In San Siro,
“Welcome to hell. » It is not the inscription that welcomes onlookers at the entrance to San Siro, the legendary Milanese stadium where PSG travels, Tuesday evening, in the Champions League, but that is nevertheless how it should be imagine Gianluigi Donnarumma, as the welcome prepared for him by the ultras of the Curva Sud promises to be diabolical. Indeed, the former AC Milan bambino, who arrived at Milanello at the age of 14, left the club and its supporters on very bad terms, he who was predicted to have a future like Paolo Maldini, Rossonera idol having spent his entire career at the club.
Only now, the times have changed, and with it the aura of the seven-time winner of the Champions League, who has just come out of a bad period without money, without great players or sporting results. Attracted by the sirens of a Paris Saint-Germain full of aces and which promised him the best chances of winning the C1, the child from Milan left the day after his victory at Euro 2021 without even looking back . And, above all, without leaving the slightest kopeck to his club since he joined PSG for free, at the end of his contract, with a juicy signing bonus.
A free start at PSG which does not pass
It is precisely this last point that enrages Milan supporters. Crossed around one of the legendary pylons of the Giuseppe-Meazza stadium, Andrea, 25, will never lose his temper. “Let him go, well, we kind of suspected that. But making so many beautiful speeches about this club that he loved and leaving without even earning him a little money, and gorging on his bonus with his former agent [Mino Raiola], no, that doesn’t work. It’s so small. He’s a traitor,” he says before slipping away to reach a metro entrance.
Since then, the Italian giant has earned a nickname that does not lack inventiveness: “Dollarumma”. Even if, to be completely accurate, this blase had been awarded to him before this betrayal affair, in 2017, when the young goalkeeper was still hesitant to extend his contract with his training club. But his arrival at the wealthy Qatari PSG allowed him to come out of the insult closet. The ultras being proud of their find, they planned to draw on the seam Tuesday evening, on the occasion of the great return of public enemy number 1, by throwing in his direction thousands of counterfeit notes stamped “Dollar- umma.”
If they wanted to keep the contents of their “gift” to Gigio secret, simply showing on the Curva Sud Instagram post the photo of two pallets filled with boxes, accompanied by the words “Donnarumma, there is mail for you “, THE Corriere della Serra spilled the beans. These biftons should be accompanied throughout the match by a bronca of the diavolo (from the devil, in Italian) each time the Parisian goalkeeper touches the ball, a bit like what part of the public did last September, during a Squadra Azzura match against Ukraine, at San Siro.
Maignan pities his Parisian counterpart
Asked at a press conference this Monday about the welcome given by San Siro to his predecessor, Mike Maignan did not beat around the bush: “It ended on bad terms here between him and the club. We know that the reception will be difficult, our supporters are enthusiastic. » Members of this faction of Milan supporters also wrote the number 71 on Donnarumma’s photo, which means “uomo di merda” in La Smorfia, famous artistic and philosophical work on the analysis of dreams and its meanings in Neapolitan culture. Another reference to the Parisian doorman, native of Castellammare di Stabia near Naples, a city hated by Milanese northerners.
If the journalists present at Milanello, the training center of the Rouge et Noir, this time spared Stefano Pioli from any questions about Donnarumma, two weeks ago, before the match at the Parc, the Italian had explained that “ Donnarumma (had) given everything for Milan” before “making other choices” and that this would not prevent her from “hugging him in (her) arms”. It will take at least that to make people forget the hell that risks being inflicted on them in a stadium which is already, in itself, likely to intimidate opponents. Even if, for his teammate, the former interior player Milan Skriniar, “Gigio” is “not disturbed, he is very focused for the good of the team, he is an experienced goalkeeper. »
To close the day and the subject, Luis Enrique is also entitled to his little question about his goalkeeper. For the Spaniard, this is not far from being a non-subject. “We laughed about it more than talked about it,” assured “Lucho”. It’s usual in football, we see it often. In addition, he has already returned here with the Italian team. It’s normal in football, there are plenty of great players who have already experienced that, it’s normal to get past that. There will be no particular problem. » Come on, a little advice from the team 20 minutes for Donnarumma: earplugs in the ears and blinders over the eyes, that should do the trick.