Today would've been Gigi Riva's 80th birthday. On 7 November, 1944 the most prolific Azzurri goalscorer of all time (35 goals in 'just' 42 appearance); was born in Leggiuno, in the province of Varese. The 'Rumble of thunder' was a nickname given to him by Gianni Brera, but these three words would go on to sum up the physical dominance of this extraordinary player, who dedicated his entire career to the National Team and Cagliari's rossoblù. 

He won the Scudetto in 1970 with his club as well as the European Championships with the National Team in 1968. This was a win which was lived in a 'particular' way by the legendary forward, a way that we relive through this story narrated by the 'Doctor' Fino Fini, founder of the Museo del Calcio and of the medical era of the National team. 

"At that time, Italy hadn't won an international trophy for 30 years, since the World Cup in 1938. The Azzurri came off the back of the disastrous campaign in England in 1966. The European semi-final in 1968 was reason for enthusiasm: we were the favourites against the Soviet Union and we were playing at home.

The preparations for the final phase - against four sides, at the time - didn't get off to the best start: during the medical visits, Riva was found to be struggling with pain in his adductor muscles. The diagnosis was immediate: he had osteitis pubis. Gigi was central to our National team and we couldn't just leave him at home. In agreement with his home club, Cagliari, and with the approval of the National team Head Coach, Valcareggi, we decided to take a risk and have him in the squad with us. 

At the time there were no official or recognised procedures that we could use to cure this problem quickly, and an operation wasn't scheduled. We really needed to have him training, without worsening the problem though. Together with the National Team medical staff, we decided on trying a particular therapy which hadn't been used yet. The idea was to create a different type of motor coordination which only required a few muscles, meaning that those affected by the injury would be rested. With this, we used a specific type of training: half an hour of light jogging, but with toes pointed inwards, followed by half an hour of running with the ball, but touching it with just the outside of the foot. The therapy seemed to be working and the muscle inflammation seemed to be reduced. 

In the meantime, Italy could thank the flip of the coin at the end of the semi-final against the Soviet Union, to decide the winner. In the final, we played Yugoslavia, but Riva wasn't quite ready to take to the field. We drew again: this time it couldn't be decided by the flip of a coin nor penalties, this wasn't used at the time. The tie was replayed 48 hours later. 

On the eve of the repeated final, Head Coach Valcareggi asked me to find out if Riva was ready to play the decisive tie: I had no doubts and told him that he was ready. 

We all know how it played out: Riva played amazingly, and scored the first of two goals in the 2-0 win and we lifted the cup". 

At the Museo del Calcio in Coverciano, there is the Number 11 shirt of Gigi Riva that he worse in a qualification match for these Euro's.