The history of Taurus number 10s is full of great champions that would be the envy of any top club in Italian football, and beyond.
The history of Taurus number 10s is full of great champions that would be the envy of any top club in Italian football, and beyond. Without taking anything away from Sasa Lukic, the current number 10 in the grenade shirt since 2018, we’re going to retrace the history of this number, a symbol of flair and imagination that has been able to set fire to the fans of the Olimpico in Turin. But first, a quick look at the current situation in the league.
Ivan Jurić’s men have now left behind the World Cup in Qatar, with Lukić himself in the ranks of Serbia together with his compatriots Radonjić and Milinković-Savić. Ricardo Rodríguez with Switzerland and Nikola Vlašić with Croatia also ended their world experience positively and, to date, the grenades are still in the running for a place in the Europa League as can also be seen from the odds comparison by topbonus.info. On the seventeenth day of the championship, the ranking reads tenth place on a par with Fiorentina and -8 from Lazio and Rome, the only two places available for a European showcase. Atalanta and Udinese are also fighting for the two passes, which seem to have something extra.
To aim high, much better performances will be needed, especially from Lukić, who has only scored 2 goals and 0 assists so far. A little bit for a number 10 who wants to aim high. Before him, 10 belonged to Iago Falque, the Spaniard who grew up in the youth teams of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus. A talent who well deserved to wear the coveted number, with 108 appearances and 32 goals scored between 2016 and 2020. Unfortunately, the epilogue is not the best: after a troubled season, the 2018-19 season, marked from injuries and from a form that doesn’t exalt him, he will only score 4 appearances in the following season (the only one, among other things, where he chose to wear the 10).
Another ten that deserves a note of merit in this remainder is Adem Ljajic. The Serbian, who arrived together with Iago Falque and was strongly desired by the then coach Siniša Mihajlović, was perhaps the purest talent to dress the Turin number 10. From 2016 to 2018 he scored 18 goals in 65 overall appearances, and together with the aforementioned Falque and Belotti they made up one of the strongest tridents of recent years. His adventure in Turin lasted only two years. He will be transferred on loan with buyout obligation to Beşiktaş, where he will receive a salary that is more than double his previous one. He will be redeemed the same year.
Going back again in the grenade archives we find the current top scorer of all time in Serie A still active: Cyrus Immobile. He only wore the number 10 for six months, in the Turin bracket before moving to Lazio, but he was still able to score 5 goals in 14 league days. However, the Toro fans remember him for his exploits in the 2013-14 season, where Ciro scored 22 goals in just 33 games and dragged his team to qualify for the UEFA Europa League after twenty years.
Another ten worthy of mention is Alexander Rosina, who thanks to his 42 appearances and 12 goals contributes substantially to the return to Serie A in the 2005-06 season. Rosinaldo is nicknamed for his technical qualities and his true Brazilian numbers. He will also become captain of Torino, playing a total of 148 games and scoring 39 goals.
These are, considering only recent history, the last number 10 that have left a mark in Turin, but if we want to dig into the memories we cannot fail to mention Marco Ferrante, Walter Casagrande, Martin Vazquez, Giuseppe Dossena, Abédi Pelé, Enzo Francescoli, Gigi Meroni, Renato Zaccarelli and Claudio Sala. To get to the 10 par excellence, in the history of Taurus: Valentino Mazzolathe captain of the Grande Torino.
