When Richard, Joe and I were growing up in the '90s, there was one European football show that we and many of our generation all gravitated towards.
In needs little introduction other than a lung-busting 'GOOOOOAALLLLLLAAZZZZZZZO!'
Gazzetta Football Italia was a staple in the football diet on Channel 4 until 2002 when it made its way to another station, before petering out.
It goes without saying that one puntastic presenter also made the show what it was, and that man was James Richardson, who currently fronts BT Sport's European coverage and is the anchor on Guardian Football Weekly.
He was kind enough to join us on this week's Team 33 to take a nostalgia trip back to Football Italia's halcyon days.
Listen into the full nostalgia interview with James via the podcast player below (1 minute in) or download the podcast via iTunes:
From looking back at the time when then-Lazio star Paul Gascoigne was supposed to front the programme to the reasons why Roberto Baggio, Beppe Signori and Gianluca Vialli were his favourite interviewees, James shared plenty of anecdotes about players and skits.
He also talks about how Italia 90 and Sky Sports' commandeering of Premier League rights helped, wondered whether the show would work in today's post-Internet era, and gave his take on Serie A's fall from grace in the last decade (which we discussed with a Milanese twist last week).
Plus, James also tells us about his favourite pastry from his newspaper-cluttered piazza pieces-to-camera on Gazzetta.
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