Rainier Plahar
"Mi sento un bambino", Inzaghi says after scoring his 300th Goal against Siena a few weeks back, Siena being the same team Inzaghi scored his first professional goal against. Anyone who has watched the Italian over the years would say his raw passion for the game, his insatiable thirst for goals, and his unrestrained goal celebrations have always invoked thoughts of a child.
Filippo Inzaghi is a footballing wonder. He is not going according to script, he has no pace, he looks like a gust of wind would blow him away, he would not attempt a step over in an exhibition game, yet he is one of the most successful footballers in history. The most wondrous thing about Inzaghi's success surprisingly is the fact that he is still doubted by many as a world class player, as a model professional, and as the legend he truly is.
It's difficult to find another player who has such a polarized following as Inzaghi. Despite all the success some still insist Inzaghi is an eternally offside player who is just incredibly lucky. Conversely, if Inzaghi had any luck at all he would be acclaimed undoubtedly as the brilliant finisher he really is.
Like many footballers without any eye-pleasing skills Inzaghi was overlooked, unheralded in the earliest stages of his career. Piacenza, his hometown club, loaned him twice to Leffe and Verona before finally selling him to Parma. Two goals in 15 games for Parma led to Inzaghi being offloaded to Atalanta after only one season. And that is where the footballing world caught the first glimpse of one of the most lethal finishers of all time. Super Pippo scored 24 league goals for Atalanta winning the caponcannoniere in the process. By then Italy had taken notice of the young predator. He was voted young player of that season, 1996, and Lippi and Juventus came calling. Once again Inzaghi was on the move.
At the Delle Alpi, the striker became part of a fearsome attack involving himself, Del Piero and French legend Zinedine Zidane. Despite his incredible goal per game ratio, the arrival of David Trezeguet however meant less starting opportunities for Inzaghi. On he moved to AC Milan where he has cemented his legacy as an ultimate goal poacher.
Inzaghi's CV is impeccable. He has scored in and won the World Cup with Italy, he has won two Scudetti, has two Champions League winners' medals, and starred in both finals. Who could forget his hat-trick at the Riazor back when Deportivo La Coruna were a darkhorse in European football, or Inzaghi's goals and crazy celebrations in Munich against Bayern where he is also known as the "terror of Bavaria". The name is self explanatory. Who could forget Athens where he epitomised his whole career with two goals in that redemptive final against Liverpool. The first displayed his luck/instinct and the second depicted the impeccable timing of his runs, the skill and brilliant first touch and the finishing that has been the staple of his career. Inzaghi has scored in the finals of the Champions League, Super Cup and the Club World Cup. Super Pippo is the one who broke Gerd Muller's all time European Club scoring record.
With over 300 career goals to his name, a feat equalled by just five other modern day strikers you would believe all doubt over his talent has disappeared. Sadly it has not.
On the surface Inzaghi has no obvious footballing skills, but when you look closely, beneath the "greedy, goal obsessed maniac" you find a disciplined footballer with an incredible first touch and control inside the six yard box, a footballer with supreme positional sense, awesome timing and accuracy with both feet and head, and unrivalled movement off the ball. A player who has courted and mastered the offside rule so well that defenders worry about using the trap against him, concerned he will be one step ahead. And he often is.
Inzaghi still has passion and dedication for the game at the ripe age of 35, still bagging hat-tricks, a true barometer of his high level of discipline and professionalism.
The feeling one gets from watching Inzaghi celebrate a goal is indescribable. Hate him or love him (and there are very few that do not fall into either camp) it is impossible not to get sucked in by the raw emotion on display. It's almost as if Inzaghi conveys a message in his consistently delirious goal celebrations. A message that would most likely say this legend has defeated all the odds, quite literally so. In a league renowned for tough tackling, in an age where strikers are supposed to be strong and skilful, in an ankle and knee injury ridden career that has also seen him change clubs at least eight times, Inzaghi by sheer instinct and will has overcome every single challenge.
His job is to score goals and he does that with distinction. To criticise other parts of his game is as pointless as criticising Gianluigi Buffon's dribbling or Cristiano Ronaldo's tackling. Inzaghi's skills are specific to his role. He has simply achieved too much for his value to be questioned. And that is why he will keep on playing and scoring until his legs give way. Super Pippo has three more years at least left in him until it may be time to call a halt to a wonderful career. And unless his body says no, he will keep clocking up the goals.
Until then we should savour every moment that Pippo gets to that loose ball in the box first and scores. Don't ever think it is random.
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