Wave of nostalgia: Insigne buries it for Pescara again after 5,041 days

Many meticulous football fans still remember Pescara's generation from the 2011/2012 season, which returned the club to the Serie A after a 20-year absence. That team was led by some now-renowned names, such as Ciro Immobile, Marco Verratti, and Lorenzo Insigne.

And while the former Lazio captain spends the latter stages of his career at the French Paris FC and the ex-PSG midfielder plays in Qatar, as Gennaro Gattuso is trying to persuade him to come back to the Italy national team, the former Napoli superstar has decided to return to Pescara.

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Insigne played for the Dolphins as the Neapolitans' loanee, and following a fantastic campaign with the Serie B side, he returned to Naples. On May 12, 2012, he scored his last goal with Pescara in a 2-0 win against Torino - something he wouldn't do again for 5,041 days.

On January 30, 2026, Insigne officially returned to Pescara, and 30 days later, he scored a comeback goal in a 2-1 win over the fourth-placed Palermo - after 13 years, nine months, and 17 days!

Between the two aforementioned goals, Pescara played in the Italian top flight only one more time and even dropped to the Serie C, the third division, at one point, while Lorenzo became Napoli's icon, their fourth all-time appearance maker and second-best scorer in the club's history.

Following his three-year spell with the Canadian Toronto, he's now back at Stadio Adriatico - Giovanni Cornacchia, though things are far from what he left them.

The Dolphins now aren't fighting for the promotion, but for survival, as they are at the bottom of the Serie B table, eight points away from the safe zone. Yet, nothing's over when Insigne is there.

After all, they've just beaten Palermo, who are sitting 16 positions ahead. Why shouldn't they pull off a miracle? That's why Lorenzo returned.