An evening of celebrations for the white and blue jersey, with the Franco Scoglio pitch graced by three generations of champions, featuring the “125 Legends” event, organized by the new owners to celebrate the birth of football in the city. How it went
MESSINA. One hundred and twenty-five years of unconditional love, from the glittering stages of Serie A to the dusty heights of excellence, from the humiliating defeats at the San Siro, from the red-and-yellow or yellow-and-red jerseys to the white-and-blue, from the last of the poor full-backs or the duck-footed strikers, to the legends Totò Schillaci, Enrico Buonocore, Franco Caccia, and dozens, hundreds of others: the Franco Scoglio di San Filippo stadium hosted the celebrations for the 125th anniversary of football in Messina, sponsored by the new owners, Racing City Group.
To celebrate the festas, two teams packed with champions faced off on the San Filippo pitch, captained by two of the strongest defenders of all time, Ballon d’Or winner Fabio Cannavaro and World Champion Alessandro Nesta, with the former winning 3-0, with goals from Iaquinta, Mauri, and Jeda.
The lineups are: Fabio Cannavaro, Dida, Frey, Paolo Cannavaro, Aldair, Serginho, Tonetto, Fiore, Giannichedda, Evani, Fuser, Eranio, Montolivo, Mauri, Hernanes, Morris Pagniello, Brocchi, Candreva, Jeda, Ganz, and Iaquinta in white. Coach Filippo Galli; Nesta, Storari, Abbiati, Parisi, Iuliano, Portanova, Di Livio, Tacchinardi, Marcolin, Perrotta, Budel, Coppola, Sullo, Di Napoli, Cerci, Floccari, and Romano in red. Coach Roberto Donadoni.
Before the match, Scoglio’s “bastards” Romolo Rossi, Carmelo Mancuso, and Vincenzo Di Palma took to the field: before kick-off, honors were paid to Totò Schillaci, who would have turned 61 today.
(photo Francesco Algeri)
