The center forward Paolo Rossi, the national Pablito, was superstitious, but with him also his whole team, when he played in Vicenza, long before the 1982 Mundial explosion. Diego Armando Maradona was also superstitious, thanks to his adopted city, Naples.
At the time of the 'Lanerossi' Vicenza all the red and white players entered the field with a bag of salt hidden in their shorts.
Pablito, the most superstitious of all, also wore a spare on the bench, he was so convinced of the power of that gesture.
It is one of the many anecdotes, between history and legend, collected by the journalist Euro Grilli in the book 'Football and superstition'.
During the World Cup in Spain in 1982, Juventus full-back Caudio Gentile grew his mustache and then cut it off.
Midfielder Marco Tardelli hid a holy card in his shin guards and scored the safety goal (3-1) in the final against Germany.
Before entering the field, the Azzurri used to get in a circle and sing the usual refrain.
Bruno Conti knelt in the middle of the locker room and shouted: "Whoever is estranged from the fight" and the chorus of his companions replied: "He is a great son of m ...".
On the day of the final, however, the protagonist was changed: the goalkeeper and captain Dino Zoff knelt in place of Conti and Italy won the World Cup.
The world champions of '82 are the protagonists of some of the funniest stories, and in the book there is also space for Diego Armando Maradona, in the superstitious club as a footballer and then as a coach.
A thousand stories are told, a thousand curiosities, a thousand anecdotes, but many are the result of the Neapolitan popular imagination.
The most famous image is perhaps that of when, as a footballer, before the game.
he kissed the masseur Carmando on the forehead.
Then his mania for playing with untied shoes.
And then the sacred images present on the steps of the San Paolo stadium in Naples, in the stretch that accompanies the players from the changing rooms to the playing field, which Diego used to touch with his hand.
The images were removed and then put back at the request of the fans.
As a coach El Pibe de Oro, during the 2010 World Cup, after the first victory of his Argentina, he entered the field and jumped, then at each game he had a photo taken on the pitch with a delegate of the Argentina national team, then the interview with Argentine TV, always with the same two journalists: Fernando Niembro and Sebastian Vignolo.
After a few minutes he telephoned his daughters Dalma and Giannina.
Before each match he wanted a copy of the front page of the newspaper which twenty-four years earlier reported the second victory of the Argentine national team.
It's not over.
Maradona returned to the parts of the Argentine fans and threw kisses towards the stands at a precise point and towards a fan chosen by Fernando Molina, head of the press office of the Argentine national team.
Back then, the Argentine fans started with the choirs, and among these there was never a "who does not jump English is", given the historical political rivalry with Great Britain.
Finally, one thing that perhaps not everyone knows is that Maradona carried the rosary with him on the bench.
He was superstitious, yes, but a man of faith.