Empoli-Turin, Belotti: “Something beautiful is being born”

From our correspondent Mario Pagliara

May 1
– EMPOLI

“Hey guys, don’t run away: you all have to sign today.” Empoli-Torino ended a few minutes ago, Andrea Belotti enters the locker room with the match ball in his arms. He “summons” his teammates in his own way and one at a time all pass by him to sign the ball of the hat-trick. The song of the Rooster, this time, is very sweet, beautiful. “Today triple happiness”, says Andrea Belotti before getting on the bus that accompanied Turin to the Empoli station where he returned to Turin with a charter train. As soon as he struck the hat-trick, in full recovery at Empoli, Belotti ran to embrace Ivan Juric on the bench. Then he took the ball, made all his teammates sign it and, happy as a child, put it in his bag and took it home.

Destiny

–

Perhaps it was also a sign of fate that the Bull won for the first time in its history at Empoli with a hat-trick from its captain. Of the man who in recent contemporary history was his symbol: because with today’s players Belotti reaches the quota of one hundred goals in Serie A, as had already happened to a sacred monster of Turin history like Paolo Pulici. In all competitions there are 113 goals with the grenade shirt in seven seasons. “This hat-trick has a very high value – says Belotti -. I always say that the goal for a striker is everything. Today I managed to make three, but above all the team managed to win and in our path it is really important “.

Superga we arrive

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It seems, then, even more a sign of destiny that this hat-trick actually opens the celebrations of May 4th in the wake of the memory of the Grande Torino. Tomorrow the team will rest before resuming training on Tuesday, but the captain’s thoughts already fly to what will happen on Wednesday 4 May. After the two years of the pandemic, the people of Toro will return to the Superga hill to remember the Invincibles. First the mass inside the Basilica, then the reading of the names of the Fallen of that inauspicious and unforgettable 4 May 1949 by Andrea Belotti. As has always happened, it will be the captain’s turn and – in addition to the usual excitement and transport – it will also be the time to gather the applause of one’s own people after this exploit in Tuscany.

Something beautiful

–

Gallo played little this year, stopped three times by injuries. And twice he stayed in the infirmary for about fifty days. But he has always felt part of the Juric project. Even on this Sunday of his holiday he does not hide it: “Something beautiful is being born – he says-. Since the beginning of the year we have all played great games and an awareness is growing within us that is increasing more and more. We are a team that never gives up, because from the first day together with the coach we had promised each other to have a different championship from those of the past two years. We all brought out that extra something that was missing ”. With today’s three Belotti has risen to 8 goals in the league. He needs two to close the seventh league in a row with Torino in Serie A in double figures. A novel written so far in the history of Turin only by Paolo Pulici.