@MauricioLodela

His career spanned across four decades and he faced strikers from Boninsegna to Shevchenko. Diego Maradona called him "Hulk" and Marco van Basten was surprised to hear that he still played when he met him by a pool in Monte Carlo after he had already retired himself. Pietro Vierchowod's father, Ivan, was a Ukrainian soldier in the Red Army. He was captured in Italy during the Second World War and never went back. He settled in Spirano, near Bergamo, where he met the woman he married, and later worked as a mechanic at a motorcycle factory. He raised Pietro strictly and wanted him to learn a trade. Pietro worked as a plumber while playing for his village team. His nickname was Lo Zar (the Czar). He won World Cup with Italy in 1982, the Scudetto with Roma in 1983, spent twelve years at Sampdoria and won their only Scudetto with them in 1991. He had spells at Fiorentina and Milan. At 37 he won the Champions League with Juventus in 1996 and kept playing until he was 41. When he played Maradona and once had him caged, Maradona got out with a pirouette and a nutmeg. Vierchowod chased him down and cornered him again. Maradona laughed and told him: "They're right to call you Hulk. You're only missing the green colour." Van Basten was the one he could not handle. "Marco was the number one. When he was on form he was devastating, impossible to mark. Even for me, I admit it." Years later he ran into Van Basten by a pool in Monte Carlo, where Van Basten lived after his early retirement. Van Basten was surprised to hear he was still playing.