Il golden boy

Giovanni is an Italian former football midfielder, mostly as an offensive playmaker, who was awarde theBallon d'Or, one of the most prestigious individual awards in football, in Rivera is considered as one of the greatest Italian footballers ever. He was a creative midfielder with offensive ideas. Rivera was known for his classy, elegant and aesthetic style of play, known for his impeccable dribbling and distribution. After retiring from football, Rivera has gone into politics and currently is a Member of the European Parliament. Nicknamed the Golden Boy of Italian football, Rivera was the product of Alessandria's youth football academy and made his debut in Serie A for Alessandria against F.C. Internazionale on June 2, 1959 at the age of only fifteen years. He played 26 matches for his first club, for which he scored 6 goals. A year later, he was bought by AC Milan.

He won the first scudetto with AC Milan and on May 13, 1962, aged just eighteen, he played his first match for the Italian nazional team against West Germany at the World Cup in Chile, a game that finished with a goalless draw. In 1968, he played for Italy as they won the European Championship. Rivera missed the final against Yugoslavia through an injury he picked up at the semi-final game against Soviet Union. Next season, Rivera and AC Milan emerged victorious in the Champions Cup, a success that finally earned him a Ballon d'Or.

Rivera led AC Milan to two Cup Winners' Cup finals, one in 1973 and another in 1974; the first one was won and the second lost. With the Rossoneri, he also won two consecutive Italian titles, in 1972 and AC Milan also won several Italian Cups in the 70's. Rivera achieved the last scudetto of his playing career in 1979 with AC Milan, this also being the tenth title for "The Devils". In total, he played for AC Milan in 501 Serie A matches and scored 160 goals.

He played with the Squadra Azzurra (Italian national team) in the 1970 FIFA World Cup hosted by Mexico, where they reached the final, losing against Brazil, 4–1. The Italian coach at the 1970 World Cup Final, Ferruccio Valcareggi, believed that Rivera and his teammate Sandro Mazzola could not play together on the same field. Although Rivera was the more famous of the two, Valcareggi elected to start Mazzola.

However, by 2nd round, the Italian offense failed to sparkle. Valcareggi devised a solution he called "staffetta" (relay) to play both players. Mazzola would start in the first half while Rivera would come in at halftime. With this strategy, Rivera helped to beat the hosts Mexico in the quarterfinal and West Germany in the semi-final, in which Rivera played a major role in one of the most entertaining games in World Cup history, scoring Italy's 4th and winning goal in a 4–3 victory. However, in the final against Brazil, Valcareggi did not use Rivera until there were only six minutes left in the game, despite Rivera being the hero of the past two matches. He also played in the 1974 FIFA World Cup but did not appear in the match where the Italians were knocked out by Poland in a 2–1 loss. That was the end of Rivera's career with the national team for which he played in 60 games, scoring 14 goals in the process.