On the occasion of the 20th anniversary since the demise of Gaetano Scirea, Hurrà Juventus for the September edition spoke to the champions who shared the field and the dressing rooms with him as a remembrance of the great Gaetano. This is what they told us:

Dino Zoff

«Gaetano? An extraordinary man and footballer. An example of style and class both on the field and off it. With him I shared great moments. During training camp we lived in the same room. I remember during the world cup in Spain, Tardelli could not sleep the night before the matches. To relax, he used to come to our room which he used to call “Switzerland” because it was the most tranquil room of the camp. In our way of being together we hardly needed any words. A look was enough. He would have been an excellent coach if he had the chance: he was convincing and loved to teach. He would have liked today’s football even though he was not the type to want to be a protagonist. He would have never become a “front page” person but he knew how to make himself heard by all. His heir? Up to yesterday Paolo Maldini. I wouldn’t know about today».

Franco Causio

«He came to Turin when he was still very young while I was already much older. I can say I saw him grow: youngster, fiancé, husband, exemplary father. He was shy and a good man perhaps even too good. I often told him to react, to be a bit crueler with the opponents: his serenity made me angry. You know what his answer used to be? “I can’t”. He used to say so with a smile on his lips and it was disarming. I never saw him get angry. He used to say it was not worth it and in hind sight I must admit I think so too. We spent the best years of our lives together, won a lot and shared great joys. When I left Juve we still remained very close. It was impossible not to love him. It was impossible to speak badly of him. I loved him a lot».

Marco Tardelli

«He was one of the best players in the world but was too humble to say so or even to simple think so. His way of being quiet and reserved maybe took away his chance of being better known but it surely won him esteem, respect and the friendship of everyone, Juventus fans and not. This does not mean that he was weak or that he had nothing to say: on the contrary, he was very strong on the inside and knew how to speak through his silence. We had completely opposite characters but got along well. One day, he came to see me by the sea and we played hide and seek, a strange thing for Serie A professionals but it was part of our spending time together and enjoying ourselves in a simple manner. In today’s football I think he would have felt a bit lost but only on a personal level. When it came to football he was very competent and knew how to be authoritarian. Let us say that personalities with his character, nowadays, do not exist any more».

Stefano Tacconi

«With Gaetano I only shared joys: together we won all there was to win. In the football annuals we are only 5 players who managed to win all the international tournaments: Blind of Ajax, Brio, Cabrini, Gaetano and myself. It is a reason to be proud having been able to write those pages together and having been his friend. In Turin we lived very close to each other and we often went to training together. Once I forgot to pick him up and made him arrive late for the first and only time in his life. When he arrived at the Combi he came up to me and said “bravo, bravo” but you could see he had already forgiven me. On Friday night us two together with Zoff had the superstitious rite of going to the same restaurant but in reality it was an excuse to spend time together. I will always be grateful to him because he was one of those who helped me recover from the dark batch when I was relegated to the bench. He used to tell me to insist and finally I won back my place. As usual, he was right».

Juventus commemorates Gaetano Scirea, not only on the pages of Hurrà Juventus and the official website but even on Juventus Channel. Tonight Wednesday 2nd September, it will air a special programme dedicated to the great Gai.