Slumped on the bench, all he could do was stare helplessly at the ground. 

 

His eyes were glossy and hollow, a result of bearing witness once again to the ghost that had visited him so many times before. He raised his right hand to his face and the tears soon followed. After a few brief moments, his mind recomposed itself back to the present road and all of the obstacles that lay in its waste:

 

The pain. The rehab. The comeback.

 

It was all so different just 10 minutes prior. Giuseppe Rossi was making his second consecutive start for Celta Vigo after months of scratching and clawing for this very opportunity. He was healthy and happy, once again displaying all of the potential that at their height once made Manchester United think he could lead their forward line for the next decade when they signed him as a teenager. It was on this very field, that just 7 days prior, he had scored a hat-trick against Las Palmas.

Always so much more than a goal scorer, the prodigy from Teaneck, New Jersey had all of his divine gifts on display. Effortless passing, equipped with brilliant quickness and movement to be a lethal threat in any position in the attack, no matter the defence he opposed.

Now, his knees had again let him down in the most cruel of ways. Going for a loose ball that had popped into the air, Rossi stabbed at it with his left leg before the momentum of his body forced his right knee to fall down into the grass. With nowhere else to go, the left leg subsequently came down with it planting awkwardly trying to catch his weight. Many waited with bated breath until the results of the MRI were released, but deep down you knew. It was a torn ACL in his left knee, accompanied by 6 to 7 months of rehab. 

 

Almost immediately, the #ÁnimoRossi hashtag was born. Well wishes and words of motivation from all corners of the globe flooded his Twitter feed. Some may have wondered if this was the end, but 'Beppe' had other ideas, tweeting: 

 

“Your messages give me strength! Thank you very much! I want to come back already and continue doing what I love. Playing soccer! #nevergiveup.”  

 

 

It’s almost six years now that the first one happened. Rossi had just come off his breakout season in 2010-11 with Villarreal, scoring 32 goals in 56 appearances in all competitions. In the process, he led the Yellow Submarine to a fourth-place finish in La Liga qualifying them for the following seasons Champions League. If that weren’t impressive enough, they also reached the semi-finals of the Europa League, with Rossi scoring 11 goals, and the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey. 

 

His game was garnering the attention of some of Europe’s biggest clubs, but nothing could prepare him for the call that was about to come. FC Barcelona were the continents cream of the crop. Pep Guardiola had revolutionised the game and subsequently had taken all of its available trophies with him. The fact that Rossi had not only impressed the man but was now being courted was huge not only for his confidence but his brand. Villarreal remained steadfast that anything less than €30 million would not be tolerated, while Barcelona were only comfortable departing with €27m. After weeks of boiler room like negotiations, the deal went up in smoke. 

 

Signed until 2016, Rossi decided to stay put with Villarreal and push forward with the momentum that the prior season had generated. It was October of 2011 and the Yellow Submarine were matched up against Real Madrid when the nightmare began. Tearing his ACL in his right knee, the injury was catastrophic in more ways than one. In his absence, the club took a nosedive.



As the losses mounted and the rest of the league table fell out of sight, Rossi stood determined to make it back before the end of the season and play super hero once more. Just around the week he was finally slated to return, Rossi re-injured the same knee during a training session. The latest setback was expected to keep him out nearly an additional year, and because it occurred mere weeks before the start of the summer transfer window, it made Rossi practically untouchable. Villarreal were officially relegated to Spain’s second division, capping an unfathomable fall from grace for all parties involved. 

 

After more than a year without playing a single minute in a competitive match and with months of rehab still left for him to tackle before he could do so again, Fiorentina took a chance and signed Rossi from Villarreal for about €12 million in January 2013. Still in his mid-20’s, the hefty sum paid by the Viola for a player who would be out for the foreseeable future only further emboldened the potential that so many saw. The striker would go on to miss nearly all of the rest of his new club’s season, his sole appearance coming as a substitute on the very last match of the season. 

 

Finally healthy again, Rossi came into Fiorentina’s 2013-14 season with a new lease on life. Back in Italy after leaving the youth ranks of Parma when he was 17, Rossi was hell bent on putting his name back into the Italian national team conversation. Half way through the year, everything was going according to plan. Standing atop Serie A’s scoring charts with 14 goals in 18 matches, Italian’s were once again seeing the flashes that had led so many to compare him to Alessandro Del Piero all those years ago.

Just when it seemed like all of the pain and hypotheticals were finally in his rearview, a controversial tackle in a January match against Livorno saw him miss about four months due to a sprained ligament in his surgically repaired right knee. Despite scoring 16 times in 21 matches, fears that his knee could be damaged permanently if rushed back narrowly saw him miss out on Cesare Prandelli’s World Cup squad. It was a devastating blow for Rossi - who having once famously spurned the national team of his birth and faced years of abuse from Americans who labeled him a modern day Benedict Arnold - always dreamed of donning the shirt of the Azzurri amongst the backdrop of the ‘Il Canto degli Italiani’ during a World Cup match. 

 

Back with Fiorentina in August ahead of the new campaign, Rossi’s right knee again had betrayed him. This time it was a torn meniscus, and though it was only expected to keep him out for a few months, Rossi ultimately had to sit out the entire 2014-15 season. For the fourth consecutive season, Giuseppe would miss significant playing time due to his failing body.

Back with Fiorentina and now with Celta, with a half season loan-move sandwiched into a Levante side that existed somewhere in the abyss of Spanish football, Giuseppe Rossi’s playing career has tragically become a question mark. With his contract at Fiorentina running out this summer and Celta unlikely to exercise their option to extend the loan for a 30-year-old squad player coming off his fourth major knee surgery, this may just be the last we have seen of him at the highest level of club football. 

 

If this is indeed the last chapter in the story of a once blossoming superstar whose career was cut short by a body that just couldn’t cooperate, don’t feel bad. This is a story of triumph over tragedy. Unrelenting determination mixed with unmitigated talent.  

 

Underneath the bright lights of fame or the world famous jersey’s that adorned his body, always laid a heart made of gold. Ask anyone who has played with him, interviewed him or even so much as greeted him, and they will all tell you the same thing: humble, kind, real. 

 

This is what makes Giuseppe Rossi revered and relevant, valuable and cheered. And oh yeah, he was a pretty damn good football player too. 


Justin Sherman