posted by Baggiesboy

(Yes, you read that title up there correctly. The mysterious Bagman happens to be good mates with first-ballot No Mas Hall-of-Famer Giorgio Chinaglia. Well, “mates” might be overstating the case a little. But evidently, when the Great Bag comes-a-calling, ole GC picks up his celly, and that’s good enough for us. -L)

By chance, a couple of years ago, I happened to be in Venice on the last night of Carnevale. It was a night of wonders: an open-air masked ball replete with gorgeous costumes and stilt walking fire-eaters all capped by a spectacular fireworks display over the Grand Canal. This week the UEFA Champions League version of the old Anglo-Italian Cup resumes, and I’m expecting to see a few more Italian pyrotechnics.

At half time of the England-Italy smack down for ‘world’s best league supremacy,” bragging rights are very much in the balance. Manchester United dominated in Milan against Inter only to be stoned by Julio Cesar. Claudio Ranieri was deserving of a better fate at Stamford Bridge than a 1-0 loss for his Juventus charges, but the ex-Chelsea boss is probably used to not getting his just desserts in West London. Roma are presumably happy to escape a 7-1 hiding any time on their English travels, and will be confident of turning over the first leg lead of Arsene Wenger’s young Gunners, an Arsenal team not expected to make a second visit to the Eternal City at the end of May.

Now, I’m not much of a prognosticator (ed. note – I believe the term it’s “prognostificator,” Bagman) , every week in my online ‘Predictorship pool” I pick the Albion to win 2-0 , but I’m certain of one thing this week, there will be fireworks. The long-running football-calcio cultural exchange program is littered with more fistfights than goals. Back in 1970, my beloved Baggies had a much less savory Venetian experience than my own , but no less memorable: it featured a match against Lanerossi Vicenza in the actual Anglo-Italian Cup. That game was abandoned after 75 minutes due to what one report described as: ‘fighting both on the pitch and in the stands.”

That version of the Anglo-Italian Cup was so infamous for its bad blood that it was quickly scrapped. Later on, efforts to revive the tournament resulted in more Mediterranean mayhem than a romantic stroll by Michael Corleone in the Sicilian sunshine. So, what of this week? I checked in for a quick lesson on Fireworks 101 with the most volcanic roman candle of them all: Giorgio Chinaglia.

These days, among other things, the Cosmos legend hosts his own soccer talk show on Sirius XM radio, and strives to clear his name in the Italian courts after being accused of participating in a share scam involving his former team Lazio and assorted members of the Naples mafia. Chinaglia, to say the least, is a fascinating character.

Now, I don’t buy into the myth of the Cosmos , the NASL featured way too many aging stars and British journeymen looking for a stateside summer holiday and a quick buck to take the league seriously , but Chinaglia sure does: ‘The Cosmos transcended soccer,” he bellows. ‘Every Cosmos home game was an event.”

The man talks like he played: blunt and potent. ‘I was the best player the Cosmos ever had, period. Yes, I was better than Pelé. Of course, Pelé is the world’s greatest soccer player of all time, but when he came to the Cosmos he was already done and you can’t change that. People lie, but numbers don’t lie. I scored in every game. If you don’t score goals, you don’t win games, and I scored 243 goals in 256 games for the Cosmos.”

But long before he was blazing a trail across the Cosmos, Chinaglia was a pantomime villain in the formative days of the England-Italy club rivalry. In 1970, he gained the first red card of his career in an Anglo-Italian Cup encounter with Wolves. ‘There were always fights,” is his summary of that historic moment. ‘It was the end of the season,” he adds. ‘The players just wanted to go on vacation.” The Lazio players gained their early summer break by losing to Sunderland as well as Wolves. To be fair, the following year when several Arsenal and Lazio players engaged in a back alley brawl after a first leg Fairs Cup game in Rome, Chinaglia was in a restaurant enjoying a glass of wine with his old Swansea teammate John Roberts, who was playing for the Gunners at the time.

These days, players tend to fight in the tunnel. But Chinaglia doesn’t expect any of that this week: ‘Too much respect, too much at stake. Every game will be tactical and very tight.” In Turin, he thinks it will be a mistake for Chelsea to ‘sit back,” and while it probably won’t please the Lazio ultra’s that still adore him, Chinaglia claims that ‘Arsenal will find it difficult in Rome.” As for predictions, he will only give one: Manchester United will beat Inter. ‘United are playing too well, they have too many players,” he says.

When I informed Chinaglia that I think Jose Mourinho will find a way to upset Sir Alex Ferguson once again (its why the away goals rule was invented), the Roman Candle quickly flamed: ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Let’s face it, there really is nothing like an Italian fireworks display.