What drives the goalkeeper to show up with a group of boys and a coach against Greece and Luxembourg? The truth is that Gigio is seriously interpreting his role as the leading man of the blue group.
Zenica’s tears have not yet dried and the wound of the third consecutive failure to qualify for the World Cup is a wound that will not heal. Gianluigi Donnarumma hasn’t digested the shock of the penalty defeat against Bosnia and he doesn’t want to either. As Italian captain he suffered the drama that involved millions of fans and enthusiasts, a sense of responsibility that led him to want to stay on the national team boat straight away.
Interim coach Silvio Baldini explained it when he presented himself as selector for the two friendly matches in June against Greece and Luxembourg: the Under 21 boys are playing but the goalkeeper will also be there because between one match and another with Manchester City he found the desire, time and sensitivity to call Baldini himself and make himself available. A noble gesture, from a true captain.
That the wound has not healed and that it is unlikely to do so in the future is clear even by listening to his words and the reasons they hide. “I think it will be good for us to carry this injury with us for a while. It will do us good for the future. There is nothing else to do but start again. And we will do it in a great way because there are strong young people, we have a strong group. After the failure to qualify I spent two or three days without training because it was a strong blow. After the last penalty the world fell on me, it was an incredible blow, more than the other times. I think something magical had been created thanks to mister Gattuso, the president and Gigi. What hurts the most is what happened to them. We have to start from that, rarely have I seen a group so eager to bring Italy back to the World Cup.”
Donnarumma will lead a very young group against Greece and Luxembourg, which is looking to the future with the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics in mind, even if the two friendlies will have to be won so as not to further penalize the Fifa ranking and create problems in view of the draws for future qualifying groups: “I’m here to lend a hand and to make it clear that the blue shirt is too important. I’m trying to bring experience despite being young too. These guys have a great future, in the first training session they impressed me from all points of view. I also met the coach, a man of values.”
