Berlusconi funeral: absent Maldini, Ancelotti, Gattuso and the Dutch trio

The coffin arrives in the churchyard of the Cathedral and the curve sings “a president, there is only one president”. The coffin comes out and the ultras wave the banners. Let’s put it this way: not your typical state funeral. After all, Silvio Berlusconi has mixed football and politics like no one else in this country. He chose a stadium scream as the name of his party and his most famous phrase ever is a football metaphor: taking the field. He changed the way Italians think and yesterday no one was surprised to feel at the stadium in the most solemn moment, while his children and his partner accompanied a wooden coffin up the stairs of the Duomo. Not tears but choirs. Not Gregorian chants but stadium chants.

The players

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Inside, his boys were waiting for him. Adriano Galliani and Ariedo Braida were present but here we are on another dimension: Galliani, despite calling him her, has always been Berlusconi’s right arm, a confidant, a friend. Braida has had his trust for decades. The current Milan was a few meters away. Paolo Scaroni, the current president, was very close to Berlusconi and yesterday many recognized him on TV, in the front or second row with his family. Giorgio Furlani, the CEO, was in church. Then of course, Berlusconi’s coaches and players. Franco Baresi, Demetrio Albertini, Zvone Boban, Dejan Savicevic who drove 1,200 kilometers from Podgorica for being there, Daniele Massaro, Giovanni and Filippo Galli, Pippo Inzaghi, Giovanni Stroppa. A piece of history with an absence that has caused discussion. Paolo Maldini had recently arrived in Miami when Berlusconi left this world and many, on social media, pointed out that returning to say hello would have been a sign of gratitude and affection. Other great Milan fans were also absent, from Ancelotti to Gattuso, up to the Dutch Gullit-Van Basten-Rijkaard. Everyone must have had his reasons, God forbid, but the great Milan, like this, seemed incomplete.

Sacks&Capello

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Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello were there instead. Sacchi among the most moved, Capello with the blue suit and white shirt, like on TV. In another point of the church sat Max Allegri, the coach of the last championship, while Alberto Zaccheroni, still debilitated after the long hospitalization, gave up at the last minute. “Berlusconi was a great president and a great man – Sacchi said in the evening, when his emotion had slightly evaporated on the journey to his native Romagna -. When they caught me, I said to him and his men: “Oh, you’re geniuses or are you crazy”. They were geniuses. When I resigned, he continued to pay me until the beginning of my contract with the national team, without my asking. Maldini’s absence? For me Paolo is justified, I don’t think deserved what they did to him last week.” Capello was equally moved: “Berlusconi deserved such intense warmth, he was an important man. I enjoyed the sermon in the Duomo, it touched the most sensitive points. And it was also touching to see the family”.

The crowd

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The Milan fans in the churchyard must have had similar thoughts. Two guys traveled from Palermo and took their places behind the barriers at 4 in the morning, someone had a Forza Italia flag, others that of Milan. A lady entered the square with a Rossoneri bandana, not a funeral must-have, but no one was surprised. Even Berlusconi, who for years has dressed the same way – blue suit, white shirt, blue tie with white dots – would have appreciated.