Wednesday 2 March 2016 16:16, UK
Giuseppe Rossi is getting his injury-hit career back on track at La Liga strugglers Levante. And with Euro 2016 around the corner, the former Manchester United prodigy is chasing his first call-up for a major tournament with Italy. Nick Wright reflects on his extraordinary journey...
In the late 1950s, a young man named José Besalduch moved to Valencia and took a job in construction on a tower block overlooking Levante's old Vallejo stadium. The building was not yet fitted with elevators, but every other weekend he and his co-workers would climb the steps to the fifth floor and watch the action unfold on the pitch beneath them.
Besalduch is 85 now, but those Sunday afternoons suspended above Vallejo were the beginning of an unlikely love affair with Valencia's other club. "My father was a Valencia fan," he told local newspaper Levante-EMV in 2014. "He had already made it clear to me: 'Do not support Levante. You will suffer all your life and they will never win anything.'"
But Besalduch ignored the advice, and has followed Levante religiously ever since - despite his father being proven right. Reaching the Copa del Rey semi-finals in 1935 remains the closest brush with silverware in their 106-year history, and Les Granotes spent four of the last six decades marooned in Spain's second and third divisons.
It was enough to test anyone's faith, but Besalduch was always there. Over half a century of dedication has earned him the nickname El Gasolina among fellow fans, and after years in the doldrums, Levante are now battling to make it seven straight seasons in La Liga. "Now when I watch a match with 17,000 spectators, sometimes I cry with the emotion," said Besalduch. "After all I've seen before, I cry easily."
In January, Besalduch's emotion was caught on television cameras at the unveiling of former Manchester United striker Giuseppe Rossi. The Italy international, now 29, had agreed to swap Champions League-chasing Fiorentina for La Liga's bottom club in a bid to revive his career, and Besalduch was overcome with joy as he embraced their prestigious loan signing in a crowd of Levante fans.
"I am so happy to see you," he said, his voice cracking with emotion. "We'll see each other every day. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you so much for coming and for choosing our Levante. Thank you so much, because you had other clubs, we know that, and you chose our Levante."
For Rossi, too, the journey has been emotional. The 29-year-old is well-known to Spanish football fans having scored 82 goals in 192 appearances for Villarreal from 2007 to 2012, but between bursts of brilliance his career has been punctuated by devastating injuries, repeated knee operations and endless months of rehabilitation.
Rossi hails from New Jersey on the east coast of the United States, but at the age of 12 he crossed the Atlantic to join Parma's renowned youth academy in the homeland of his Italian-immigrant parents. Rossi was a rising star, and it wasn't long before Manchester United took advantage of financial turmoil at the Serie A club to steal the speedy little striker away to Old Trafford.
A 16-year-old Rossi made his first senior appearance in an FA Cup tie against Crystal Palace in November 2004, and 11 months later, he scored on his Premier League debut after replacing Ruud van Nistelrooy in a 3-1 win over Sunderland. Sir Alex Ferguson described him as the "future of this club" when he was handed a new contract in 2006, but it wasn't to be.
After an unsuccessful loan spell at Newcastle and a more prosperous one at his old club Parma in 2006/07, the 5ft 8ins striker was deemed too lightweight to make it in the Premier League. And with a long line of forwards ahead of him in the Old Trafford pecking order, he was granted a £6.7m move to Manuel Pellegrini's Villarreal, where he replaced his former team-mate Diego Forlan.
In Spain, Rossi set about showing Ferguson what he was missing. His explosive speed, excellent close-control and instinctive finishing came to the fore in his new surroundings, and Villarreal secured an historic second-placed La Liga finish in his first season. From 13, to 15, to 17, his goal tallies just kept rising, and in a stunning 2010/11 campaign he netted a club-record 32 times in 56 games.
Rossi had been a full Italy international since his debut in 2008 but he was surprisingly omitted from their 2010 World Cup squad, and in October 2011 his right knee agonisingly buckled in a challenge with Real Madrid's Xabi Alonso at the Bernabeu. Six months on the sidelines followed, but far worse was still to come.
Rossi was just days away from returning to action the following April when his knee gave away again in training. "As soon as I saw him, I knew it was the same thing," said Villarreal physio Manuel Telló at the time. "He's completely depressed." Rossi had hoped to play his way into Euro 2012 contention and Italy coach Cesare Prandelli was even planning a personal visit, but with that his hopes were dashed.
It was a career-threatening setback, and it wasn't just Rossi who suffered. Without their talisman, Villarreal were relegated from La Liga for the first time since 1998/99. The striker had played his last game for the Yellow Submarine, and in January 2013, despite Rossi undergoing three knee ligament operations in the previous 18 months, Fiorentina paid 10 million euros to take him back to Italy.
Rossi was hoping to reward the Viola's faith by returning for the final months of the 2012/13 Serie A season, but it wasn't until the last day of the campaign that he was able to make his long-awaited debut - 571 days on from that fateful day at the Bernabeu.
Rossi had shown remarkable perseverance through the dark months on the sidelines, and in the first half of the 2013/14 campaign, he reminded everyone exactly what he was capable of. By Christmas, he was top of the Serie A scoring charts with 16 goals in 17 appearances - including a stunning 14-minute hat-trick in a 4-2 win over champions Juventus.
His manager Vicenzo Montella described him as a "genius of football" and there was a return to the international fold too - but in January 2014, disaster struck again. Fiorentina were 1-0 up against Livorno when a cynical foul from defender Leandro Rinaudo damaged the same knee ligaments for a third time. As the realisation dawned on him, Rossi pulled his shirt over his face and left the field in tears.
There would be no World Cup 2014 call-up, and complications eventually kept him out for the entirety of last season. When he finally returned as a late substitute in a 3-1 defeat to Torino last August, he had gone another 456 days without kicking a ball. This time, however, there was no explosive comeback.
Rossi struggled to recapture his best form, and when the January transfer window came around, he had scored just twice in 16 games. After so many months on the sidelines and with Euro 2016 just around the corner, Rossi - still dreaming of a first major tournament appearance for his country - needed a change.
He couldn't say no to Levante's offer of regular playing time in a league he knows well, and his arrival was a coup for one of Spain's most unfashionable clubs. "You can see from the first minute he got here that he's revolutionised not only the club, but his team-mates," said Levante manager Rubi. "They're delighted to have a team-mate of his ilk, and that ultimately benefits us all."
You can see from the first minute he got here that he's revolutionised not only the club but his team-mates.
Rossi's return to Villarreal on Sunday ended in a 3-0 defeat that kept Levante four points away from safety, but there have been encouraging signs too. Rossi scored on his first start for the club against Sevilla at the end of January, and there was another goal and an assist in a 3-0 win over Getafe.
On Wednesday night, things will come full circle when Rossi's new side host Real Madrid, the opponent against whom his injury hell started back in 2011. Around Levante's new stadium, there are no fifth-floor viewpoints for opportunist supporters, but Besalduch will be there. Hoping, waiting. Just like Rossi.
Watch Levante v Real Madrid live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 7.45pm on Wednesday. Or watch for £6.99 without a contract, on NOW TV.
