A Pele he saved a penalty, with Maradona lived together for some time as a technician with Naples, had as opponents Rivera e Mazzola, Riva e Sivori, was a goalkeeper in the 60s and 70s Rome, with whom he won two Italian Cups and an Anglo-Italian Cup, but also played in Verona and in Fiorentina. It was a footballing life as a protagonist spent among the greatest champions that of Alberto Ginulfi, died today in his beloved capital, where he was born in 1941 in the San Lorenzo neighborhood.
A regular presence, with a proud frown, among the Panini stickers, when they were still stuck on with coccoina, Ginulfi had a personal album of memories that is difficult to compare, even if his fame is linked above all to that memorable event of 3 March 1972 at the Olimpico when, in a friendly between Roma and Santos, he saved a penalty from O Rei.
“What I remember most about that day was the recognition he gave me afterwards – Ginulfi recalled the day after the disappearance of the Brazilian champion -. He left me his shirt and at the end of the match he invited me to the Brazilian embassy in Piazza Navona, for the next day. Pelè was a legend for me”. That shirt was one of the most important memorabilia for the Giallorossi goalkeeper, who spoke of it almost with affection: “It was a real one, not like the ones we have now. Long sleeves, embroidered shield and numbers attached with thread”.
He kept it hidden, resisting every loan and purchase request. But that wasn't the only meeting between the Black Panther and Ginulfi, who has an even fonder memory dating back to two or three years earlier: in another friendly with Santos at the Flaminio, he was deployed in goal only in the second half - he wasn't a starter at the time - and made incredible saves. An agent told him that Pelè had praised him highly and even suggested hiring him.
“That was rewarding, more than the penalty.” From one ace to another, when he retired from playing football at the end of the 1977 season, Ginulfi became a goalkeeping coach and worked at Napoli during the times of Diego Armando Maradona, Ottavio Bianchi and then Bigon. Of course, as he loved to say, the Pibe didn't need to be trained but he enjoyed taking free kicks with him.
“He was the greatest of all – he certified -. I even wrote it at home on a photo of him with a dedication." The photograph and a shirt, religiously guarded together with that of the Santos champion. Roma and its fans, but also Verona and Fiorentina, have expressed their condolences on social media for the passing of the one defined by some as the Roma goalkeeper “more Roman and Roma fan than ever”.
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