In an Italy without Milan, the coach and Sandro were the protagonists of the victory over Northern Ireland: a relationship that has its roots in the past and is renewed in the national team
In football there are threads that are continually reconnected and paths that, in some way, continue to run parallel. Which leave two people inextricably linked even if they are separated by 22 years of difference and do two different jobs. Rino Gattuso and Sandro Tonali will never be just coach and player. It’s as if their history, their experience, forces them to go further. One could be the other’s dad, and maybe the “other” sees it a little. A football father who, throughout his childhood and adolescence, populated the ball with his Rossoneri dreams and desires. In the name of the purest Milanism. The glue was and remains the same, even if life leads you to take on other roles and wear other shirts.
the bedroom
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Gattuso and Tonali, the two most recognizable protagonists of the first Italian winning act in the world playoffs, ultimately represent the Milan that simply does not exist in these squads. They do it in a different way, a sort of “return” Milanism. But the imprint is strong. Gattuso, in addition to Milan, has coached in Naples, Valencia, Marseille and Split. Tonali has played for Newcastle since 2023. Yet for both of them the immediate association in the collective imagination was and remains with Milan. Because theirs imprinting he was strongly red and black. And Rino, more than others, lived in Sandro’s bedroom. For example, there is the anecdote about the cup, which Tonali told a few months ago: “They gave me a cup with all the images of Gattuso. I kept it for all my breakfasts for four-five years. Then a disaster happened, but I reattached the cup piece by piece with glue and it’s still there.”
permit
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And then there is the most famous story, when Milan took him from Brescia and Sandro phoned Rino to ask him for permission to wear his number 8. Tonali was no longer a kid, but a professional who appeared from the provinces on the big stage, yet he still considered Gattuso as a Rossoneri icon to be treated with deference. And after the match against Northern Ireland, Rino spoke like this about his disciple: “If he had brought the cup to Coverciano, I would have been worried… I know the story, when he went to Milan he called me to ask me if he could take my number 8, a call that surprised me. I was at Napoli, I tried to bring him to me, but Milan were better. Over the years the relationship between us has continued, there has always been mutual respect. Sandro is a complete player, I only knew how to do one thing while he knows how to do multiple things.”
dream median
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The story undoubtedly remains beautiful beyond the flags and bell towers: the boy who grows up in the myth of a footballer, who manages to play in his favorite team and in that of his youth idol, and who then finds himself as coach of the national team. The script comforts those who believe that dreams can come true and at the same time disheartens a good part of the AC Milan fans. The one that still feels like Sandro’s orphan, a poorly digested farewell capable of giving rise to fiery discussions and controversies that are still current between those who blame the club and those who blame the player (yes, because there is also another party that instead pointed the finger at him, and doesn’t regret it). In recent days his agent Riso returned to the topic, explaining that “the operation was born because a club like Newcastle with infinite financial resources had decided to invest in Sandro. We considered the idea of having the player compete in a higher level championship”. In the meantime, however, those who consider themselves “orphans” of Tonali think of only one thing: what a midfield would have been like with him, Modric and Rabiot.
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