Sunday 17 September was a historic day for Italian football.
At 20.45, at the Marassi in Genoa, the hosts of Genoa and Lazio take the field. The game ends with the victory of the capitolini 3 to 2, but the defeat of the griffins probably could not have been sweeter. In the 33rd minute, with his team down by one, Juric decides to replace a dull Centurion with Peter Pellegri.
The youngster has already been talked about during the last championship when, at only 15 years and 280 days, he became the youngest debut in Serie A, equaling the debut of Amedeo Amadei in 1937. The trust of Mr. Juric is abundantly repaid. In the second half Pellegri made a splendid double which, unfortunately for him, will not help to avoid the defeat of his team. At just 16 years and 112 days, he became the youngest player to have scored twice in the Italian league (Silvio Piola beat 17 years and 104) and the first player born in the new millennium to score two goals in the same match in the five major leagues. Europeans.
Pellegri has the stigmata of the predestined, we talk a lot about him even before his debut in Serie A. Yesterday he showed on the pitch a personality that is not normal for a boy of his age, fighting and often putting an exceptional defender like the Dutchman in difficulty. De Vrij. The two goals are true center-forward, the first of malice and physical, the second of technique and acrobatics.
Papa Marco, rossoblù team manager, cries with emotion. To Raisport's microphones at the end of the match Pietro dedicates one of his two goals to him, the other is for the fans… after all he is still one of them.
If it weren't for the sensational mistake of Gentiletti who gave Immobile the Lazio winning goal, it would be the perfect start to a fairy tale. Even if not perfect it is really the beginning of a fairy tale, all still to be written and with a happy ending there at hand.
The hope is that, as unfortunately not too often happens in the Italian league, Pellegri will have the right space to play and continue to grow and not be bound at the bottom of the bench just because he is too young.
