I know we're pretty much losing somebody every day, it's the sad part of life. Salvatore aka Toto Schillaci. Yes, his main story was Italy1990.
''Schillaci’s attacking partnership with Roberto Baggio blossomed after he stepped off the bench to register his opening goal of Italia 90 against Austria. That it was the first header he had scored all season emphasised that this was a most unlikely hero, destined also to score against Czechoslovakia, Uruguay, the Republic of Ireland, Argentina and, in the third-place playoff, England.
Born in poverty amid a mafia-dominated Palermo slum where his father worked as a rubbish collector, he did not have a formal school education but always said football kept him out of trouble. After graduating from earning the equivalent of £1.50 per goal scored for a local team, he spent the early years of his career as a lower-division striker.
Then, in 1989, Schillaci became Serie B’s top scorer and, having caught the eye of the
Juventus manager Giovanni Trapattoni, swapped modest Sicilian Messina for life in Turin.
Short, swarthy and sometimes hot-tempered, he was sharp, mobile and an opportunistic finisher blessed with an impressive change of pace and obsessed with the goalscoring art. Schillaci scored 21 times for Juventus in the 1989-90 session while collecting Uefa Cup and Coppa Italia winners’ medals.
It earned him a slot in Azeglio Vicini’s Italy squad. At the age of 25 his moment had arrived.
“I got the last place in the squad so I didn’t expect to be on the bench, I thought I’d be watching in the stands,” Schillaci said in 2014. When Vicini instructed him to prepare to come on against Austria, his first reaction was: “Do you mean me?”
By the time he scored his final goal of Italia 90, a penalty that secured a 2-1 victory against England, televised replays of Schillaci’s goals had lit up living rooms across the world.''
Bless his soul.