With a set of eyes bigger than a pair of Sicilian oranges, Salvatore Schillaci pricked up the ears of the international football community throughout those ‘Magic Nights’ of the 1990 World Cup, held on Italian soil.
His exploits during that competition are well documented but to briefly recap for anyone who is under the age of 30, Schillaci almost single-handedly hauled the Azzurri into the semi-finals of the tournament with goal after goal after goal.
The Italians were a Diego Maradona-inspired penalty shootout away from reaching the final, where with huge home support, they almost certainly would have defeated the extremely negative but eventual champions, West Germany.
The fairy tale was not to have the happy ending, but having netted against Austria, Eire, Czechoslovakia, Uruguay, Argentina and England, the stocky Sicilian ended the competition as leading scorer as well as picking up a third-place finish medal.
But it would be hugely unfair to suggest that ‘Toto’ was a mere seven-game wonder who disappeared as quickly as he had arrived during the summer of Italia ’90.
Born in Palermo, Schillaci joined Messina in 1982 at the age of 18, after a rival bid from his hometown club was deemed insufficient by his team owners, the part-timers AMAT Palermo.
His professional career started out in the fourth tier of Italian football, however he quickly established himself, amassing 261 appearances and 61 goals in seven years. Under the tutelage of legendary Czech coach Zdenek Zeman (who seeems to have had a hand in most great Italian players of that era), Schillaci finished Serie B top scorer in the 1988/89 season, earning himself the dream transfer to giants Juventus.
Of his time in the lower leagues, the player said:
My career with Messina has certainly taught me something, especially as I have had good coaches that have maintained great discipline.
In his first season with the Bianconeri, and his first ever year in Italy’s top flight, Schillaci immediatley became a regular in the side and helped the Juventus fans banish all memories of legendary strikers Alessandro Altobelli and Michael Laudrup, who had left Turin for new adventures.
He formed an impressive partnership with youngster Pierluigi Casiraghi (who would also go on to become an Italy international), hitting 15 goals in 30 league matches during his inaugural campaign. He helped Juve to a UEFA cup triumph in an all-Italian final against rivals Fiorentina and also lifted the Coppa Italia.
But that first season glory stopped there, as the team could only manage a fourth place finish in the league standings, seven points behind champions Napoli, inspired by the same Diego Maradona that would break Azzurri hearts weeks later.
However, his performances had done enough to convince Italy boss Azeglio Vicini that he was worthy of a spot in the national team’s World Cup squad and what came next has become part of Calcio folklore.
Inexplicably omitted from the starting line-up of the first group match against Austria, Toto made his debut for his country mid-way through the second half coming on for Napoli’s Andrea Carnevale. With the score locked at 0-0 and the tifosi growing increasingly impatient with the team’s inability to make a break through, despite numerous chances, a magical moment was about to unfold.
The fans fretted for a mere four extra minutes, as Schillaci rose to convert a Gianluca Vialli cross moments after entering the field of play. And as if this fairy tale was still in need of more incredulity, his headed goal was scored after having out-jumped two gigantic Austrian centre backs, who towered over the 5 ft 8 in Italy striker.
And from that moment, the winning goals just kept on flowing.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV40Jrp9i5Y[/youtube]
Despite the Azzurri’s eventual elimination, he returned to Juventus a national hero but his career would soon begin to take a dip. Two more seasons in Turin returned just 11 goals and his Messina-acquired discipline was tested to breaking point after having not only threatened to shoot Bologna’s Fabio Poli during an altercation on the pitch, but also coming to blows with the new darling of Italian football Roberto Baggio, after the pair had taken a training ground joke just a bit too far.
At the age of 27, Schillaci left Juventus to join Inter in the hope of rekindling the form that lit up those nights of Italia 90. The move did not turn out as expected, with injuries and lack of regular playing time limiting Toto to just 11 goals in 30 games between 1992 and 1994.
Having lost his desire to play in Serie A, he was offered an incredibly lucrative contract to play in Japan for Jubilo Iwata and became the first Italian to feature in the J-League.
He found himself immediately at home and was a huge success with the Shizuoka-based outfit.
I found incredible enthusiasm here. For these people the Schillaci of the 1990 World Cup had never gone away and with my goals I proved to them just how well I had integrated.
His 56 goals in three years for the Japan side added more legendary status to the Sicilian outside of Europe and only serious injury put paid to a reborn career which ended in 1997 for the now ex-Italy forward.
Having had a brief spell in politics and the odd television appearance on reality TV game shows, Schillaci now helps to run a sports club for youngsters back in Palermo.
He will be forever famed for his performances during the 1990 World Cup, but his first season at Juventus and his goals at every level of Italian football, as well as in Asia, mean that he was more than just a set of bulging eyes in a blue shirt that history recalls with great affection..
Salvatore Schillaci, a true legend of Calcio.
