The fourth round of the group stage of the UEFA Champions League — the return of goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to Milan, as expected, turned into a scandal. The goalkeeper of Paris Saint-Germain, who is a graduate of the Italian club, was bombarded with counterfeit banknotes with his photograph at the Rossoneri's home arena. The aggressive attitude of the fans, who also “decorated” the stands with offensive banners, helped Milan: the Parisians, clearly weakened after the departure of Lionel Messi and Neymar, lost away with a score of 1:2.
Let us clarify that on Tuesday Donnarumma arrived at the San Siro for the first time with PSG. Previously, the 24-year-old goalkeeper, who left Milan in 2021, was returning to his home stadium with the national team. Then the goalkeeper also had a hard time: Gianluigi Buffon's successor in the Nations League semi-final against the Spaniards was booed every time he touched the ball.
You can understand Milan fans. The boy, who became the team's number one at the age of 16, had everything to become a legend. However, it turned out to be a “traitor”: the goalkeeper, under the strict patronage of the now deceased agent Mina Raiola, refused to renew his contract with the club. Together with the Italian national team, GiGi lit up the European Championship and, as the winner of Euro 2020, set off to meet a new adventure. Being a free agent, the goalkeeper agreed to move to cash-strapped PSG, which was regarded by Rossoneri fans as a stab in the back. Milan didn't receive a penny for Donnarumma!
Even after two years, hostility towards the talented goalkeeper who became In 2016, the youngest footballer in 105 years was invited to the Squadra Azzurra, and it does not subside. No matter how much he explains himself in the media.
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"I spent in "Milan" eight years. This was my home, we experienced many wonderful moments together. I still love Milan and I have great respect for the people working there and the fans. But in life you need to make decisions, we have different ambitions. I will forever be a Milan fan. These eight years are not forgotten, but in order to grow, I needed changes to become better and stronger. I swear: when I left Milan, I had no contact with other teams, but I was sure that if I performed well at the Euro, someone would contact me.
Gianluigi Donnarumma
in an interview with SportMediaset
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>Test for the great
One of the best goalkeepers of our time, Manuel Neuer, like his Italian colleague, faced a “warm” reception at the home arena of his former club 12 years ago. The newly promoted goalkeeper of Bayern Munich came to visit Schalke 04, and the ultras of the Gelsenkirchen team did everything to make the footballer remember that day forever.
Deafening whistles, banners with “sorrow for the deceased Neuer” and the now classic inscription “Judas”, an endless stream of insults — from love to hate one step, the proverb does not lie.
However, it is unlikely that the psychological attacks on two tough goalkeepers will compare with what Portuguese Luis Figo experienced in 2002. The midfielder moved from Barcelona to Real Madrid, and his first El Clasico at the Camp Nou almost ended in a pogrom. The Catalans threw various objects at the field, burned Figo's T-shirts in the stands and poured verbal mud on the “defector” with all their hearts.
The culmination of the violent confrontation was the throwing of a pig's head onto the lawn.
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«Magic» of numbers
By the way, about Donnarumma. The banknotes with the face of the Milan goalkeeper feature the number 71. It was not chosen by chance: in the Italian “Book of Dreams” there are 90 numbers and each of them has a characteristic. Number 71 reflects a person without values (the wording “man-shit” is also used).
It was this figure that was on the posters of Napoli fans when the club’s ex-forward Gonzalo Higuain arrived in Naples with Juventus. Also, “Judaina” was booed from specially prepared whistles during the match… In the summer of 2016, the Argentinean moved to the camp of the dominant champions of Italy for a crazy 90 million euros, which infuriated the city that once idolized him. Photos of Higuain's T-shirts being used in cleaning toilets and lighting up the streets of Naples with bright flames quickly spread across the Internet.
Strangers among our own
It was not only the players who suffered, but also the coaches. About a month ago, fans of the Norwegian Lillestrom at the Norwegian national championship match against Valerenga hung an offensive banner addressed to former coach Geir Bakke, who had just changed their club to the opposing team.
The performance turned out to be creepy. Fans depicted the ex-mentor as a hanged rat with a bag of money in his hand and the inscription “Judas” on his forehead (where would we be without this?).
But the main goalkeeper of Real Madrid, Thibaut Courtois, was bombarded with toy rats in February 2019. After three seasons at Atlético, he played at Chelsea in London and then returned to Spain… But not to the “mattress guys”, but to their bitter rivals, the “royal club”. With whom a year ago Thibault became the winner of the Champions League for the first time in his career.
The harsh reception of football players in the territory of the “former” and Russian football is familiar. Artem Dzyuba and Mario Fernandez, Roman Shirokov and Yuri Zhirkov were booed. But there was also a unique case.
Zenit fans booed Vladimir Bystrov in the first match after returning to the blue-white-blue camp. And a student of St. Petersburg from Spartak, who was visiting Petrovsky that day, returned. As a result, both friends and foes attacked the Russian national team player. The turn was filled with banners addressed to the “newbie”, among which stood out “No Country for Pigs!” and “Bringing Bystrov back is a spit in the soul.”
Despite the dislike of Virazh (Zenit fan sector — editor’s note), the footballer played in the city on the Neva until 2014, joining his native team two-time champion of Russia, as well as winner of the national Cup and Super Cup.