There’s no picture of the goal I scored against England in 1993. Everything happened in only 8.3 seconds – so fast that I surprised not just David Seaman, but all of the photographers. Our stadium in San Marino displays images of various players and goals, though none of our most famous strike. Unfortunately, all that exists is a still of television footage, too fuzzy to be hung on the wall. But those 8.3 seconds changed my life – people still know me and that goal against England.
In November 1993, English football was still plagued by hooligans. Because of that, when we were scheduled to host England in the last qualifier for the 1994 World Cup, it was impossible for the match to be held at our normal home, the Stadio Olimpico di Serravalle in San Marino. Maybe 600 or 700 visitors arrived from England – some stayed in Rimini, around 15 miles from San Marino, and caused quite a lot of trouble. It was all over the news for many days, as police units flooded in from everywhere to tackle them.
That’s why the match was switched to an alternative ground: to make crowd control much easier. The game was on a Wednesday evening, so on the Tuesday we travelled the
