MILAN – All forwards have their preferred victims. Teams against which the ball just seems to be waiting to hit the back of the net, where every shot seems to be laser-guided into the top corner.
For Alvaro Recoba, legendary Nerazzurri forward, that team was Empoli. For some strange reason, Recoba’s matches – and goals – against the Tuscan outfit came to epitomise his stay in Italy.
Recoba scored a total of six goals against Empoli between 1997 and 2008, two of which came during his thrilling five-month loan spell at Venezia in 1999.
The Uruguayan’s goals against Empoli are like markers indicating the various phases of Recoba’s career in Italy.
There was that wonderful, 50-yard lob at the Stadio Castellani in the 1997/98 season, which Recoba later said he’d planned while sitting on the bench. It was only the third goal in Serie A from the virtually unknown Uruguayan talent.
There was the more mature Recoba firing home an inch-perfect free kick to hand Inter a 3-2 win at Empoli in the 2003/04 season and secure a Champions League play-off spot for the club.
And there was the Uruguayan’s penultimate Serie A goal, his last at San Siro, straight from the corner flag – a goal that would become something of a calling card for the striker after he returned to Uruguay.
Recoba was an enigma – undisputed genius for some, volatile madman for others. Whatever you felt for him, it could never have been indifference. He had a cult-like following at Inter: for some fans he came before all tactical requirements, regardless of the calculations of the coach. He even had an adjective coined in his honour: recobiano.
Like all stars, Recoba divided opinion. Yet his talent was beyond reproach. He could bamboozle defenders with the type of skills most can only dream of, then leave you to stew on it, wondering when the next blow was going to come. He’d feint one way, leaving you on your behind, then drive that left boot down like a jackhammer. Bam.
That’s what the recobiani saw. The anticipation of waiting for whatever stroke of genius Recoba was planning next made up for any limitations he may have had.
You learned to expect the unexpected from the Inter No.20.
He’d proved that in his debut, on 31 August 1997. The eyes of San Siro were trained as one on the club’s big summer signing, Ronaldo, while Recoba – sitting on the bench – watched his new team go a goal down to Brescia. The Uruguayan began to warm up.
He got his chance 18 minutes before the 90 and promptly drew Inter level with a left-footed thunderbolt from way out. Then, with three minutes remaining, Recoba thrashed a sumptuous, long-range free-kick into the top corner. For the Meazza, it was love at first sight.
Injured seven minutes into his next game, Recoba was forced to watch from the sidelines until January. But he marked his return in stunning fashion, with that amazing lob at the Castellani.
Those who criticised Recoba for being inconsistent were mistaken. Because it was the sheet talent he showed throughout his career that won him so many adoring fans over the years, regularly producing the kind of moments most people never get to witness on a football pitch.
And so in spite of the pain Recoba inflicted on Empoli, perhaps even the Stadio Castellani will reserve a thought for that wonderful Uruguayan left foot when Inter come to town on Wednesday.
Alessandro Bai
