Classic Calciatore
Claudio Garella - The goalkeeper who didn't like to use his hands
CLASSIC CALCIATORE
CLAUDIO GARELLA - THE GOALKEEPER WHO DIDN’T LIKE TO USE HIS HANDS
In the new age where goalkeepers are expected to be good with their feet and join the play and that is considered a little unorthodox to prior generations of fans, goalkeeper Claudio Garella was the definition of unorthodox in the 1980’s. Aside from the fact that he never really looked like to be in the best of shape for a professional athlete, he also decided he would be a goalkeeper that would do his job without using his hands.
Garella’s philosophy was, by his own words, “the important thing is to save, not how you do it.” So Garella would go out and save - with his feet most often, his chest, his stomach, his shoulder, even deciding to do a bicycle kick save for Udinese in Serie B in the late 1980’s. For the purists of calcio in the 1980’s, it was almost sacrilegious. He would mix those unorthodox moments with blockbuster saves showing superb reactions and agility, and then some bonehead errors, leading the press to name those “Garellate.” In fact, Juventus president Gianni Agnelli famously said “Garella is the best goalkeeper in the world, without using his hands though!”
So you may think that someone as unorthodox as Garella spent his time on lower Serie A clubs and never really amounting to anything. Well, you thought wrong. Garella won the Scudetto twice - once with the Hellas Verona cinderella story of 1984/85 (where the fans gave him the superhero name of “Garellik") and then with Napoli in 1986/87 (where according to various reports he was handpicked by Maradona to join Napoli). While he never was able to get a Nazionale call-up (too much competition by his own admission), he etched himself in the calcio history books with his saves and Scudetti.
After Napoli, he finished out his career and Serie B and became a sporting director and manager, only doing so at the amateur levels, as I guess the bigger clubs are afraid he’ll bring his unorthodox style into management.
Highlights of Garella’s saves are below: