Pedro "Piedone" Manfredini is dead: he was the legendary bomber of Rome in the 60s
ROME – They called him ' Piedone l'italiano ', long before Bud Spencer brought his 'Pied the African' to the big screen. It does not matter if Pedro Manfredini, one of the greatest bomber in the history of Rome, was from Argentina in the province of Mendoza. 'Piedone' decided to leave on a cold and rainy afternoon, as he approached the 84 springs, just in the same month in which the radio broadcast 'Tutto il calcio minute by minute' (January 10th) was born, which turned him into legend. Manfredini entered the collective imagination thanks to the enlightened and rhythmic voice of Enrico Ameri, who interrupted – first in history – a colleague, to communicate precisely the goal of the Argentinian bomber to the 35th minute of Inter-Roma. It was January 10th 1960 and a few days before the Italian sport had lost Fausto Coppi (January 2nd).
In the Giallorossi, Pedro arrived in 1959, after a blitz of President Augusto D'Arcangeli, who flew to Latin America in May to offer Racing 60 million, then climbed to 78: the player would have signed a contract of 6 million per year for three seasons. At that point there was to circumvent the rule that limited the employment of the natives: Manfredini, in fact, was the son of Italians, but his position remained in the balance. The Racing proposed to backdate the deposit in November of the year before, to circumvent the limit (birth not earlier than January 1, 1936) imposed by the FIGC for the oriundi in view of the 1959/60 season.
D'Arcangeli took time, starting from May Manfredini began to slip and, when finally the Brazilian Da Costa – another oriundo in the Giallorossi – played the third game in the national team, becoming Italian in all respects, the Rome closed the operation. Manfredini arrives in Italy and the legend of 'Piedone' is born almost by chance. The photographer Brunetti, upon his arrival at Fiumicino, takes him back with the wide angle as he goes down the plane, starting the shot from the foot with which he touches the ground. In the foreground a huge foot appears and the chronicler of the time will comment: "Here is Piedone".
In reality, Manfredini has a poor 42, but it does not matter. Rome embraces his foot that will cut out a place in history to the sound of triplets (9), but above all a title of top scorer with 19 goals in the '62 / 63 championship. Manfredini was the protagonist of an Italy enjoyment, which rode the economic boom. The city of Great Beauty bewitched him so much that he never returned to Argentina. 'Piedone' remained among the people who had loved him more until they left on a sad, cold and wet afternoon.
YouTube, the best goals of Piedone Manfredini
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Source: Blitz Quotidiano