Roberto Baggio: Il Divin Codino, the Divine Ponytail

Every generation gets one player who makes football look like poetry. For anyone who grew up on Football Italia, that player was Roberto Baggio. Il Divin Codino. The Divine Ponytail.

The Number 10 who did it his way

Baggio wasn't built in a lab. He was elegant, fragile and completely uncoachable in the best way. He drifted between the lines, saw passes nobody else saw and scored goals that made grown men cry into their espresso.

Fiorentina to Juventus

In 1990 he moved from Fiorentina to Juventus, and Florence lost its mind. Fans took to the streets in protest. It tells you everything about what he meant to people. This wasn't a transfer. It was a heartbreak.

Ballon d'Or, 1993

At Juventus he became the best player in the world, winning the Ballon d'Or in 1993. Ponytail, socks down, no fuss. The perfect Number 10.

USA 94: the summer he carried Italy

Italy limped through the group stage. Then Baggio took over. Two goals against Nigeria, the winner against Spain, two more against Bulgaria in the semi final. He dragged a country to the final in Pasadena on his own.

The penalty

And then the shootout against Brazil. Baggio stepped up and put it over the bar. The image of him standing still, head down, is one of the most famous in football history. The cruellest ending for the man who got them there. Read more in USA 94: the weirdest World Cup.

The journeyman genius

He went on to play for Milan, Bologna, Inter and finally Brescia, where he finished his career in 2004 still scoring goals that belonged in a gallery. A Buddhist, a gentleman and a maverick to the very end.

Why Baggio matters to us

Modern football would have him on a data sheet. 90s football let him play. That's the whole point of Dynamo Lemons. Read our manifesto, or see how Football Italia made us.

Got a favourite Baggio moment? Tell us on Instagram @dynamo.lemons, and sign for the club.