History Makers: Roberto Pruzzo

In the latest edition of our History Makers series, we take a look at Roberto Pruzzo - 'Il Bomber' - who is remembered as one of the greatest goalscorers Rome has ever seen.

Some goalscorers are made but the very best, the ones that get you out of your seat and score the match winners time and time again, seem almost to be born to find the back of the net.

The movement to evade their markers, the uncanny ability to score from all angles and seemingly at will; they’re all nature over nurture.

Pruzzo was exactly that, and his instincts in front of goal, his timing of that iconic leap and devastating finishing both on the ground and in the air were unrivalled during his decade with the Giallorossi.

As the great man put it himself: “I scored with my eyes closed, I had a taste for it, I had the radar, I unlocked the defences.”

FROM O REY DI CROCEFIESCHI TO IL BOMBER

Born in Crocefieschi in 1955, Pruzzo initially made his name at hometown club Genoa, where he bagged his first ever Serie A goal against Roma on the opening day of the 1976-77 campaign.

It was there that Pruzzo would earn the name O Rey di Crocefieschi - or 'The King of Crocefieschi' - for his heroics with the Grifone and for whom he scored 68 times in 163 appearances - a record that has him placed fourth on the club’s all-time top scorers list.

His move to the capital would come about in 1978, with Bruno Conti - who had spent a year alongside Pruzzo in Genoa in 1975-76 and would eventually become his partner in crime at the Stadio Olimpico - moving the other way on a season-long loan.

Pruzzo’s signature was highly-sought after and Roma had to part with a then-Italian record three billion lira to get their man.

While Pruzzo’s first campaign with the Giallorossi was fairly middle of the road (12 league goals, a 10th-placed finish and a group exit in the Coppa Italia), that transfer sum was a figure that would soon prove to be a bargain.

The sullen-looking moustachioed striker would score 12 times in the league the following campaign as Roma improved to sixth-place and he would lift the first of his four cup trophies as Coppa Italia’s six-goal top scorer.

On paper, things got even better the following year as Roma finished second and Pruzzo won the Capocannoniere, but the manner in which the Giallorossi let the Scudetto slip was heartbreaking.

Pruzzo reflected at the time that he believed his late winner over Inter on Matchday 21 - that saw Roma move level with Juventus before first toppling the Old Lady and then relinquishing top spot in the final weeks - would seal the title, but there would only be hurt when they ultimately came up short.

He said: “When I scored that goal at Inter, in the last minutes of an unforgettable match at the Olimpico, I really believed that no one could have prevented us from capturing the Scudetto… But what does it matter if Roma didn't [win the league]?”

The eventual disappointment of that campaign almost saw the player and its Capocannoniere-winning striker part ways.

His no-nonsense approach was often misconstrued as uncaring, while a skiing break and Pruzzo having the occasional cigarette were criticised in the media and the man now known as Il Bomber responded in the press by defending himself and his love for Roma.

“I am what I am, I cannot change myself,” he said at the time.

“Sometimes I wish I was less closed and grumpy, but I can't. However, I do not accept that my generosity, my attachment to the shirt, to the club are questioned.”

But any rift was soon healed and, just two years later, Pruzzo and Roma had their hands on the Scudetto.

The centre-forward hit 12 goals in 1982-83, forming the spearhead of Nils Liedholm’s iconic title-winning side that also contained the likes of Franco Tancredi, Carlo Ancelotti, Paulo Roberto Falcao and Conti.

Pruzzo’s rollercoaster time in Rome would also suffer disappointment the following year as the Giallorossi lost the European Cup final on penalties at the Stadio Olimpico.

It was Pruzzo that levelled the scores on the night but his 64th-minute withdrawal denied him the chance to score from the spot and Liverpool went on to lift the trophy on Roma soil.

By the time Pruzzo left for Fiorentina, he did so with the blessing of all involved having left an indelible mark on Rome; the first player in Serie A history to score five goals in one game, he was Roma’s record goalscorer with 138 strikes until a certain Francesco Totti came along.

