After the game of the big match against Newcastle, the City coach shows off a T-shirt with the famous run of the deceased coach: “I send a big hug to all his family”
– Manchester
It was a party at the Etihad Stadium. Yet in Pep Guardiola’s voice there is a vein of sadness. City beat Newcastle 1-0, celebrated the trophies of the treble in the first home game of the season, plus the European Super Cup won on penalties against Sevilla on Wednesday. Pep allows himself a lap of honor in the stadium with his players, but there is always something that saddens him. The reason is shown when he meets the journalists after the match: he is not wearing the black suit he had on the bench, but a white t-shirt with a friend drawn on it: Carlo Mazzone. A friend who lost today.
mourning
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“It’s a very sad day for me and my family – explains Pep in the press room of the Etihad Stadium, proudly wearing the white T-shirt -. Mister Mazzone (he says it in perfect Italian, even though he speaks English, ed) was the my coach in Brescia and unfortunately he passed away today. I send a big hug to all his family, his wife and his children and grandchildren”. Then Pep opens the book of memories, for a coach to whom, since those years together in Brescia, he has remained very close. “When I arrived in Italy it was a tough time for me. And he was like a father – he says, lighting up -. Italian football has lost a legend, a person who has had a huge impact on all the people he is with been in contact: I’m not just talking about the players he’s had or the presidents, but about the whole world of football. I send a big hug to all his family.”
T-shirt
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The white shirt with Mazzone over Pep wears it with pride, both in the TV interviews immediately after the match and in those in the press room. The coach who died today at the age of 86 is portrayed in one of his most iconic images, when in the Brescia suit he runs under the Atalanta curve to rejoice, with his team manager Edoardo Piovani who desperately tries to stop him. Guardiola had recounted that scene in 2018, a guest at the Sport Festival. This time, after the match against Newcastle, he wears it with pride, to remember his friend who is no longer with us. “I remembered that Edoardo Piovani sent me this t-shirt a year ago – he said with a smile, looking at the shirt he’s wearing -. I thought this was the right day to wear it”.
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