Born in 2005, the defender of the Gialloneri and Italy Under21 makes his debut in the Champions League against Chivu’s team
The yellow and black number 39 pops out from under the snow and attracts the attention of the 81,000 at Signal Iduna Park: Filippo Mane starts. “Who?”, someone asks when reading the official documents. He is one of three Italians from Dortmund having fun in the Ruhr. Two of them are in the stands – the central defender Luca Reggiani and the playmaker Samuele Inacio, son of Pià, both born in 2008 – while “Pippo”, a central defender born in 2005, will make his Champions League debut as a starter against Inter. Kovac gave him the third chance from the 1st minute after pulling his ears in the press room: “In training he plays well, but the matches are another thing. He needs more minutes to have continuity, but in a few months he can make the leap. And going to the second team was good for him.”
THE PATH
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As well as the closeness of his Italian friends: he, Reggiani and Inacio are always together, play Play, go out to dinner, live in a boarding school and encourage each other, between playing video games and a German lesson. The toughest opponent of all. Mane, who arrived in Dortmund from Sampdoria in 2022, had made his debut on the first day against St Pauli in an unfortunate way (and after having started in the Cup): red card after 85 minutes. From then on he only played a handful of minutes against Heidenheim and another couple against Union a few days ago. In between, nine games and two goals with the second team and a slew of benches with the greats. The emergency in defense convinced Kovac to give him another opportunity months later. Now it’s up to him to get noticed. Mancini, however, called him up for an internship with the national team in 2022.
WHO IS MANE
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The first note is on the name. It’s “Mane”, not “Manè”, without the accent. It’s the registry office’s fault. The father, a Senegalese from Dakar, arrived in Italy in 2000 and settled in northern Italy, but when he registered they removed the acute accent on the “E”. An error. Born in Magenta, in Lombardy, half an hour’s drive from Milan, Filippo has always been a central defender and started playing at the age of four with Vela Mesero. From there he moved around a bit: Novara, Sampdoria and finally Borussia Dortmund. In January 2025 he signed his first pro contract until 2028. The yellow and blacks noticed him after seeing him play near home: “I had done a tournament in Germany, in Duisburg, with the Italian youth team. From then on they also started to watch some championship matches. And in the end they called me”. He told Cronache di Spogliatoio about his setting: “Dortmund is quiet, apart from the weather. Once we trained on Sunday morning, the neighbors complained and called the headquarters to say that we were making too much noise.” Last curiosity: before tonight, Mane had played all three away games. This will be the first under the Yellow Wall. A dream come true.
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