N ervous, white as a sheet and with the eyes of a nation transfixed on him, he could probably have heard the simultaneous heartbeats of those in the Stadio Olimpico in his head. Salvatore Schillaci was about to announce himself not only into Italian consciousness but into history. He didn’t know it then, at the time he looked like a man fuelled by anxiety and impostor syndrome.
Within moments he would be wheeling away in celebration with those wide Sicilian eyes. He didn’t believe it but neither did Italy . All of what came before was gone, in moments he had gone from unknown to saint.
The outpouring of emotion all over the world on Thursday says a lot about “Totò”. “The man who made the nation dream” were the words of the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. This was true.
The hosts had so much hope invested in Italia 90 and the wave of emotion that carried them through this campaign was surfed by Schillaci. Every time his shots hit the back of the net, all six times, it felt like the relief and exaltation of Italy came out through Salvatore’s eyes and expressions. For him to pass away at 59 years of age from colon cancer, as with so many, is too young.
What he leaves behind, though, is an embodiment of how football and life should be enjoyed. Totò, as he would come to be known, would finish top scorer at Italia 90 – not bad considering his second game for the Azzurri was against Austria in the first game of the World Cup on home soil. By his own admis.