I never thought I could write an article about my favorite football star, and a biographical film about a football star, produced by Netflix, gave me the opportunity. I remember that the last movie about a football star was released in 2018, "The Birth of a Legend" featuring the football king Pele. And the protagonist this time is the melancholy prince in the hearts of millions of fans, Robert Baggio.
As a Baggio fan, if you can see his biographical films in your lifetime, no matter what the quality is, you must first give a full score of 5. And this "Baggio Magical Ponytail", even from a movie point of view, can reach the upper-middle level. However, this is bound to be a controversial movie. First, no matter who plays the role, Baggio's fans will question his image. The protagonist of this movie does not look very similar to Baggio himself, but fortunately it is the same as Baggio himself. The young Baggio in Vicenza's time was somewhat similar, but his profile and back were still very similar to Baggio.
Second, football is not the focus of this film. Except for a few classic moments that fans are familiar with, there is not much focus on Baggio's superb skills and brilliant achievements. The film focuses on 3 important stages of Baggio's career - serious injuries when he was young, the 1994 World Cup, and his failure to win the World Cup in Korea and Japan. It tells the little-known stories behind the star's bumpy life. Except for a small amount of artistic processing, such as the time when Baggio was injured for the first time, which is somewhat different from reality, the film basically respects the facts, and plots such as hunting, believing in Buddhism, and father-son relationship can also be found in Baggio's autobiography "Heavenly" found in the door. This perspective also shows us more of the flesh-and-blood, ordinary and great Robert Baggio.
In Baggio's autobiography "The Gate of Heaven", Baggio compares the pain to the most faithful lover who accompanied him in his life. Fans who are familiar with Baggio know that Baggio is a person who drags one and a half legs to kick the ball. Suffered a serious leg injury. In the following career, injuries have always plagued Baggio and affected Baggio's career development several times. The film also takes Baggio's first injury as an important chapter in the story.
In 1984, Baggio was young and energetic, and his move to Serie A giants Fiorentina was about to open Baggio's superstar road, but he suffered the first and most serious one in his career in the last game before the transfer. A leg injury and 220 stitches during the operation almost brought his career to a halt. Fate gave Baggio his first blow, and he never recovered. As one of eight children, his father did not give him the same love as his other siblings, so his relationship with his father has not been so harmonious. The serious and taciturn father, at this time, gave him "comfort" with a very meaningful sentence:
"Injury is the greatest blessing for you. You think you can do everything, but suddenly you will lose everything. In this life, nothing is taken for granted. No one will give you anything for nothing. Fortunately, you can I figured it out so early."
This kind of comfort naturally has no positive effect on Baggio, who is less and more important. Only he knows the taste of pain and loss. At this time, he urgently needs a kind of strength to motivate him to get out of the haze.
After the transfer to Fiorentina, although the club is not bad for Baggio, the injury has never been able to bring him back to his best physical condition. With few chances to play, poor performance, no football for a long time, nothing to do, Baggio fell into a deep void. And by chance, he met Maurizio, who believed in Buddhism. Maurizio often persuaded Baggio to convert to Buddhism. Baggio, who had lost his way in his life, finally knocked on the door of Buddhism in the New Year of 1988.
Buddhism is a well-known belief of Baggio to fans, and such a unique belief is especially out of place in Catholic Italy. Some people even think that Baggio does not fit in with the team and conflicts with many coaches. In fact, many of Baggio's former teammates have high evaluations of Baggio's skills and character. During the star-studded Inter Milan period, fellow striker Ivan Zamorano once said: "After he left Inter Milan, I dreamed of playing with him happily almost every night." Ronaldo He also recalled: "If it wasn't for Baggio, I would have been depressed after the World Cup in France."
This film shows more about Baggio's study of Buddhism. The film mentions Daisaku Ikeda, a famous Japanese religious figure that Baggio taught several times.
Daisaku Ikeda is the President of Soka Gakkai Japan and International. Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai are based on the Buddhist idea of the dignity of life, and were awarded the United Nations Peace Prize in 1983 for their commitment to promoting culture, education, and peace. He has also been committed to promoting friendly exchanges between the people of China and Japan for a long time. He is one of the advocates of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, and has made great contributions to the promotion of friendship between the Chinese and Japanese people.
