Italy have a world-class goalscorer too: Pio Esposito has already scored like Totti. Against France, tears, a kiss for Sebastiano and a bid to break Meazza and Riva’s records
Italy win in the name of Francesco Pio Esposito. The brace with which the Inter striker beat France is his first in an Italy shirt and takes his tally to nine goals in 14 appearances for the national team. All at just 21 years and four months old: record-breaking numbers.
At Pio Esposito has already matched Francesco Totti's tally of 9 Italy goals. Totti needed 58 appearances to get there, 44 more than the Inter player.
Excellent for Inter, exceptional for Italy. The striker from Castellammare is rewriting goalscoring records for Italy at a young age and climbing the all-time charts. He is the first player to score at least nine goals in his first 14 appearances, has also surpassed Bobo Vieri and, at his age, trails only Giuseppe Meazza, who had scored more goals (11 to 9).
Esposito is scoring freely for Italy, at a rate of nearly a goal every 100 minutes and more than one every two games. His brace at San Siro has lifted him to 42nd place among Italy's top 50 goalscorers of all time. He has caught Totti and has more greats of Italian football ahead of him: Cassano and Zola are just ahead, Balotelli is on 14 goals, and Toni and Vialli are on 16. Immobile is on 17, Bettega and Gilardino on 19, Paolo Rossi on 20 and De Rossi on 21.
To reach the top 10, he must pass Sandro Mazzola (22 goals for Italy), then chase the 23 scored by Vieri and Graziani and the 25 scored by Baloncieri, Inzaghi and Altobelli. The top five begin with Baggio and Del Piero (on 27 goals). The podium, unchanged for decades, belongs to Piola on 30, Meazza on 33 and Riva on 35. From Esposito's 9 to Rombo di Tuono's 35, the gap is 26 goals. Closing it would be an extraordinary feat, but each game brings the target closer.
Against France, Pio went through countless emotions. A poacher's finish gave him his first goal, before his brother Sebastiano missed a penalty. Pio then scored to make it 3-1 and shed tears over Seba's miss and the memory of Zenica. In that play-off against Bosnia, Pio missed his penalty. This time, Maignan could not reach it. The weight lifted from his powerful shoulders. Tears, flexed muscles and a slide across the San Siro turf followed, then a kiss for his brother, who Mancini had called back to the bench.
After the match, he told Rai his numbers make him happy rather than frighten him. On the penalty, he said he felt an extra responsibility to make people forget his brother's miss. His tears showed how difficult it was and brought back memories of Zenica. "I couldn’t hide for the rest of my life," he concluded. He spoke like a leader, a player destined for greatness with his sights set on rewriting the Italian national team's records.
