The fellow villager from the Ballon d’Or is at the center of D’Aversa’s game plans. After his experience with Juve U23 and with Zeman’s Pescara, the attacking midfielder wants to make a difference in yellow and red
“Bron, Lyon, footballer”. Try typing these words into Google: two results will appear in order. The first refers to Karim Benzema, the second to Hamza Rafia. They are separated by ten years and dozens of titles on the bulletin board, but they share a neighborhood – and a street – that has seen them grow and become great. I wonder if even yesterday, after Hamza scored the first goal (indeed, Golazo) with Lecce in Serie A, the former Real Madrid captain wrote him on Whatsapp to congratulate him. In 2020 he publicly cheered for the goal in Pirlo’s debut with Juve, posting a photo of Rafia with the words “Vamonos # 69”. It’s not about the shirt number, but the postcode of the place where both grew up.