The school for surveyors, also attended by Adriano Galliani, at the Moses Bianchi in Monza. His role models between the posts: the Brazilian Gilmar and ‘kamikaze’ Ghezzi. The birth of his second son, Gabriele, on the day of the Scudetto, 12 May 1974. The penalty saved at San Siro by a certain Rivera. Finally, the emotions of his move to the red and white are worth sipping: “I was very sorry to leave Serie A and Lazio but at the same time I was happy because I was returning home. In the team that I had seen play several times as a child, accompanied by my dad, in that stadium that would now become mine.”
Monza-Lazio will be Felice Pulici’s match every time. A champion between the posts and a great man.
What recognition and gratitude they will keep forever in the blue-white and red-white hearts.
