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#2 Italy vs Brazil, 1982 World Cup
Brazil were heavy favorites to win the 1982 World Cup with a team that included world-class players like Socrates, Zico and Falcao to name a few.
Brazil were terrific throughout the tournament, having won all their group games and defeating Argentina 3-1 in their first match of the second group stage.
Italy had a very slow start to the tournament as they did not win any of their group games but managed to beat Argentina 2-1 in the second group stage.
Italy and Brazil were up against one another to determine who would qualify for the semi-finals. The match was held at the Sarria Stadium in Barcelona and an estimated crowd of 44000 came to witness the encounter.
For Brazil, a draw was sufficient for them to go through to the semis due to a superior goal-difference over the Italians.
The Italian defense was put to task from the beginning as the Brazilian shot several volleys towards the goal. The tenacious Claudio Gentile who marked Maradona, was given the task of marking Zico.
However, it was Italy who took the lead thanks to Paolo Rossi who headed a cross from Antonio Cabrini into the net. The Brazilians were not ones to back down and it took them only seven minutes to equalise thanks to the physician on their side, Socrates.
Moments after Socrates' goal, Gentile made a tackle on Zico which earned him a yellow card and suspension from the semi-final if Italy were to make it.
Italy restored their lead in the 25th minute when Rossi intercepted a pass from Cerezo and shot it past Brazilian custodian Waldir Peres.
Brazil threw everything they had on Italy but the Italian backside consisting of Cabrini, Gentile, Scirea and young substitute Giuseppe Bergomi were extremely resilient. 40-year old goalie Dino Zoff was put to the test but he continued to foil the Brazilians.
Brazil found their equaliser in the 68th minute when Falcao collected a pass from Junior and found the net from 20 yards.
Six minutes later, Italy had a corner and Gaetano Scirea's corner saw Bergomi and two Brazil players vying for the ball. The ball was not cleared and went towards Marco Tardelli who shot the ball which was later hit into the net by Paolo Rossi to complete his hat-trick and give Italy the lead.
This was Italy's second hat-trick in the FIFA World Cup with their first coming nearly 5 decades ago by Angelo Schiavio against USA in 1934.
Antognioni scored a fourth for The Azzurri but it was ruled offside. During the final moments of the game, Eder took a free-kick which was headed by Oscar towards the goal but Zoff made a terrific save to deny Brazil the equaliser.
The match ended with Italy prevailing 3-2 and going to the semi-finals. Brazil's World Cup journey came to an end.
Brazil's 1982 team still remains to be amongst the greatest teams not to win a World Cup but they were beaten fair and square by an Italian team in a match which is one of the greatest matches in the history of the game.
