Roberto Baggio has claimed Nicolò Zaniolo’s “desire” could help the Roma winger get to the European Championship this summer.

After a successful surgery on the ruptured ACL, Zaniolo is expected to be out for the next five to six months and the former Italy hero Baggio went through a similar injury ahead of the World Cup.

It took the former No10 only two and a half months before he was back on his feet and scored on his return to club football ahead of the 2002 World Cup.

Roberto Baggio has claimed Nicolò Zaniolo’s “desire” could help the Roma winger get to the European Championship this summer.

After a successful surgery on the ruptured ACL, Zaniolo is expected to be out for the next five to six months and the former Italy hero Baggio went through a similar injury ahead of the World Cup.

It took the former No10 only two and a half months before he was back on his feet and scored on his return to club football ahead of the 2002 World Cup.

“Just like Nicolò, I had a short-term goal,” Baggio told Corriere dello Sport. “I was aiming for the World Cup; he has the European Championship.”

Despite ending the season with 11 goals in 12 League matches, the former Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni decided he wasn’t fit to play in the tournament hosted by Japan and South Korea.

But Baggio has claimed it was his “desire” to play in the World Cup that brought him back so quickly and said it could make the difference for Zaniolo as well.

“To have the desire is the only thing that makes a difference in cases like this,” Baggio said. “Of course, the key is a successful intervention.

“But I worked really hard, I worked overtime and would have gone to Japan in a minute.”

The Divine Ponytail also looked back and revealed why 2002 hurt more than the 1994 World Cup during the Festival dello Sport in Trento in October last year.

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