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Baggio started his career with Vicenza in Serie C1 in 1981. Fiorentina snapped him up in 1985, and during his years there, he rose to cult status among the team's fans. He was sold to Juventus amid large fan outcry in 1990 for $19 million, the world record transfer for a football player at the time. That year, he played in his first World CupThe 1990 Football World Cup was held in Italy. It was won by West Germany, who beat Argentina 1-0 in the final. With its third title (and three second place finishes) Germany became the most successful World Cup nation for 4 years, until Brazil won their. In 1993, he got his lone European club hardware, helping Juventus to the UEFA CupThe UEFA Cup is a football competition for European club teams. It was founded in May 1955 as the Inter-Cities' Fairs Cup. It is the second most important competition for European club teams, the first being the UEFA Champions League. Qualification for th.
Roberto was the cornerstone of the Italian teamThe Italy national football team is one of the most successful national football teams, having won three World Cups. The traditional jersey color of the national team is blue, and for that reason the national team is sometimes nicknamed "the Azzurri". during the 1994 World CupThe 1994 Football World Cup was held in the USA. It was won by Brazil, who beat Italy 3-2 on penalties, after the game and extra time ended 0-0. The format of the competition stayed the same as in 1990: 24 teams qualified, divided into six groups of four., leading them to the final. He scored five goals, all in the medal round: two in the Round of 16 to beat NigeriaThe Nigeria national football team nicknamed the Super Eagles is the national team of Nigeria and is controlled by the Nigeria Football Association. They reached the World Cup for the first time in Football World Cup 1994 and have been there the two times, a late winner in the quarterfianls to top SpainThe Spain national football team is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (Real Federacion Espanola de Futbol). They won the second European Championship ever held in 1964. Spain has greatly underachived in the World Cup, never advancing bey, and two to beat BulgariaThe Bulgaria national football team is controlled by the Bulgarian Football Union. Bulgaria's best World Cup performance was in the 1994 World Cup, where they beat Germany to reach the Semi-finals, losing to Italy, but reaching a highly credible fourth pl on the semifinals. Unfortunately, Baggio was not fully fit against for the final against BrazilThe Brazilian national football team is the most successful national football team with five FIFA World Cup victories including the most recent tournament in 2002. Brazil is the only nation to have qualified for every World Cup. Brazil finished second in, and missed Italy's last penalty (Brazil still had a kick left) as the South Americans won the World Cup title after a 0-0 tie. However is is often overlooked that two other Italians, Franco Baresi and Daniele Massaro , had already missed penalties and had Baggio scored, Brazil would have still had a penalty to win the Cup nevertheless.
He won his first Scudetto with Juventus in 1995, who promptly sold him to A.C. Milan, where he won his second Scudetto a year later. In 1997, thought to be on the downslide, Baggio transferred to Bologna, and after scoring a personal best 22 goals that year, was named to Italy's squad for the 1998 World Cup. He scored two goals and added one in the penalty shootout as Italy went out to eventual champions France.
After the World Cup, Baggio signed with Inter Milan, but proved to be unfortunate as coach then, Marcelo Lippi had a grudge against 'Codino Divino' and hardly played him which also lost him his permanent place in the Italian National team, after two years there, transferred to previously unfashionable Brescia, playing there until his retirement in 2004. He finished his career with 203 goals in Serie A, and 56 caps and 27 goals for the National Team. He was given a sendoff match on April 28, 2004 against Spain.
Baggio is known as Divine Ponytail, for the hairstyle he kept for most of his career. He is a devout Buddhist, a rarity for an Italian.
Did you know? - Robert Baggio said before the 2004/05 season that he would like to retire at Inter Milan and it would be a privilege to some day coach the Italians.