"Francesco, come back..." - Adani and that special goal against Juventus in 2004

MILAN – There are games that are good for the heart even if they end in painful defeat. There are stories of life that outweigh every football result, gestures that remain forever etched in history. A few days ago in a live Instagram with Christian Vieri, Daniele Adani, the ex-Nerazzurri defender, recounted an episode he experienced whilst wearing the Inter shirt during the 2003/04 season. It was about a goal, a message and a story with a happy ending.

12 February 2004, the Coppa Italia semi-final, Inter vs. Juventus. The first leg in Turin had ended 2-2 and the return match at San Siro, refereed by Pellegrino, was a fiery one: Adriano’s goal, Tudor and Del Piero’s strikes, Cordoba’s red card. In the 95th minute, with just seconds of added time remaining and Inter down to ten men, Vieri got hold of the ball on halfway and passed it out to Stankovic on the left. Meanwhile, Adani was charging forward into the box with a lung-busting run. Then, Emre latched onto Stankovic’s cross, Chimenti beat away the Turk's header, but the ball fell for Adani who buried it to level the score at 2-2 (although Inter then lost on penalties).

The defender started running back towards halfway in celebration, taking off his shirt he spread his arms and looked up to the sky: “Francesco, torna...” (“Francesco, come back...”).

Francesco was a 15-year-old Inter fan from the Province of Brescia. He had been missing from home for a few days. The mobilisation effort to find him saw Inter’s players get involved, particularly Christian Vieri, who was the youngster’s idol, and Lele Adani, who wore a top underneath his shirt on the night of the game with the words “Francesco, torna...”.

“That goal is part of a person’s destiny. The purity of the concept of life and our way of understanding things can probably only reach a certain point here on earth. It can’t go beyond this point because there are greater things than us in earthly life.” This is how Lele Adani commented on his goal in a post-match press conference which was fiery for other reasons.

Francesco, who had made it to Genoa and watched the match in a bar, received the message. Two days later, the news came through that he’d been found in Genoa and was returning home.

Following his goal and that appeal, Adani was delighted to hear this great piece of news: “Through this experience of life, I’ve understood that there’s a God up above protecting us. I’m really happy for Francesco, his family, his friends and school friends.”

A great story, one which was worth recalling.