He was nicknamed ‘Sciuscià’ which is the Neapolitan term for a shoeshine after the gesture that ‘Checco’ made for Alvaro Recoba following the Uruguayan’s amazing debut brace against Brescia. From then on, Moriero would repeat this celebration and shine the boots of his teammates after they scored and the roles would often be reversed with them getting down to shine his boots.
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While he was at Milan, Cruz did little to nothing while ‘Checco’ Moriero had an extraordinary season at Inter, earning a place at the World Cup in France where he played in every match. He got there by scoring spectacular goals such as the bicycle kick against Neuchatel Xamax in the UEFA Cup or the miraculous strike against Piacenza in the league as he ran the length of the pitch after Ronaldo had struggled to break them down. Francesco received the ball inside his own half and started to run like Forrest Gump. “Pass it!” shouted Gigi Simoni from the bench but the player from Lecce saw an opening and kept dribbling. He made it past one, two and then three opponents before entering the area and finding the net with a shot across goal. It was a goal worthy of Ronaldo who had scored a similar one in the Coppa Italia on the same pitch.
The best piece of business in Inter history, or almost. Francesco Moriero arrived at the Nerazzurri almost by chance for a fee that makes you smile: One million. Careful though because we’re speaking about the old money: One million Lire. It was a symbolic fee that came about as a form of compensation after Inter had been set to sign Brazilian defender Andrè Cruz from Napoli but he then changed his mind and went to the Rossoneri. Milan had just signed Moriero on a free from Roma and moved him on to Inter.
