When English singer Miles Kane tentatively travelled to Italy, his dreams of meeting his hero came true – over a glass of wine.
Everyone has their favourite players from yesteryear whether that be Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho, George Best or Robert Prosinecki.
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For Kane, that man is Roberto Baggio – Italy and Serie A legend, who played for Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Inter Milan throughout a wonderful career.
As an eight-year-old, Kane’s love of football emerged during the World Cup in 1994, despite England not actually qualifying for the tournament.
But that did not stop a generation of young English lads watching the tournament, ultimately won by Brazil.
Italy, though, reached the final before losing on penalties to the Selecao and were led by the imperious Baggio, Il Divin Codino, who scored five goals that year.
Kane was smitten instantly and even went out and got an Italy shirt but never did he think he would meet his hero after dedicating the song ‘Baggio’ to him.
The tune, a catchy one it must be said, found its way to the real Baggio, who absolutely loved it.
While Kane was in Milan, the Italy legend reached out to his manager and invited the Come Closer singer to his house in Vicenza, sparking emotional scenes between the two.
Speaking to talkSPORT, the Liverpudlian said: “He heard the song and he loved it and invited me to his house in Vicenza.
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“It is probably the first time I have ever felt so nervous. You know when you’re meeting your hero.
“When we got there and straight away, the gates open and his arms are out and I was just sweating.
“You know when you go red when you are embarrassed? I think I even did a little half-run like a dad run, you know what I mean?
“We go in and he says ‘you want coffee, water, wine?’ I said ‘let’s get the wine out’.
“Honest to god, the most beautiful man. Lovely, him and his wife and his daughter. I had my guy who was filming it.
“He still has got his ponytail, he is the real deal. Spiritual guy, lovely fella. It was one of the best days of my life.”
Baggio won two league titles and one UEFA Cup and is renowned as one of the lynchpins of the Calcio era where Italian football dominated the 1990s.
Alessandro Del Piero, Franco Baresi, Gabriel Batistuta are just a handful of names that made Serie A the best league in the world and frankly, we need more songs about this era of legendary football.
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