Baggio: Messi ‘got emotional’ over Italy gift but ‘I never felt’ like Pelé or Maradona | OneFootball

Italy legend Roberto Baggio admits he ‘never felt’ like Diego Armando Maradona or Pelé and reveals Leo Messi ‘got emotional’ when he received his signed Italy shirt from the 1994 World Cup.

The Divin Codino released an interview with The Athletic discussing his career as a footballer and his private life after retirement.

Possibly the greatest Italian footballer ever, Baggio is regarded as one of the game’s icons, on a par with Maradona or Pelé.

“Thanks, but I don’t see it,” he admitted.

“I don’t know what to say to you. It’s hard to recognise myself among them. I’ve never felt that way. I’ve always felt like one of the billions of people walking this earth. I was lucky enough to play football and do what I love. But I don’t feel like them.”

Baggio added that his main target was to “entertain the people. That’s what I lived for.

“That was my dream. For the people to enjoy themselves. That was the mentality I had when I was 10, 15, when I was 20 until I retired.”

The Italian legend has recently met Leo Messi after an Inter Miami Club World Cup game and gifted the Argentine legend one of his Italy shirts from the 1994 World Cup.

Baggio reveals Messi’s reaction to Italy gift

FLORENCE, ITALY – JUNE 03: Roberto Baggio looks on during a press conference at Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano on June 03, 2024 in Florence, Italy. (Photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images)

“When he saw it, he got emotional. He caressed it, and folded it. It was a beautiful thing to see,” Baggio said.

“I am the same person I was when I was 10. I’m passionate about the simple things in life,” he added.

The former striker retired in 2004 after a four-year spell at Brescia, viewing his retirement as a “liberation” due to his numerous physical issues.

“I would finish training and go home. It was an hour’s drive from Brescia to my house, and when I got back after an hour with my leg bent, I couldn’t straighten it,” he revealed.

“My wife, Andreina, knew. She would come down to help me, and I would stretch to be able to walk again. In the end, finishing playing was a liberation for me, a joy.

“I have to tell you that at a certain point in my life, I thought it was time to enjoy my family, to be close to them, to enjoy the simple things and do, above all, what I haven’t done for almost 40 years. So I chose freedom. And that’s priceless.”

A former player for Vincenza, Fiorentina, Milan, Juventus, Bologna, Inter and Brescia, Baggio won two Serie A titles and reached the 1994 World Cup Final with the Italy national team.

Baggio on Italy 1994 World Cup

“The entire World Cup, not just our matches, was affected by the heat. It was mind-boggling,” Baggio said about the tournament held in the USA over 30 years ago.

“We had to exert ourselves beyond the limits of what was humanly possible to be able to play. But despite everything, we were driven by passion and the desire to achieve results, and many Italians who lived there as immigrants were proud of us. We felt it as a team. It was an extra push to overcome the obstacles.”

Baggio had led Italy to a Final against Brazil, but his penalty shootout miss ultimately determined the Azzurri’s loss.

“If I had had a knife at that moment, I would have stabbed myself,” he admitted.

“If I had had a gun, I would have shot myself. At that moment, I wanted to die. That’s how it was.”

Lastly, Baggio revealed why he never played outside Serie A, not even in the final years of his career.

“I always turned down teams outside of Italy because I dreamed of getting back into the national team and playing a World Cup in Japan (in 2002). I passed on it,” he said.

“There were opportunities but I always put them to one side. If you’re asking me whether I would have liked to play at the Bombonera, I’ll tell you: ‘Of course’. Of course I would have done, if I had been able to.”