Written by Matteo Ciaramella
Football is a team game. You have 11 players per side, battling each other to determine who will come out victorious, and who will be defeated. Individuals of all sorts put their differences aside for 90 minutes and work as a unit toward the same objective. Sometimes, however, among these 11 players, emerge pairings, couples, duos. Football history has seen many iconic duos come and go. Starting all the way in the 1950s with Real Madrid’s Ferenc Puskas and Alredo di Stefano, to the 2010s with Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery, it is clear that duos have defined the game and given us fans unforgettable moments. Italian football has also had its fair share of iconic duos, and one in particular is i gemelli del gol – “the goal twins” – Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini, who set Serie A on fire in the 1980s and early 1990s. As much as I would like to talk about them today, however, this article celebrates someone else. Vialli and Mancini are the very first names that come to mind when hearing the words gemelli del gol, and they are deeply embedded in Italian football folklore. We don’t want that. After all, this is “Forgotten Legends”. Today, we talk about the very first goal twins that Italy has ever seen: Paolo “Paolino” Pulici and Francesco “Ciccio” Graziani.
Between 1973 and 1981, the striker duo scored over 200 goals for Torino. A match made in heaven: the acrobatic, athletic, quick target man Pulici excelled in aerial duels, while Graziani was a strong, generous, versatile, creative player who thrived in multiple positions due to his ability to play off of his teammates, making him the perfect partner for Pulici. On a personal level, the two shared a formidable relationship. “We were never jealous of each other. We’ve always compensated each other, always helped each other. Even during difficult moments, when one of us scored and the other one didn’t, we only shared comforting words. It was an amazing relationship.” says Graziani.
The two strikers were hard-working, often being tasked with helping their defense recapture the ball and help in build-up play. They perfectly embodied the tremendismo granata, a philosophy deeply rooted in Torino’s identity. Tremendismo granata started being used in the early 1970s, as journalist Giovanni Arpino coined the term in an attempt to capture Torino’s ferocious style of play. He defined it as “a team of pride, loyalty, anger, aggressiveness, persistence, and fearsome on any occasion, especially when the opponent is of high rank.” This is what Torino was, is, and always will be, which may be why the rivalry with Juventus has always been so fierce. The two teams are both from Turin, though Torino has always represented the local working class through its style of play and relatively modest history, while Juventus is the perennial “queen bee” of Italian football, filled to the brim with star players, playing dominantly, constantly winning trophies, representing the bourgeoisie, and in recent years, becoming a global phenomenon. These values were the exact opposite of what Pulici and Graziani stood for as true personifications of the tremendismo granata spirit, making their 1975-1976 Scudetto win over Juventus ever so sweet.
On the last matchday of the season, as Torino was one point ahead of Juventus in the title race, the two teams prepared to face Cesena and Perugia respectively. During that hard-fought year, the Pulici-Graziani duo reached its peak, as the two went on to score 36 combined league goals. And while the first 35 certainly played their part, it is that 36th goal in the game against Cesena that will always remain in Torino’s history: a diving header by Pulici following an impeccably placed cross by Graziani, winning Torino that title. A perfect way to end a perfect season, with the two star players working together beautifully even when the pressure was highest. A memorable victory over hated rivals, but most importantly, the confirmation of the persisting tremendismo granata spirit by its two major exponents.
The great Paolo “Paolino” Pulici and Francesco “Ciccio” Graziani.
References
https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/francesco-graziani_%28Enciclopedia-dello-Sport%29/
https://www.toronews.net/columnist/nel-segno-del-toro/parliamo-di-tremendismo-granata/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt5N1eq79Eo