On 28 March 1993, the Giallorossi flag was sixteen and Boskov sent him onto the pitch to replace Rizzitelli: “I didn’t understand anything anymore, I was struggling to take off my tracksuit”. Since then 25 years of magic and goals
Thirty years ago Italian football had an invisible shift on its axis. Yet, as often happens in life, that March 28, 1993, in reality, no one noticed. On the other hand, who could really be interested in the fact that a kid from the Primavera side of Rome, due to Hassler’s last-minute injury, had been added to the first team away to Brescia, to then make his debut after the match was virtually won? Of course, he was just 16 and curiosity, in any case, was worth mentioning. But Francesco Totti took possession of those few lines in the newspapers to begin writing new pages in the history of football in the Bel Paese, which thanks to him – in a quarter of a century of magic – discovered a new prototype of player destined to have it all: the power, the class, the ability to serve and assist and – in the end – also the ability of the goalscorer. This would be enough to build a sporting myth, but the one who would soon become the captain par excellence of Roma was so great that he ended up going beyond the boundaries of football, landing in the perilous areas of costume and gossip, such as the latest events related to his separation from Ilary Blasi they are sadly demonstrating.
Thank you Boskov
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Francesco’s story about his debut has always had the air of a time that was. Of a different football, of precise hierarchies and ambitions on a human scale. Starting with the call. “On Saturday I was playing for Primavera against Ascoli, but after scoring two goals in the first half I was rushed out because I had to leave with the first team. I go to the bench, of course. Roma are winning easily when towards the end of the game Boskov, urged by Mihajlovic, turns towards the bench and says: ‘Go, warm up and come in right away’. I don’t move because I thought he was talking to Muzzi, but Roberto shakes me: ‘Look, he’s talking to you, move, otherwise the match is over’. I don’t understand anything anymore, I struggle to take off my tracksuit and enter for Rizzitelli in the 87th minute. I manage to touch a ball in time, I take it to the flag to gain seconds. Then referee Boggi blows the whistle and I realize I’ve made my Serie A debut”. Very true. The match would not go down in the news for a forgettable 0-2 success, but for the limelight taken almost by chance by a sixteen year old who was about to start rewriting all the hierarchies of Italian football.
25 years later
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Almost twenty-five years later, on 28 May 2017, Totti will leave football after scoring 307 goals in 786 games all played for Rome, to which he will add 58 matches and 9 goals for the national team. He will close in tears, thinking of that single scudetto won, which he joined with two Italian Cups and two Italian Super Cups, consoling himself – we believe abundantly – with a World Championship that no one will ever forget. For this reason, thirty years later, remembering that March 28, 1993 seems almost a duty for those who have football in their heart. But watch out for side effects. One could even die of nostalgia.
March 28, 2023 (change March 28, 2023 | 09:21)
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