This student was one of our first students, and it's the girl on the left leaning with her chalkboard, and she came ... within two days I want to show you the program she wrote, and remember her hairstyle. And that is the program she made.

The Italian media eagerly linked the two Super Marios, with photomontages showing the prime minister with the soccer player s idiosyncratic mohawk hairstyle. The message from both the soccer field and the negotiating room was that there was a quick and easy route to victory, complex issues could be solved by a brilliant argument, and individual superstars were the key to success.