Roberto Baggio - Legacy

Legacy

Baggio's strong impact on the world of football has recently been celebrated with the release of an online game called Baggio's Magical Kicks, in which players try and replicate his precision and accuracy to score free kicks and penalties.

In 1994, the Italian satirist Corrado Guzzanti parodied Roberto Baggio's advertisement for Italian Petrol Company IP made prior to the 1994 World Cup.

Baggio is very popular in Japan, for example, he endorsed video games like Super Formation Soccer 95: della Serie A, World Football Climax, and the Japanese version of Let's Make a Soccer Team!.

The Italian poet Giovanni Raboni composed the sonnet "Lode a Baggio" in his honour.

He has also been referenced in the songs "Baggio, Baggio" by Lucio Dalla and in "Marmellata n. 25" by Cesare Cremonini, as well as in the song "Chi ha Peccato" by Giuseppe Povia.

An animated version of himself also appeared in the Japanese football cartoon "Che Campioni: Holly & Benji".

Baggio was also featured in several Italian commercials, the two most notable ones both reference his penalty miss in the 1994 World Cup Final against Brazil. The first commercial to reference this, was made for Wind in 2000, and alters what happened historically, showing Baggio scoring the final penalty in the 1994 World Cup final after the ball initially hit the cross bar before bouncing in, allowing Italy to win the tournament. The other commercial, made for Johnnie Walker in 2001, showed how he managed to conquer his grief from the miss when he scored the equalising penalty against Chile in the 1998 World Cup and by believing in himself. He also featured in several diadora commercials and advertisements since he endorsed their products.

He was shown in the video to "Waka Waka" the 2010 World Cup song by Shakira. In the Music Video, footage is shown of him scoring a goal against Spain in the 1994 World Cup Quarter Final, and missing the infamous penalty against Brazil in the final of the same World Cup.

An alter-ego of his is referenced in the Italian children's comics of "Mickey Mouse" and "Duck Tales" (Topolino), in the volume "Topolino e il Giallo alla World Cup" in which he is known as "Roberto Paggio."

In 2011, the Italian sports newspaper "La Gazzetta dello Sport" issued a collection of DVDs entitled "Io Che Sarò Roberto Baggio" recounting his illustrious career and showing his goals and other iconic moments of his career.

In 2012, Matthew Le Tissier stated in an interview that Baggio was the best footballer he had ever played against.