The phrase comes from Walt Whitman's famous poem which was given new popularity thanks to the Hollywood film starring Robin Williams in 'Dead Poets Society', but could just as well be refering to Inter skipper Mauro Icardi after a derby performance that has already gone down into black & blue folklore.

The first time I watched Mauro Icardi for a full 90 minutes was during his breakthrough performance at Sampdoria when he scored a brace that helped the Blucerchiati win away at Juventus Stadium as it was known then, despite being a man down. His finishing was as natural as it was astute and he possessed a superstar aura that cannot be neither taught nor attained through practice but is a gift some people, irrespective of field, are quite simply born with.

A lot of water has run under the bridge since that day and Icardi has become if not the best finisher in the world inside the penalty area, then certainly amongst the top 3 in that particular category. At the age of 22 Icardi became the youngest player to win the Serie A's top goalscorer award since the legendary Paolo Rossi in 1978, with the added speciality of scoring against Juventus and in particular Gianluigi Buffon.

However, until the return derby of last season, Icardi had always seemed to freeze up in the Milanese derby missing a penalty 2 seasons ago as well as seemingly always giving uncharacteristically poor performances in general when faced against the Rossoneri. Milan goalkeeping sensation Donnarumma seemed to be the antidote to the player who for all intents and purposes scored for fun against everyone.

That all changed yesterday when the youngest captain of any Serie A team equalled Diego Milito's feat of scoring a hat-trick in the derby della Madonnina as well as leading by example by putting in a shift of work, something he has often been criticized for being unable to do. In the beginning of the season Icardi said of new coach Spalletti that he “creates a hunger in me I have never felt before” something his 9 goals in 8 Serie A matches testify too. But more than the goals, Icardi's performances this season suggest that he seems to have found the ideal coach to develop him as a player to truly shoulder the responsibility of being a captain at a club of Inter's stature.

It is still early days but last night's performance from the Nerazzurri number 9 suggests that he is more than ready to become the club's new talismanic captain as well as the go to man for goals, managing to combine the almost impossible feat in combining Diego Milito's prowess in front of goal as well as Javier Zanetti's leadership on the pitch.