Luigi Bertolini was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 football (soccer)

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 midfielder.

Biography

Born in Busalla

Busalla

Busalla is a comune in the Province of Genoa in the Italian region Liguria, located about 27 km north of Genoa.Its territory is crossed by the upper valley of the Scrivia river. Nearby is the artificial Lake Busalletta....

, province of Genoa

Province of Genoa

The Province of Genoa is a province in the Liguria region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Genoa.It has an area of 1,838 km², and a total population of about 900,000...

, he played in the 1920s for Savona, Alessandria

U.S. Alessandria Calcio 1912

Unione Sportiva Alessandria Calcio 1912 is the professional Italian football club based in Alessandria, Piedmont.In the current season, it plays in Lega Pro Seconda Divisione group A.- Brief history :...

 and Juventus

Juventus F.C.

Juventus Football Club S.p.A. , commonly referred to as Juventus and colloquially as Juve , are a professional Italian association football club based in Turin, Piedmont...

. He played 135 matches for Juventus, scoring five goals, helping the team to win four Serie A

Serie A

Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

 tournaments. For the Italy national football team

Italy national football team

The Italy National Football Team , represents Italy in association football and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation , the governing body for football in Italy. Italy is the second most successful national team in the history of the World Cup having won four titles , just one fewer than...

 he made his debut in 1929, and won the 1934 FIFA World Cup

1934 FIFA World Cup

The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934....

.

With Luisito Monti

Luis Monti

Luis Felipe Monti was an Italian Argentine footballer who played as a midfielder. Monti has the distinction of having played in two FIFA World Cup final matches with two different national teams. He played the first of these finals with his native Argentina in 1930, which he lost to Uruguay; and...

 and Attilio Ferraris

Attilio Ferraris

Attilio Ferraris was an Italian football midfielder.He played 10 seasons in the Serie A for A.S. Roma, S.S. Lazio and A.S. Bari...

, Luigi Bertolini made up the legendary Italian midfield established at the 1934 World Cup. In that tournament he started every game and was only rested by Pozzo

Vittorio Pozzo

Vittorio Pozzo 21 December 1968) was an Italian football coach who was most famous for leading the Italian national team to victory in the 1934 FIFA World Cup and 1938 FIFA World Cups; managed the side that won the 1930 and 1935 editions of the Central European International Cup, as well as the...

 in the first quarterfinal encounter against Spain

Spain national football team

The Spain national football team represents Spain in international association football and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain. The current head coach is Vicente del Bosque...

. Bertolini is very recognizable in the photos of the 1934 Italian team by virtue of his big white bandana which he used to protect his head from the seams of the ball when doing headers. He went from Alessandria to Juventus in 1931, becoming an integral part of the remainder of their five year championship run. He was also one of the 'Lions of Highbury' in the narrow loss to England

England national football team

The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

 in November 1934 known as the Battle of Highbury

Battle of Highbury

The "Battle of Highbury" was the name given to the football match between England and Italy that took place on 14 November 1934 at Arsenal Stadium, Highbury, London...

. As the story goes, during the second half he was disoriented from fatigue and with the English constantly in attack, he kept calling out for Luisito not realizing that Monti was not on the field (due to a broken bone) and the midline was just himself and Ferraris. He retired from playing in 1937. He began his coaching career with Tigullia in 1938.