Mancini: The magician of Sampdoria
Premier League followers know him as moneyed Manchester City's manager, but Roberto Mancini was one of the best footballers of his generation.
Abhishek Mehrotra
Given the scale of City's ambition and the seismic shifts it could herald in the football world, it is perhaps understandable that the 47-year-old's days as a player are known only to a few fans and remembered by even fewer.
But it should not be so, for Mancini was a genius on the pitch and for a decade he made Sampdoria a force to be reckoned with in Italy.
The Cowboy owner
For any footballer worth his salt, Serie A was the place to be in the late 80s and early 90s. The league boasted a glittering array of stars; some of the best to have ever played the game.
AC Milan had the Dutch maestros Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten. Inter possessed Andy Brehme, Lothar Matthaus and Jurgen Klinsmann. Juventus boasted of Paolo di Canio and a young Roberto Baggio in their ranks. And Napoli? Napoli had Diego Maradona.
In Mancini, Sampdoria had their own dazzling talent. Having been purchased from Bologna in 1982 when he was 18, the Lesi native spent 15 years at Samp - becoming a club legend loved by all those who were associated with it.
Paolo Montavani, the oil baron who had bought Sampdoria in 1979 (one can see certain parallels with City here) and transformed it from a Serie B outfit into a club regularly challenging for and winning domestic cups, simply adored Mancini.
Sven Goran-Eriksson, under whom Mancini played for five years at Sampdoria from 1992-1997, told the Independent: "He [Montavani] would ring me up when we were playing away, ask if Mancini would play and only turn up if I'd said yes."
In '82, Montavani had been about to buy a ranch in Arizona when he heard about the incredibly gifted teenager making waves at Bologna. Deciding to forsake the cowboy hat and boots, Montavani went for Mancini; changing Sampdoria's history forever.
Two years after Montavani brought Mancini to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, he sanctioned the purchase of Gianluca Vialli. The Vialli-Mancini axis quickly became the heartbeat of the team, forming one of the most lethal strike partnerships in Italy at the time.
The Goal Twins
What the two would accomplish over the next few years needs to be put into context.
Far from being one of the top clubs in the country - Sampdoria were not even the best in their own city. Genoa C.F.C, with their storied past, held that honour. Since their formation in 1946, Sampdoria had not one a single piece of top-flight silverware. As far as trophy cabinets go, it is doubtful one even existed at the club.
All that changed - first with the Montavani takeover and then the arrival of Mancini and Vialli. The latter two were childhood friends and shared a superb understanding on the pitch. Add into the mix their individual talents and Sampdoria were finally ready make their presence felt at the big boys' table of Italian football.
In their first season together, the duo won the Coppa Italia. Before the decade was out, they would win two more as well as a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Given Samp's history and the fact that domestic competitions were far more prestigious than they are today, these were huge accomplishments.
Vialli was the goalscorer-in-chief, the ultimate poacher who could always be counted on to be in the right place at the right time. He netted in two Coppa finals as well as scoring both goals in the team's 2-0 win over Anderlecht in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1989.
Captain Mancini held the side together though. David Platt, who played alongside the City manager in Italy, said: "He had such an ability to know that someone was in a better position to score than him and to find them: bang, there's your goal"
Vialli was the one who benefitted most from Mancini's vision - smashing in 97 goals as Sampdoria established themselves as top contenders in the domestic cup competitions through the mid and late 80s.
But that's where the problem was. Samp were on the up but were still considered Cup specialists. The league was the domain of the established teams. That would all change in the 1990-91 season. Mancini & Co. would rewrite Italian football history by wresting the Scudetto from defending champions Napoli.
The crowning glory
When the season kicked off, Sampdoria had plenty of obstacles to overcome.
Maradona, although on the wane, was still, well, Maradona. Napoli could not be counted out. And then of course, there were the two Milan sides - Arrigo Saachi's European Cup champions AC and Giovanni Trapattoni's Inter. Juventus lurked in the shadows as well.
But by then Sampdoria had assembled a formidable outfit. In Gianluca Pagiliuca, they had one of the best shot-stoppers of all time, one who would go on to become the most capped goalkeeper in Serie A history. Pietro Vierchowod, quick as greased lightning, commandeered the defence in front of him while the midfield was led by the magnificent Attilio Lombardo. Vialli was in the goal-scoring form of his life.
And at the heart of it all was Mancini. When he was not scoring goals or setting them up, he was shouting at players, fighting with referees - pushing, cajoling and inspiring his team towards the ultimate prize.
Recalling his playing days with Mancini, Platt said: "He was just in another place [during a match]. And brutal at half-time if things were not going right - the most vocal member of the dressing-room."
"He never argued with opponents. Just his own players and a referee," added Eriksson.
His was an intensely driven personality - driven to win and win with Samp.
From 1982 to 1997, Mancini was Sampdoria. Sampdoria were Mancini.
"Of course, I could have gone to Juventus, to AC Milan, to Inter Milan, many times, but I preferred to remain because Sampdoria were my family, from the owners to the players. I wanted to be a big player - but big with my team, not big because my new club was big," he told the Daily Mail.
If he was not a big player by then, he certainly became one in the 1990-91 season. Sampdoria lost only three games in the entire campaign and topped the goal-scoring charts in Serie A with 57.
Vialli scored 19 of those in 26 games, Mancini weighed in with 12. Mancini's personal highlight of the season came against the Rossoneri when he made legends Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi dance to his tune the entire game - winning a penalty (which Vialli converted) and scoring from open play in a 2-0 win.
Overall Sampdoria won all but one game against the teams that had started the season as title contenders - an away draw against Juve being the only exception. The title was secured in the penultimate game of the season - a 3-0 win over Lecce ensuring second-placed Inter could not catch them. It was one of modern football's fairytale triumphs.
Highlighting the incredible spirit that infused the team, all the players turned out for the final game of the season against Lazio with their hair dyed blonde. Leading the celebrations, as he had so often led on the pitch was Roberto Mancini.
The Later Years
Sampdoria flirted with continental glory a year later - narrowly losing 1-0 to Barcelona in the European Cup final. But the team disintegrated soon after.
Mantovani, the much beloved Sampdoria owner, died unexpectedly in 1993 while Vialli left for Juventus and coach Vujadin Boskov joined Roma.
Mancini won another Coppa Italia with Sampdoria under Eriksson before joining the Swede at Lazio in 1997. In Rome, he lifted another Scudetto as well as a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, before winding down his career at English side Leicester City.
Mancini the player is not often remembered today. Managing a club like City, where he basically has a blank cheque to buy whoever he wants, comes with its fair share of derision, mockery and abuse.
Whatever comes of his project at Eastlands though, it would be a travesty if the fiery forward from Sampdoria was forgotten for the scarf-wearing manager prowling down the lines in Manchester.
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