Baggio has been firing on all cylinders in Serie A lately

Rome: Roberto Baggio’s long goodbye to professional soccer began last December, when he told a regional television station that he planned to hang up his boots at the end of the Serie A season.

His reappearance for the Italian national team, more than five years after he last pulled on the famous blue shirt, in a friendly against Spain in Genoa on Wednesday could lead to his farewell being stretched well beyond May 16, however.

Baggio’s unlikely call-up at the age of 37 was a gift from national coach Giovanni Trapattoni after the striker reached the milestone of 200 Serie A goals during Brescia’s 2-2 draw with Parma on March 14.

That made Baggio the fifth-highest Serie A scorer of all time, behind Silvio Piola, Gunnar Nordahl, Giuseppe Meazza and Jose Altafini.

Since then the ‘Divine Ponytail’ has shown no sign of slowing down, scoring another four goals to take his season’s tally to 11. Trapattoni, who closed the door firmly on Baggio before the 2002 World Cup, knows his charitable gesture could backfire and prompt calls for Baggio to be included in Italy’s squad for Euro 2004.

Of Italy’s established international strikers, only Francesco Totti (20 goals) and Christian Vieri (13) top Baggio’s total.

With AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi struggling to shake off an ankle injury and Juventus’ Alessandro del Piero locked in a period of dreadful form, Baggio has the chance to stake his claim for a place in Portugal and add to his total of 27 goals in 55 international appearances.

Baggio has never hidden his love for Italy’s famous blue shirt. It remains one of the few constants in a career during which he has worn the colours of most of Italy’s leading clubs.

Having made his Serie A debut in 1986 aged 19 for Fiorentina, Baggio went on to play for Juventus, AC Milan, Bologna, Inter Milan and finally Brescia.

His finest years as a player were crowned by Fifa’s World Player of the Year award in 1993 and Serie A titles with Juventus in 1995 and Milan in 1996 but they were also blighted by frosty relationships with the men who coached him.

In his 2001 autobiography, A Door in the Sky, Baggio described Marcello Lippi, who coached him at Juventus and Inter, as “my iron sergeant... he conducted a war against me without a minute’s respite, without plausible motives, without sense or logic”.

He also detailed his estrangement from Fabio Capello at Milan and his falling-out with ex-Italy coach Arrigo Sacchi, who coached Italy to the 1994 World Cup final.