The Brilliant Toto

"Everything else is boring". So sang Franco Califano, the Roman cantautore, who died towards the end of last month. He'd led, shall we say, a colourful life. Diego Maradona had him perform at a wedding in 1989.

Califano's memory and the words of his most famous song, which was recently rendered popular again by its appearance in the cult TV series Romanzo Criminale about the Banda della Magliana, were honoured magnificently on Sunday afternoon by a player who had been growing up in Naples at the time of Maradona: Antonio Di Natale.

After pouncing on a horrendous mistake by Chievo goalkeeper Christian Puggioni to give his side the lead at Friuli, the veteran Udinese striker pulled off his jersey to reveal a T-shirt underneath bearing a picture of Califano. He was booked by referee Antonio Damato and will miss his side's next match against Parma.

Not that Di Natale was cowed by it. Five minutes later, he struck again. Shuttling down the right, his teammate Roberto Pereyra hung a diagonal pass up towards the left-hand side of the penalty area. It was an acute angle but the ball was there to be plucked out from the sky like an apple from a tree. Di Natale hit it on the run, on the volley, low and true and back across goal. The shot flew inside the far post.

"Everything else is boring."

Califano's song felt particularly apt at that moment. What could possibly be better, more beautiful than this goal? Nothing. And that's really saying something in Serie A, particularly on a weekend that wasn't lacking in drama and great goals elsewhere on the peninsula.

Il Corriere della Sera described Di Natale's second as a "volleyed masterpiece alla Marco van Basten." For many, though, it called to mind Francesco Totti's for Roma against Sampdoria at Marassi in 2006. These were goals that transcended overall performance. Which they should and they shouldn't. Because Di Natale was excellent from kick-off to full-time.

When Chievo pulled one back through a Paul Papp header, he kept looking for another to put the result beyond any doubt. Eventually he found it, hooking a pass across goal for Mehdi Benatia to prod in from close range to make it 3-1 in the 85th minute and secure victory.

"Before the game Toto was a little nervous," Benatia revealed. "But then he cast a spell on it." The pre-match agita was understandable. Di Natale hadn't scored in just over a month, an eternity for him. He'd missed a penalty against Bologna the previous weekend that might well have turned a frustrating 0-0 draw into a 1-0 win.

Sunday's brace, a league-high fifth of the season, were his 16th and 17th goals of the campaign, his 169th and 170th in Serie A. They had the effect of an exorcism. Another 20-goal year, which would be his fourth in a row, now looks back on the cards. "He's manna from heaven," coach Francesco Guidolin said, "a species to be protected."

It's true, Di Natale is a rare thing in today's game. Next year will mark a decade at Udinese for him. The town has adopted the Neapolitan as one of its own and, as a token of his gratitude, he has stayed unwaveringly loyal.

When Juventus launched a bid to sign Di Natale in 2010, he became one of the few players, along with Cagliari's Gigi Riva in the late '60s, to reject the Old Lady's advances. Saying 'no' to her, refusing an offer that so many can't refuse, consolidated his place in Udinese folklore.

What he would do subsequently - becoming the first player since Beppe Signori to be named Capocannoniere in consecutive years, and leading his team to fourth and third place finishes in Serie A - left many with the impression that Di Natale merits consideration as the club's greatest ever player.

"There are people without too many adjectives [spent on them] and about whom there are very few words, only substance," wrote Maurizio Crosetti in La Repubblica. "There are stories without crests [like Balotelli's, El Shaarawy's et al], showgirls and peroxide hair. There's one about Toto Di Natale... a great champion who isn't at Barcelona, nor Juventus, but at Udinese."

If Barcelona are more than a club then there's a temptation to say Di Natale has been more than a football player down the years. Maybe that's to indulge in the hyperbole that he's never been entirely comfortable with. But his was an extraordinary act of kindness after the death of former team-mate Piermario Morosini last year.

Aware that the player's severely disabled older sister was now on her own - tragically their mother had passed away when Piermario was 15, their father died soon after and their disabled brother had killed himself - Di Natale promised to take care of her. "It is essential to stay by the side of Piermario's sister for her entire life," he said. "She needs us and we want to help, both for her and for Mario."

There aren't many out there like Di Natale. He's the one player Udinese's celebrated scouting department perhaps can't replace. "I hope he stays on," Guidolin said after Sunday's game. "He's a great player. I've never had one like him."

Guidolin knows Di Natale is considering whether to retire or not at the end of the season. Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport last month, Toto, who'll turn 36 in October, said: "I don't feel my age but after 20 years of football the training sessions are beginning to weigh on me. I still enjoy the game a lot. I'll make a decision in June. I want [time] to stop and think about what the best solution is."

The ice cream parlour he owns in Udine can surely wait. Putting pen to paper on a new contract would, at least for the club, be a much better scoop.