Schillaci: Strife, prejudice and Italia 90 heroics

The day after Gaizka Mendieta rolled his skittery penalty over Shay Given's trailing leg to knock the Republic of Ireland out of the 2002 World Cup, the Irish Times' Joe Humphreys prophesied that the Valencia midfielder probably wouldn't be commemorated in an Irish beer commercial.

Sure enough, 18 years have passed and the call from Smithwicks – or any of their Irish competitors – hasn't come and is probably unlikely to now.

The Irish were a more expectant and less wide-eyed people in 2002, so the story went, and thus were less inclined to rhapsodise wistfully about the man who put them out of the tournament.

The Italia 90 summer was clearly such a magical experience for those who remember it, so fondly recalled in all its details, that even the scorer of the goal which eventually eliminated Ireland became a kind of ironic folk hero.

Colm Meaney may have worn a 'F**k Schillaci' T-shirt in 'The Van' but there was no real venom behind that sentiment.

Schillaci has appeared in the Irish media a few times down the years. There's the aforementioned Smithwicks ad, released in and around the time of the 2002 World Cup, where Italian lager enthusiasts Giovanni and Giorgio belatedly introduced fake Dave O'Leary and Ray Houghton to their other friend.

During Euro 2012, looking much younger thanks to hair transplants (Toto has gone down the Antonio Conte route), he appeared in a sketch on the Craig Doyle Show in which his interpreter was asked to inform Eric Lalor's character that his "aul' wan" was "a g**bag".

A bookmaker brought him over for some promotional gig in advance of Ireland's game in Bari in March 2009, where he posed for photos with Ray Houghton and muttered a few complimentary words about his own experience of playing