During a Serie B game in Brescia this past weekend, Pescara coach Gianluca Grassadonia had a sudden drop in blood pressure and passed out. He was promptly assisted and quickly regained consciousness, but the event brought back to memory another, much more dramatic episode that he was involved in 22 years ago, when he was still a player.
On November 29, 1998, Grassadonia was a 26-year-old defender playing for Cagliari. During a Serie A match at the Stadio Friuli, after an unintentional collision with Udinese’s Tomas Locatelli, he suffered a cardiac arrest. He was saved by the Bianconeri’s doctor Giorgio Indovina, who successfully performed a CPR, after Cagliari goalkeeper Alessio Scarpi provided first aid with a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
And so, a rather uneventful game between Udinese and Cagliari – that, for the record, ended 2-1 for the Friulani – went down in history as the day of an averted tragedy and of short-lasting fame for the then 25-year-old Scarpi, one of the many journeyman goalkeepers swarming the Serie A back in the 1990s.
A solid, reliable shot-stopper, Alessio Scarpi is a goalkeeper coach at Genoa nowadays. As a player, he amassed 354 caps in Italian football over a 17-year-spanning career, wearing the jerseys of Reggina, Cagliari, Ancona, and Genoa, and also had a very short stint at Inter that resulted in no presences.
During his prime, he was that kind of experienced goalkeeper who relegation-battling clubs would rely on to mind their staggering posts. But few would remember him today, had not been for his promptness in coming to his teammate’s aid and performing a life-saving maneuver.
It was a freezing day in Udine on November 29, 1998, and that perhaps can help explain how a seemingly harmless collision risked turning into a tragedy. Video images don’t help much. On 58 minutes, with Cagliari trailing by one, Gianluca Grassadonia slide-tackled Tomas Locatelli. As he fell, the Udinese man hit the back of Grassadonia’s head with his left knee. Nothing out of ordinary, it would seem.
But something was wrong. The Cagliari defender laid unconscious, motionless. It took a split second to understand that something terrible was about to happen – or, perhaps, no, it was not so obvious and full credit must be given to Alessio Scarpi for promptly realizing the gravity of the situation while the game went on.
Scarpi left the posts and put his lips on his teammates’ once, twice, pumping air into his lungs. Then the Udinese doctor Giorgio Indovina arrived and started performing a cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He did it three times as the Stadium had plummeted in an unreal silence. Then Grassadonia finally shuddered. He opened his eyes and moved his legs. He was back to life.
As he was carried away on a stretcher to be hospitalized, the match restarted as if nothing had happened. Grassadonia suffered no consequences and on that very same night he was able to be interviewed via phone during a TV program to reassure the audience about his conditions. He did not remember anything about the match, let alone the episode that had risked taking his life.
Alessio Scarpi, on the other hand, restarted to do what he was mostly meant to – save goals. He made a couple of great saves but could not avoid Cagliari to lose on that day. When interviewed after the game, he noted in a matter-of-fact tone that they had suffered Udinese’s high pressing and that, after all, the Friulani had deserved to win. Just like nothing else remarkable had happened on that day.
The following day, Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport awarded him a 10 out of 10 in their player ratings, the first time in their history they honored a player with a perfect ten. The comment simply read:
“He saved a life, not a goal.”
MATCH REPORT
November 29, 1998 – Serie A 1998-99 Round 11
UDINESE-CAGLIARI 2-1
SCORERS: 34′ Bachini (U), 64′ M. Amoroso (U), 87′ De Patre (C)
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UDINESE (3-5-2): Turci; Gargo, Calori, Bertotto; Jorgensen (70′ Pineda); Appiah, Locatelli (65′ Walem), Giannichedda, Bachini; M. Amoroso (81′ Sosa), P. Poggi (Wapenaar, Genaux, Bisgaard, Molinari) Coach: Guidolin |
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CAGLIARI (3-4-3): Scarpi; Villa, Grassadonia (58′ Centurioni), Zebina; Cavezzi, Berretta (46′ De Patre), O’Neill, Macellari; Vasari (45′ Mazzeo), Kallon, Muzzi (Franzone, Nyathi, C. Zanetti, Mboma) Coach: Ventura |
REFEREE: Mr. Bolognino from Milan
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Locatelli (U), Villa, Macellari, Centurioni, De Patre (C)