Giorgio Chiellini: Cursed Saka before the decisive penalty

Italy’s European Champion Giorgio Chiellini has revealed that he cursed Bukayo Saka in his own opinion before he missed a penalty in the European Championship final.

Saka came up for the final penalty and failed to goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. Shortly before the shot, Chiellini yelled “Kiricocho”, a word that footballers have long used to cause bad luck on their opponents.

Chiellini confirmed the story in an interview with ESPN. “Hello Christian, I can confirm everything! Kirococho!” Said Chiellini.

A UEFA video also showed Chiellini yelling something before Saka scored the penalty.

The Kiricocho curse has already fallen victim to Erling Haaland from BVB, who failed with a penalty in the Champions League game against Sevilla last March.

Kiricocho curse: origin is in Argentina

The legend of the “Kiricocho” has its origins in the Argentine club Estudiantes in the 80s. There, at least according to legend, there was a fan by the name of Kiricocho – and every time the student Kiricocho watched a team training session, a player is said to have been injured.

Carlos Bilardo, coach of Estudiantes, found out about this and in 1982 suggested that he use the curse as a gift. From then on, the bad luck charm was given access to the entrance gate before every home game, where he gave the players of the opposing team a slap in greeting – with resounding success.

Under the direction of Bilardo, Estudiantes won the Argentine championship that year and lost only one home game against the Boca Juniors. The team had its own security service, which prevented Kiricocho from “doing his job” and causing bad luck to the other team.

The “Kiricocho” curse is particularly well known among players in Spain. “I couldn’t believe it. Cholo (Diego Simeone, editor’s note) and Diego (Maradona, editor’s note) told me that they called that a few times on the pitch and the rest of them did learned it from them, “said Bilardo once when he coached Sevilla FC in 1992.