Horncastle: Gonzalo Higuain aims at Gunnar Nordahl's record
It is one of the most hallowed records in the game and for 66 years it has endured without ever really coming under serious threat. Now, at last, Gonzalo Higuain can maybe match it. A brace against the already relegated Frosinone at the San Paolo on Saturday night, a team with the worst defence in Serie A who El Pipita just happened to put two past in January, will be enough.
If not the 35 goals Gunnar Nordahl scored in 37 games in the 1949-50 will continue to stand alone, unequalled. A five-time Capocannoniere, another achievement without rival in Italy, Nordahl couldn’t have been more appropriately named as this Gunnar was of the highest calibre, one of the sharpest shooters Serie A has ever seen.
Nils Liedholm, his compatriot and teammate, one third of Milan’s great Gre-No-LI trident, knew the background. They played together at Norköpping and were part of the Sweden team that won Olympic gold in 1948 and reached the World Cup final in 1950. Nordahl was from Hörnefors in the north-east not far from the Arctic Circle. “He began playing near the North Pole,” Liedholm recalled, “It was very cold up there and his father would repeatedly tell him from the sidelines: ‘If you want to warm up Gunnar, shoot’. And so he was always shooting: from 40, 50 at times 60m and he hit everything he wanted.”
How Nordahl came to Milan is one of the great examples of lo Stile Juve. Milan were in the process of signing Johannes Pløger, the winger known as Aladdin and a member of the Denmark team that beat Great Britain to the bronze medal in London. Their secretary Giannino Gianotti travelled to Paris, ironed out a deal, and arranged for Pløger to return with him to Milan.
When they got to Domodossola, a new passenger joined the train. It was Pløger's BK Frem and Denmark teammate John Hansen, the top scorer at the Olympics, accompanied by the secretary of Juventus. During the journey, Hansen made a mischief of himself. He told Pløger he should follow him and sign for Juventus instead. That way he’d make more money.
By the time the train pulled into Milan’s Stazione Centrale Pløger's mind was made up. Waiting on the platform Milan’s director of sport Antonio Busini picked up one rather than two people. Holding a car door open for Hansen and Pløger was his opposite number at Juventus, Remo Giordanetti. You can imagine the furore it caused.
Eager to make things right, Juventus’ owner and honourable gentleman Gianni Agnelli promised Milan he’d find an alternative for them. He picked up the phone to the Head of FIAT in Stockholm and told him to ask around if there were any other talents in Scandinavia that could make Milan forget Pløger in a hurry. Why yes, Signor Agnelli. There was a player Juventus had optioned, “a terrifying hulk of muscle” who had shared the golden boot with Hansen at the Olympics. In between shifts with the local fire brigade, it just so happened he had scored 93 goals in 95 games for Norköpping.
He’ll do, Agnelli must have thought and on January 9, 1950 Nordahl disembarked at Milan’s Stazione Centrale to begin a new chapter of his career. Thousands of fans had gathered to form a welcoming committee. Amid the commotion, things got a little out of hand. A couple of windows were smashed and in order to get Nordahl out Milan’s owner Umberto Trabattoni and vice-president Mario Mauprivez had to push their way through the crowd.
La Gazzetta dello Sport hailed Agnelli’s spirit of “fair-play” and Milan were more than satisfied. In the end, you might say Pløger did them a favour. Nordahl scored on his debut for Milan. It was the first of 225 in 291 games in Italy, enough to put him second on the all-time list behind Silvio Piola until Francesco Totti overtook him last year. Nordahl established the single-season scoring record in his first full season. In his second, he helped Milan end a 44-year wait for the Scudetto.
Capocannoniere in five of his first six seasons in Italy, he was the first to win it three years running. Only Michel Platini has matched that feat and of all the great strikers Milan have possessed since, from Marco van Basten and George Weah to Nordahl’s compatriot Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the one who got closest to challenging him as Milan’s all-time top scorer was Andriy Shevchenko. Ultimately and despite playing as many seasons as Nordahl, Sheva came up 46 goals short.
They were different times, it’s true. However, it is curious that as the world marvels at Ibrahimovic and the manner in which he is exiting the stage in Paris - I arrived a king and leave a legend - that Sweden’s focus isn’t on Nordahl and whether his record remains intact or not. Nordahl, not Ibrahimovic, is their greatest ever striker. A bold claim you might say. Ibra’s status as Sweden’s all-time top scorer has long been consolidated, but his goal-per-game ratio [0.5] has nothing on Nordahl’s [1.33].
This Saturday is an opportunity to pay homage to Nordahl. Heavens above, it’s saying something that in 66 years since he set the record, only Angelo Valentin Angelillo, Luca Toni and now Higuain have ever come close to it. Strangely for a Fireman, his flame still burns bright. If Higuain doesn’t extinguish his record, it could prove an eternal one.
@JamesHorncastle
