The day Giancarlo Antognoni collided with Genoa’s goalkeeper Silvano Martina, broke his skull and suffered a cardiac arrest, was 22 November 1981 and I was supporting Juventus. The 1981-82 season as I remember was my best as a 14-year-old football player in one of the championships of the Florentine youth league.

I regularly wore the number 10 jersey, just like the Fiorentina legend and captain Antognoni, to whom I was frequently compared, which was not only praise, due to my elegance, skilfulness and passing ability but also a harsh criticism, as I had a perceived lack of stamina and mercurial behaviour. Despite both myself and Antognoni giving our best performances to our teams, we both eventually missed out on winning a title, with la Viola finishing behind the “hated” bianconeri by just one point.