Italy captain Giorgio Chiellini, has confessed to have placed a curse on Bukayo Saka before the teenage star stepped up to take the decisive spot-kick in Sunday’s Euro 2020 final.
Saka saw his penalty saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma, handing the Azzurri their first European title in 53 years.
Aside from his controversial foul on the Arsenal star just before the end of regular time, Chiellini, in what would thicken the woes of an already upset fans, claimed to have uttered a curse word ‘Kiricocho!’ as Saka approached to take his shoot.
The word ‘Kiricocho’ dates back to the 80’s when certain Juan Carlos ‘Kiricocho’, – hard-core fan of Argentinian club Estudiantes de la Plata, was thought to bring bad-luck upon his team.
At the time, Estudiantes’ head coach, Carlos Bilardo claimed his players mysteriously seemed to get injured whenever Kiricocho was present.
Bilardo had reportedly hired Kiricocho to attend training sessions of Estudiantes’ rivals, as a means to utilise his powers against opposition teams.
“Kiricocho was a kid from La Plata who was always with us, and since that year we were champions [in 1982], we adopted him as our mascot,” Bilardo told reporters.
“He was a good kid but then I didn’t see him again. The last time I was coaching Estudiantes [in 2003-04] I asked after him and nobody knew anything.”
Players have routinely used the word when they want to put a curse on their opponents, having first originated from South America.
Speaking after the game, Chiellini admitted to have cursed Saka “Ciao Cristiano. I confirm everything to you – Kiricocho,” the 36-year-old confirmed to ESPN.
