Grabbi grabs Blackburn win over Toffees

13 April 2012

Corrado Grabbihas only one regret after breaking his goal duck for Blackburn Rovers ? being gazumped for Gazza?s shirt.

The striker, signed from Italian second division side Ternana for £6.75million in the summer, was a huge admirer of Paul Gascoigne during his time at Lazio. But the closest Grabbi came to seeing his idol during his time in Italy was in a sticker album.

He said: ?Gazza is a fantastic player and a crazy man ? and I like crazy people. He smiled when I told him it was great to be playing against him instead of just seeing him in pictures.

?I told him I wanted his shirt but it was not possible because somebody from Everton came and took it off him. He told me: ?Ciccio, the next time you play against Everton, I will give it to you?.?

Gascoigne, who has admitted this week that he is fighting a battle against alcoholism, treated Grabbi and his team-mates to a masterclass, ruling the roost in midfield and inspiring Everton?s domination of huge chunks of the game, his first Premiership start since November.

It was Grabbi, however, who profited from any inspiration that Gascoigne provided. The Italian had failed to scorein six Premiership outings, prompting Blackburn manager Graeme Souness to question the player?s past relations with the witching fraternity. Any curse looked likely to continue when he rattled the stanchion from a set-piece early in the first half. Grabbi said: ?After my first shot I thought that it was not going to be my day. But I work all the time for the team and when you are running so much you can?t score every time you are in the box. My name is Grabbi, not Marco van Basten.?

The Italian did have a chance, though, to follow in the Dutch striker?s footsteps at AC Milan, one of a number of clubs to court his signature during the summer. But he feared younger competition at the San Siro, shunned Torino because of the eight years spent at rivals Juventus, balked at the money offered by Fiorentina and did not find Udinese sufficiently appealing.

Early indications are that Grabbi, having settled in the area with his new-born baby, is happy with his choice of club and his relationship with the Blackburn supporters. He said: ?The fans were chanting my name before the game, so it was important to score my first goal for them, the manager, my physio and the team.?

If the patience shown by the Blackburn support towards Grabbi was virtuous, the reaction of sections of the travelling Everton support verged on the indecent. Manager Walter Smith was booed every time he approached the touchline and his substitutions were met by an even more vocal reaction.

The height of the agitation coincided with another sustained period of Everton superiority and Thomas Gravesen?s replacement, Joe- Max Moore, forced his fellow American Brad Friedel to make a fingertip save on to the post. Smith even had to shoot down speculation of a bust-up with his £4.5m summer buy Thomasz Radzinski. The striker, who has made just one appearance as a substitute, was said to have stormed out of Ewood Park but Smith said he would have played had he not picked up a groin strain on Friday and was given permission to spend time with his family after they had travelled to see him from Canada.

The fact that Everton had to chase the game was more down to Duncan Ferguson?s inept penalty than to Friedel?s competence after Niclas Alexandersson was denied a scoring chance by Stig Inge Bjornebye.

Smith?s side had valid claims for an earlier penalty, when Ferguson was flattened by Damien Duff, but the Scot was joined by Kevin Campbell, Gary Naysmith, Gravesen and Alan Stubbs on a list of culprits sharing responsibility for their blank return.

The passion that had been lacking for the Merseyside derby last week had returned, but on this showing Goodison Park is not the first place that the PFA, with the threat of industrial action looming, will go looking for proficient strikers.

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