Azzurri team manager Gabriele Oriali may not be a household name in Italian football, but the former Inter and Fiorentina full-back won many plaudits during his 17-year career. Oscar La-Gambina takes a look back at the 63-year-old’s playing time.
Gabriele Oriali was part of the class of 1982 for Italy, winning the World Cup in Spain after playing five games for the Azzurri at the competition.
That might be what football fans remember him for, but his career was 13-years-old at the time and continued for another four after that.
It was neither goals that brought him success; he was a versatile defender who could also play a part in midfield, nor his actual skill on the ball.
Rarely being a part of a team’s attack means that those qualities are not essential for a player, though.
It was Oriali’s vision of the game that really made him stand out from the crowd, the way he could read the play before it happened and come up with methods of moving the ball around which the opposing side had not yet considered.
The Italian was a one-club man for the majority of his 17-year playing career.
He joined the Inter youth squad in 1966 and got his promotion to the first team in the 1970/71 Serie A season, and from then on he was a key member of the Nerazzurri starting line-up.
Goal-scorers and goalkeepers are always remembered the most, due to how they are the players to have the final touch in either stopping or scoring a goal.
Oriali’s role, however, is equally, if not more, important.
Roma’s Daniele De Rossi, for example, doesn’t grab all the headlines in the same way that teammate Edin Dzeko does, but the Italian’s place in the squad is just as useful.
Oriali noticed this himself and compared De Rossi’s style of play to his own a few years ago.
This role is not scoring goals, but giving teammates a chance to set up a chance; it could be seen as the third stage in a counter attack.
A defender or defensive midfielder steals possession from the opposing, attacking team, then he plays the ball forward for a trequartista or any chance creator, and then the attacker guides the ball into the back of the net.
Three steps, and it all starts at the back. That’s why Oriali was such a good player, and why he was invaluable in Inter’s squad.
This form of his was also evident when he wore the Italian shirt, with the first occasion being in 1978 during a friendly against Spain.
His skill was quickly noticed and he soon became a consistent starter for the team.
Much like other defenders, he got his moment of glory in front of goal several times, including his first and only international goal in a 1-0 victory over Sweden a year after his debut.
His international record is not to be sniffed at; claiming fourth place at UEFA Euro 1980 before lifting the 1982 World Cup trophy is very impressive.
His last game, rather fittingly, was against the Swedish in 1983, but his contributions in Spain are not to be forgotten.
Not only did he appear in the 3-1 victory over West Germany in the final, but he also played his part in the two toughest games in their group against Argentina and Brazil.
After the World Cup, he spent one more year with Inter before leaving and taking his two Serie A titles and two Coppa Italia medals with him.
He played for domestic rivals Fiorentina between the years of 1983 and 1987 but failed to find such success.
Since retiring 28 years ago, Oriali has taken up the position of sporting director at both Bologna and Parma before playing a behind-the-scenes role at Inter, and is now team manager for the Italy squad.
The Milanese club will never forget his contributions to the team in the 1970s and 80s, and Italy fans around the world will always see him as one of the heroes of 1982.
One of the many players to show that football isn’t all about scoring goals, happy birthday Gabriele Oriali!
