“I wanted Maldini at Zenit.” Then he makes peace with Guardiola-Corriere.it

Spalletti throws the positioning of all the cameras in the San Siro press room into a tailspin, shifting attention away from the match. And he graduates once again as the most effective of communicators. He expects the questions about Maldini (the dispute in the Maradona tunnel 15 days ago) and those about Guardiola (who called him grumpy). And then he decided to make peace with both of them. How? About Maldini ready to reveal an anecdote from 2020: I watched the games from home, among the ancient oaks where there are very high stairs and where I have my collection of shirts. The first two are by Paolo Maldini and Daniele De Rossi. He thus explains the esteem I have for Paolo and adds a background story from when he was at the Zenith. We had qualified for the Champions League, the club asked me for the name of an Italian executive with an international profile, I immediately named him. I called him but he had other things in the pipeline at the time and he said no. I’m sorry that after that spat at the Maradona we didn’t say goodbye, it’s all over for me.

Turkish coffee with Pep

We come to Guardiola, Spalletti surpasses himself. He stands up, and with an attitude of respect towards Pep says: I learned everything from him, I hope soon to be able to talk about tactics with him again. I apologize for appearing grumpy. Then if you want to discuss how strong Napoli is, I’d like to have a laugh over a Turkish coffee. The cameras have to change the direction of the lens, at which point Spalletti takes the applause of the hall and smiles. Eh, we also came here to have fun, to enjoy the eve of this very important challenge. And this is the last message he gives to his players