The Curva Sud serenaded their star man one last time with “Lode a te, Roberto Pruzzo” - “Praise to you, Roberto Pruzzo” - and “E dai Roberto facci un gol, la Curva Sud te lo chiede in coro, e dai Roberto facci un gol” - “Come on Roberto, score for us, the Curva Sud asks you in chorus, for you to come Roberto and score for us" - as the curtain came down on his decade at Roma at the Olimpico on 15 May 1988.

“For me it was an honour to win with Roma,” Pruzzo writes on his website.

“The Curva Sud is an indescribable thing, it has always supported me and there’s a beautiful image of the choreography in my last match where they wrote me "106 TIMES THANKS!’”

A goalscorer, a legend, an icon; here are five of his best in yellow and red…

1. The Pruzzo staple

vs. LAZIO (h)
1979
Serie A

This was a sight seen week-in, week-out while Pruzzo was with the Giallorossi; ball hung up in the box, Pruzzo loses his marker, finds space in the box, and powerfully heads into the corner.

An archetypal Robert Pruzzo goal delivered in the derby in a year that saw Lazio relegated from the top-flight.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

2. The Cup King

vs. Ternana Calcio (h)
1980
Coppa Italia

A four-time Coppa Italia winner with Roma, there had to be a cup goal on this list and what better goal than the one that helped deliver his first trophy.

With the tie in the balance at 1-1 after the first leg, Roma were looking for inspiration and found it in Pruzzo, who scored twice to send his side to the final.

3. The Inter one

vs. INTER MILAN (h)
1981
Serie A

At the time, Pruzzo said this was, “The best goal of my career”.

But he couldn’t hide the fact that it ultimately meant little in the grand scheme of things as Roma drew with Avellino on the final day of the season and came up two points short of Juve.

More than 40 years on, though, we can take it at face value as a stunning, 86th-minute, over the shoulder hook into the top corner that sent the Olimpico wild as Pruzzo delivered all three points in some fashion.

4. The one that sealed the Scudetto

vs. GENOA (a)
1983
Serie A

Pruzzo hit the decisive, Scudetto-clinching goal in 1983, finding the back of the net at Genoa on Matchday 29 as Roma clinched the title with a game to spare.

This was another Pruzzo-prototype - an exquisite looping header that showed his incredible timing and unerring accuracy with his head as Silvano Martina was left helpless in the Genoa goal.

Remember, this man was only 5’10”.

5. The one that so nearly delivered European glory

vs. LIVERPOOL (h)
1984
European Cup

Like the Inter goal, this one is tinged with historical disappointment but it was almost all so different.

Another quite incredible header, Pruzzo this time twists his body to get the ball over his right shoulder and into the far corner.

It’s remarkable how much power he gets behind this, leaving Bruce Grobbelaar with no chance and, at the time, sending the Olimpico into raptures.

What happened next for Pruzzo?

After leaving Roma in 1988, Pruzzo spent one final season with Fiorentina before hanging up his boots and his only goal for the club was one that denied Roma a place in the UEFA Cup.

With the two sides level on points after 34 rounds of matches, they contested a play-off for seventh-place that was decided by the head of Pruzzo, who surmised it thusly: “Unfortunately, it’s the law of the ex.”

Pruzzo would hang up his boots for good after that goal in his final game as a professional and he initially went into coaching.

That took him back to Genoa with the youth team in 2009, but it has been punditry and his hotel in Lido di Camaiore - that he manages with his daughter Roberta - that has taken up the legendary striker’s time in the intervening years.

If we’re lucky, we might one day get a third instalment of L'allenatore nel pallone - 'The coach with the ball' - which starred Pruzzo in both the 1984 original and the 2008 sequel.

Read more in this series:

Gabriel Batistuta
Simone Perrotta
Vincenzo Montella
Rudi Voeller
Damiano Tommasi
Marco Delvecchio
Rodrigo Taddei
Vincent Candela
Pedro Manfredini
Alberto Aquilani
Hidetoshi Nakata
Cafu