The “magical nights” of the Olimpico
Enough to convince the Italian coach Azeglio Vicini to keep him for the 1990 World Cup. The latter would not regret it: Schillaci exploded at the forefront of the attack of the Nazionale, which would finish in third place in the competition. The whole peninsula capsized for this stocky, dynamic and generous striker, this hallucinated look once the ball was sent into the back of the net. These were the “magical nights” (title of the World Cup anthem sung by Gianna Nannini and Edoardo Bennato) of Italy in its garden of the Olimpico in Rome (five victories in a row, before being eliminated in the semi-finals in Naples by Argentina on penalties). If Italy did not win the supreme title, Schillaci imposed himself, himself, in the scorers’ ranking with 6 goals, an exploit so remarkable that the Sicilian footballer would rise to second place in the Ballon d’Or France Footballbehind the winner Lothar Matthaüs, in December 1990.
