Tommasi comes out of retirement at 41 to play in Europe

ROME (Reuters) - Former Italy midfielder Damiano Tommasi came out of retirement at the age of 41 when he played for San Marino's La Fiorita at home to FC Vaduz in the Europa League on Thursday. Tommasi, who retired six seasons ago and is president of the Italian Footballers Association (AIC), played 90 minutes although he was unable to prevent his side from slumping to a 5-0 home defeat against the Liechtenstein Cup winners. Tommasi said last week that he wanted his children to have the chance to see him playing in international competition and he wanted to "add a beautiful chapter to my footballing career." He followed in the footsteps of Brazilian defender Aldair, another former AS Roma player, who came out of retirement and played for SS Murata in the Champions League qualifiers in 2007 and 2008 in his early 40s. (Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne; Editing by Ken Ferris)