Zoff pays glowing tributes to Italy’s Espana’82 World Cup hero Rossi

Former Italy goalkeeper, Dino Zoff, said the news about Paolo Rossi’s death came ‘out of the blue’ and revealed ‘it’s difficult to understand’.

Zoff revealed ‘they told us about something, but I didn’t think it was so serious’ when he spoke to news agency ANSA about Rossi, who died last night at 64.

read also:De Rossi, Del Piero, Vieri get coaching badges

The two Italy and Juventus teammates helped the Azzurri win the 1982 World Cup and the Scudetto in 1981-82.

“I don’t know what to say, it was completely out of the blue,” Zoff said. “We have always had a great relationship. He was nice and smart.

“We hadn’t heard from each other in a while, they told us something, but I didn’t think it was so serious.

“The relationship with him was wonderful, he was very nice and clever. He had everything to be comfortable. It’s something difficult to understand.”