In the film, Baggio always hoped to see Daisaku Ikeda himself, and desperately hoped to participate in the World Cup in Korea and Japan. He miraculously recovered from injury in just 2 months after suffering another injury. There are also reasons for this.
"Buddhism made me seek enlightenment, gave me strength, and helped me avoid getting lost. Without Buddhism, I might now be hammering Caldonio with my father, or worse, addicted to drugs or other vices."
Later, under the influence of Baggio, his wife and friends also followed him and insisted on meditating and chanting for two hours every day.
Buddhism has brought peace and faith to Baggio in the void, enabling him to come out of his pain. Since Baggio became a Buddhist, his body has gradually recovered, and his career has also made great changes. In the two seasons from 1988 to 1990, Baggio scored more than 15 goals in Serie A, and won the title of the best young player in Europe in 1990. He moved to the Serie A giants Juventus at a world record price and started his career. The most glorious era of my career.
The 1994 World Cup came as scheduled. As the most glorious and most lost moment in the Baggio national team, it will naturally be the most important chapter of the film. The movie still used dramatic techniques to render this important moment. In the group stage, Baggio was substituted in just 20 minutes, and in front of hundreds of millions of viewers, he said that coach Sacchi was "crazy". After some foreshadowing, Baggio miraculously turned the tide in the knockout stage and single-handedly led the Italian team to the final. It is estimated that in order to strengthen the dramatic effect, the father told Baggio in the movie that the 3-year-old Baggio had promised to take back the World Cup for his father from the Brazilian team. However, we all know the ending, the sad back of Prince Melancholy will always be fixed in the history of the World Cup.
The real Baggio in history did create miracles by himself in the World Cup. In the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Italy was in Group E. The third place in the group barely squeezed into the round of 16. But in the knockout stage, Baggio was like a Buddha, frequently saving the Italian team in times of crisis.
In the 1/8 final, Baggio equalized in the last minute to drag Nigeria into extra time.
Scored a penalty kick in overtime to advance.
In the quarter-finals, Baggio scored the winning goal to beat Spain.
In the semi-finals, Baggio scored twice and fell to Bulgaria to advance to the final.
In 3 games, Baggio scored 5 of all 6 goals.
In a World Cup, Baggio created two classics, one is to turn the tide, comparable to Pele and Maradona, and the other is the back of missing a penalty. However, with the passage of time, the picture of the Brazilian team holding the Hercules Cup gradually became blurred, and the back of the Prince of Melancholy was deeply engraved in the history of the World Cup. Sadness is always an element that people are fascinated by. It is imagined that if Baggio scores this penalty, Brazil will also win the championship with a high probability of hitting the next penalty, but if this is the result, Baggio's back will not exist, and Italy's failures will be unremarkable. For Baggio himself, there will be no such classic moment that affects fans around the world.
Sacchi once told Baggio in the dressing room that he was the "Maradona" of the Italian team. However, from the actual results, the previous Italian coaches never really believed that the Italian team needed "Maradona". Na”.
In fact, compared with Baggio, another example can illustrate many things. Del Piero, who was a teammate with Baggio during the Juventus period, was regarded as Baggio's successor at that time, and his technical characteristics were very close to Baggio. One of the reasons why Baggio left Juventus was related to the team's future plans for Del Piero.
Looking at Del Piero's career, brilliant record, prone to injury, there are many similarities with Baggio, but Del Piero's resume is more beautiful, and followed Italy in the 2006 World Cup to regain Hercules Cup, to achieve what Baggio could not achieve. Piero's football career is complete, but when his name is often compared with Baggio, fans always prefer the more melancholy and charming Baggio, which is of course due to Baggio's indomitable character and Approachable image, but this is not unrelated to Baggio's missed penalty.
Baggio felt that the most regrettable moment in his life actually made him gain more, but at this time, he could not see it clearly.
