Cantarutti could have made history, but referee Benedetti annulled it due to dangerous play. The Cibali exploded: oranges, lighters and stones were thrown. And it didn’t end there at all…
That Sunday Aldo Cantarutti stood near the penalty area, with his back to the goal, unaware of everything. He had no certainties, he only cultivated sensations. The ball, which some unwary person had raised like a steeple, rained down on him from the sky, he stopped it with his chest, still holding the indecision within himself. Behind him the penalty area was clogged, crowded with men who in different ways awaited their fate. Cantarutti dribbled the ball for the first time, already on the second dribble his imagination had developed an idea, crazy, but still an idea. He lifted the ball once more, then pivoted on his toes and leaped to lift the shadow off the ground. It must be said: it was an extra-large shadow, Cantarutti being the prototype of the centre-forward of those years.
