Baggio reflects on final game: ‘Wonderful San Siro, I’ll never forget it’

Italy legend Roberto Baggio looked back at his final match as a professional footballer, remembering the ‘precious memory’ at a full San Siro.

Exactly 20 years ago today, the former Juventus and Fiorentina forward played his final match for Brescia before hanging up his boots, bringing an end to an incredible 22-year playing career that saw him win the Ballon d’Or in 1993.

Despite suffering numerous painful injuries throughout his career, Baggio still proved himself to be one of the best players in Italian history. His creativity, amazing technique with the ball and decisive finishing made him one of the most fearsome forwards in world football at his peak.

Baggio looks back

Speaking to Giornale di Brescia via TMW, Baggio reflected on his final match on May 16^th, 2004, a Brescia away clash with Milan.

“I still remember very well that last Sunday of mine on the pitch, in front of the wonderful San Siro crowd. 80,000 fans all standing to give me an applause that I’ll never be able to forget and which I carry in my heart as a precious memory full of gratitude and gratitude.

“In that moment, I understood that I had done something good too.”

He remembered what Brescia meant to him in the final years of his career.

“Brescia…I must say that I built very beautiful relationships wherever I went, but Brescia actually represented something different for me. And this thanks to a great president like Gino Corioni who gave everything and even more.

“And then thanks to a coach, Carlo Mazzone, who I would’ve liked to have met before and who was unrivalled for his humanity and sincerity. And now I have to stop because when I talk about them, I get emotional…”

Finally, Baggio remembered why he decided to retire at the end of the 2003-04 season and how he managed to give his all despite the difficulties.

“Deciding to retire is never easy for anyone and naturally it was like that for me too. I thought about it a lot, but everything had become more and more complicated, and I would never have been able to go on the pitch without being able to offer the best of my passion, mentality and enthusiasm, only, I felt that 2003-2004 would be my last season.

“I continued to cultivate the dream of continuing to play and every time I did so I gave my all… Perhaps I conveyed the concept of never passively accepting difficulties in the face of which, if anything, one must always know how to get back up.

“One must face the challenges and pursue the dream which for me, as long as I could, has always been to play football, which remains the most beautiful game in the world.”