Taffarel Claudio
Cláudio André Mergen Taffarel is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. During an 18-year career he played professionally for five clubs, including Parma, Atlético Mineiro and Galatasaray. The recipient of more than 100 caps for Brazil, Taffarel helped the national team win the 1994 World Cup, also appearing in other eight major international tournaments over the course of one full decade. Taffarel and his former Atlético Mineiro teammate Paulo Roberto started up a player agency, with the focus mainly on promising youngsters. During the 1998 World Cup, when the Brazilian national team was training at Trois-Sapins stadium in Ozoir-la-Ferrière, a suburb southeast of Paris, the town’s mayor proposed renaming the stadium after him.
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This shirt was worn by Claudio Taffarel during the friendly game between the selection of Brazilian Players playing in Europe and Internazionale F.C. which took place on April 16th 1991. The game was also Alessandro Altobelli farewell’s game.
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In 1990, Taffarel moved abroad and joined Parma A.C. in Italy, freshly promoted to Serie A for the first time in its history; he proceeded to appear in all 34 league games in the following campaign, as the Emilia-Romagna side finished in sixth position and qualified to the UEFA Cup.
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Taffarel made his debut for Brazil on 7 July 1988 in the Australia Bicentenary Gold Cup, playing all four games and conceding two goals in an eventual win. He was also in goal for the following year’s Copa América, in another international conquest (during his ten-year career, he appeared in five editions of the latter tournament). Taffarel was the starter for the nation during the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States, only allowing one goal in the first round and two in the knock-out phases, excluding two penalty kicks in the final. Four years later, in France, he helped the national team finish second, notably saving two penalties in the 4–2 shootout win over the Netherlands in the semi-finals. Taffarel played 101 times with the Seleção. Upon his retirement in 2003, coach Carlos Alberto Parreira offered to arrange a farewell match but the player refused, stating that he was not interested in such fanfare; he did return to play alongside Romário in late 2004 against Mexico, to commemorate the 1994 World Cup victory at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
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Taffarel was known to be quick when coming off his line, and was also highly regarded for his flair and skill with the ball at his feet, having played as a forward in his youth. Due to his lack of height, however, as well as his poor handling and decision-making, he struggled at times when dealing with crosses, and was not particularly confident or decisive when coming off his line to catch high balls; as such, critical reception of Taffarel was often divided throughout his career. While he drew praise from the Brazilian fans and media for his decisive performances with the Brazilian national team, which even earned him the nickname “Saint Taffarel” in the Brazilian media, he also drew criticism at times from Italian pundits over the mental aspect of his game, and his lack of development during his time in Serie A, which made him unreliable and prone to technical errors on occasion, despite his shot-stopping ability and generally high-quality gameplay, as well as his capacity to produce excellent saves. Moreover, his struggles to cope with his nerves are thought to have impeded him from succeeding consistently at the highest level with top European clubs throughout his career, despite his success and reputation. Ahead of the 1998 FIFA World Cup Final, Mike Penner of the Los Angeles Times speculated that Taffarel, and the goalkeeping position more broadly, was the “weak link” of an otherwise world class Brazilian national side, due to the lack of top goalkeepers in Brazilian football at the time; indeed, prior to the tournament, Reuters had dismissed Taffarel as: “One of around a dozen goalkeepers in Brazil of roughly the same standard.”
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In 1993, Taffarel, who became a backup at Parma, signed for fellow A.C. Reggiana 1919, where he was first-choice in a narrow escape from relegation. The 1993-1994 season was the first Serie A season for the team after 64 years since the last Serie A appearance. The team was built for the season was very good with other expert players like Luigi De Agostini, Massimiliano Esposito, Michele Padovano and Paolo Futre. Afterwards, he returned to his home country and played three years with Clube Atlético Mineiro.
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Regarded as one of the greatest Brazilian goalkeepers of all time, Taffarel was known to be a rational, effective, and generally consistent keeper, with good fundamental goalkeeping technique, who favoured an efficient rather than spectacular playing style. His main attributes were his explosive reflexes, positional sense, and calm composure in goal, as well as his penalty-stopping abilities; due to the muscle power in his legs that he developed while playing beach volleyball in his youth, he was known for his surprising spring and elevation from a standstill position, despite his modest stature, which gave him significant hang time and aided him in stopping penalties.
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In 1995 Taffarel returned to his home country and played three years with Clube Atlético Mineiro. Aged 32, he returned to Europe and joined Galatasaray SK, winning six major trophies during his three-year stint, most notably two Süper Lig titles and the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup, a 4–1 penalty shootout defeat of Arsenal where he was chosen Man of the match (0–0 after 120 minutes); He closed out his career at the age of 37 with former club Parma, after one-and-a-half seasons as second-choice and after having refused an offer from Empoli FC: his car broke while he was going to sign the contract, which he later described as a “sign of God”.