Missing a penalty is an indelible injury to Baggio. The film uses this as the main thread of the story from beginning to end. However, in order to highlight this tragic element, the film did not hesitate to make some cuts to the reality, omitting a large part of the history from the 1994 World Cup to 2000. In fact, it was during this period that Baggio, who practiced Buddhism, became more mature. From the perspective of fans, Baggio was no longer the fledgling, high-spirited genius boy in terms of appearance and temperament.
In the film, the Buddhist scriptures that Baggio recited when he first entered Buddhism is the Chinese version of the "Miaofa Lotus Sutra", which is often referred to as "The Lotus Sutra". The story of the poor child.
The only son of a wealthy elder has been separated since childhood. The elder is determined to find his own son, but the son has become a homeless and poor son. In order to save his son, the elder asked the poor son to work for him, and the elder did not hesitate to change into tattered clothes and dig feces together with the poor son. Under the good guidance and continuous teaching, the poor son grew knowledge, learned skills, and increased his ambition. Finally, the father and son recognized each other and gained all the wealth of his father.
The elder in the story is the Buddha, and the poor son is the sentient being.
The poor child metaphor compares sentient beings to practice low-level Dharma in order to obtain Nirvana one day, turning a blind eye to the supreme Dharma around them. However, as long as they understand that the supreme Dharma is there and seek it from the Tathagata, they can obtain the supreme Dharma. Dharma.
In the 1998 World Cup, Baggio scored the first penalty kick of the Italian team cleanly and completed his nirvana rebirth. However, for him, and even the whole of Italy, it was only a moment of excitement. After that, the Italian team was still mediocre, and Baggio was unable to regain its former glory.
The World Cup has always been an obsession that Baggio cannot let go. In the film, in order to participate in the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, Baggio chose the Brescia team that is more suitable for him to play. The team is brought into the mid-level.
The national team coach Trapattoni promised Baggio to take him to the World Cup as long as he can keep up with his body. Baggio redoubled his efforts. However, fate teased him again. Half a year before the World Cup, Baggio was injured again and was on the verge of collapse. Faith once again made him miraculously recover from injury after 77 days. However, Trapattoni broke his promise. . Of course, the film uses artistic expression techniques to portray Trapattoni as a liar, thus rendering Baggio's anger.
In fact, all the honors are like passing clouds. All professional players regard the Hercules Cup as the highest achievement in their football career, and Baggio is no different from the rest of the world. He is too persistent in this goal. In fact, the highest glory in his life is there, and the love of hundreds of millions of fans for him is there, and it will never change.
And the highest state of Baggio's belief has always been there, it only depends on whether he can see through it himself. As a person, he has a happy family; as a football star, he has the love of countless fans; as a Buddhist believer, he is getting closer and closer to inner peace and tranquility. Baggio eventually accepted this result flatly, and regarded this 77-day miracle recovery experience as a precious journey worth remembering in his life. And the father, who was always not good at expressing himself, finally praised his son, and everything was at peace and tranquility.
After that, Baggio continued to fulfill his beliefs as a devout Buddhist with active social activities. In October 2010, Baggio was appointed as the Anti-Hunger Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. In May 2011, Baggio came to the ancient city of Cusco in the Andean Plateau at an altitude of 3,400 meters in Peru to promote the "Pro Football Against Hunger Movement", and visited the University of Cusco Science Football Team. In October 2014, Baggio opened the largest Buddhist center in Europe in the suburbs of Milan. The opening day was unprecedented, attracting nearly a thousand Buddhist believers.
"Baggio The Magical Ponytail" takes setbacks, family affection, and Buddhism as the main lines, and tells about the experience of rebirth, failure and acceptance of three parts of Baggio's life. However, for fans, apart from the lost back of the 94 World Cup, Baggio's glory and glory in his career have not been mentioned much. The early 1990s can be said to be Baggio's heyday. Juventus and AC Milan won two Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia and one UEFA Cup. In 1993, he won the Ballon d'Or and the title of world footballer at the same time, becoming the pinnacle of Baggio's career. Baggio's first long-distance rushing goal in Florence and the World Cup has also become a classic goal that can be compared to Maradona and Ronaldo.
During his one season in Bologna, Baggio became the top scorer in Italy with 22 goals, thus impressing the old Maldini to bring him to the World Cup in France. Under the starlight of Inter Milan, Baggio and Ronaldo, Zamorano and Vieri form a super striker. As long as he is on the court, he will become the organizational soul of the offensive line.
