Soccer: Verona 'miracle scudetto' coach Bagnoli dies

Osvaldo Bagnoli, the former manager

who led unheralded Hellas Verona to a 'miracle scudetto' against

all the Serie A giants in 1985, died in a Verona hospital aged

91 Friday.

Bagnoli, who went on to coach Inter Milan and Genoa in the

Italian top flight, was in charge of a team which featured

several promising players who had been unable to fulfil their

potential until then, such as Pietro Fanna, Roberto Tricella,

and Antonio Di Gennaro, but who later played a key role in the

club's league title success as they matured.

The additions of Hans-Peter Briegel in midfield and of Danish

striker Preben Elkjær to an attack that already featured the

wing play of Fanna, the creative abilities of Di Gennaro and the

scoring touch of Giuseppe Galderisi were to prove crucial.

At the time a Juventus team stuffed with 1982 World Cup winners,

and a star-studded Roma team, were the dominant forces in

Italian football.

Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) President Giovanni Malagò said

FRiday the Verona scudetto "was one of the finest and most

sentimental pages in Italian soccer history".

Bagnoli was inducted into Italian football's Hall of Fames in

2017.

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