Magic Mike’s story tomorrow on Sportweek: “I’m Magic for my daughters too”: And then super Popovici, Irma Testa and Francesca Clapcich, the first Italian sailor to win the Ocean Race. And much more
According to Transfermarkt, Mike Maignan is now the most valuable goalkeeper in the world: 45 million euros. The French goalkeeper was certainly one of the architects of Milan’s Scudetto last year and remains a pillar of the team coached by Pioli. Sportweek, on newsstands on Saturday with the Gazzetta at the usual price of 2.20 euros, tried to get to know him better with a very personal interview. From a difficult childhood in the banlieue of Paris (“I didn’t have much, but I lacked for nothing”) to the roars of the San Siro (“A gladiatorial arena”), Magic Mike (“I’m Magic even for my daughters, the Number One…”) tells himself freely: “I ended up in goal almost by chance, I wanted to be a striker”. Maignan also talks about fashion (“It fascinates me, I’m versatile, as comfortable with a casual and street look as with a suit for an event”) but he doesn’t hold back when the questions concern the Milan to come: “I love new challenges that await us”. To give him the report card Giovanni Galli, an ex who won everything with Milan: “he has explosiveness, glance and style, but it is too early to say that he is the best in the world”.
I swim
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Another interview to be read on the new Sportweek is the one with David Popovici, the eighteen year old Romanian record holder of the 100m freestyle. We met him in Bucharest and he explained his love for psychology, for the great characters of history (“Among my references there is Marcus Aurelius: he was the most powerful of all, but his lifestyle was normal” ) and because he identifies himself with the dragonfly: “At the starting blocks I’m not the biggest, nor the most muscular, but I fly over the water as light as a dragonfly, and I know how to get there first”.
boxing
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Then we went to Krakow, to follow the exploits of Irma Testa, the best Italian boxer who won the pass for her third Olympics at the European Games. Already bronze in Tokyo 2021, the Head told us the things we don’t know about her: her sister Lucia (“I chose boxing to imitate her”), her first girlfriend and her first tattoo, the book she is writing (“but what I won’t publish”), the love for Guccini and the hate for those who talk nonsense… A sincere and moving (self) portrait.
sail
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Another woman tells Sportweek about her exploits: Francesca Clapcich has just won the Ocean Race aboard 11th Hours, the first Italian woman to do so: “As a child I dreamed of participating in this sailing around the world, I never would have imagined to win it”.
cycling
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And, speaking of feats, the report from the Maratona dles Dolomites, the 36th edition of the most beautiful (and toughest) Gran Fondo in the world, is worth reading: 8,000 participants (including Nibali) and the fascination of pedaling effort in a unique and extraordinary.
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