The Brescia era became the most mature period of Baggio's career, and the harmonious atmosphere also made Baggio's ball play more pure, and here he is also the real core and real leader. Brescia also witnessed the successful conclusion of Baggio's career.
Baggio became one of the few players who played for Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan for the three giants in Serie A, wearing black and white, red and black, blue and black striped shirts. With 205 goals, he ranked 7th in the Serie A total scorer list, and ranked 5th in the year of retirement, and was the player with the most goals among active players that year. Baggio also won the first Golden Foot Award in 2003.
After retiring in 2004, his football life continued. In 2010, he was invited to serve as a technical officer of the Italian Football Association, and in 2011 he was admitted to the Italian Football Hall of Fame. As Baggio's old teammate in Brescia, the famous coach Guardiola has repeatedly expressed his respect for Baggio.
"Baggio is one of the best players I've ever worked with, he's had two crossovers, he's almost half 'crippled', but he's always where I imagined, I can't imagine and be this good What it's like to be with the players."
When Baggio returned from injury and was put on the court, Guardiola personally ran to the sidelines and put his captain's armband on Baggio's arm, which moved the audience. The movie reproduces this classic moment. In the eyes of Guardiola, Baggio will always be a captain worthy of respect.
"Mr Johan Cruyff always spoke highly of Baggio, he wanted to see him in La Liga, Cruyff wondered if Baggio could adapt to Spanish football. But Baggio can play anywhere, in In those days, it was impossible to convince him to leave Serie A, the best players went to Italy and everyone wanted to play there."
"When I came to Italy at the age of 72, I would ask him to be my assistant. I would try to bring him back to football, but you can't convince Baggio, it's up to him to decide."
The theme song of this film is dedicated to Baggio. Although it is Italian, we can still hear the praise and memory of Baggio from the beautiful melody and singing. Take this to dedicate the highest respect to my favorite star - Robert Baggio.
The man behind the championship - Diodato
More than twenty years in a balloon
More than 20 years immersed in football
more than twenty years to wait for that rigor
More than 20 years waiting for that penalty
only to find that life
And finally found life
it was the whole game
That's the whole game
was in the sunshine
It's that ray of sunshine
that set your childhood dreams on fire
Ignite his childhood dream
it was in the wind that moved your pigtail
It's that ponytail that's flowing in the wind
that to us that already seemed a divine sign
like a miracle
It was looking for a place in the middle of an infinite field
Find an inch of land in the endless space
and then find joy
seek happiness
when time seemed to run out
And time is coming to an end
it was falling and getting up listening to the pain
Fall and get up again, listen to the pain
feel like a hug coming from your heart
Feel the hug coming towards you
of those who have seen you enchant the world with a ball
The hearts that watch you captivate the world with football
without ever hiding
they don't cover up
the man behind the champion
The man behind the champion
And then there is all the passion
all the passion
and that blind and insane determination
obsessive and crazy determination
than the destination
that's the end
sometimes it's an obsession
sometimes a trouble
the scars and trophies
All scars and trophies
to remind you who you have been and what you are
A reminder of who you were and what you are now
and shirts hung out to dry
All jerseys hang on
on the edge of a destiny that can change today
Now on the rope of destiny you can change
And there looking for a place in the middle of an infinite field,
Find an inch of land in the endless space
to then find joy
seek happiness
when time seemed to run out
And time is coming to an end
and then fall and stand up accepting the pain
Fall and get up again, listen to the pain
feel like a hug coming from your heart
Feel the hug coming towards you
of those who have seen you enchant the world with a ball
The hearts that watch you captivate the world with football
without ever hiding
they don't cover up
the man behind the champion
The man behind the champion
After all, Roberto, after all, all this love is also the son of courage
Robbie, love surrounds you, you're a brave boy
(son of courage)
(brave boy)
of that champion who touched every ball as if it were life
Treat every touch as a champion in life itself
I know it may seem like an exaggeration
Maybe you think I'm exaggerating
but also that rigor
But that penalty
it taught me a little about life
also taught me life
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