A sky full of "banknotes" flew towards the Donnarumma, who returned to San Siro

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A sky of banknotes flew from the stands, and the stadium was filled with deafening boos. The opening moment before AC Milan vs. Paris Saint-Germain (the Rossoneri came back from 2-1 to win) was filled with a surreal atmosphere. Donnarumma's return to the San Siro was predictably met by the local fans, but the intensity was somewhat surprising. Milan's South Stand went to great lengths to turn the "Football Scala" into a house of banknotes, and Donnarumma's "custom banknotes" were printed with the number 71 in addition to his portrait. Donnarumma comes from the Sea Fort of Stabia, near Naples, and in the local Neapolitan grimace card, the number 71 symbolizes "X-like people".

The Neapolitans believe that the number 71 represents all the negative qualities of the male individual: vicious, negativity, the habit of betraying others, the unscrupulous for profit... Today, Donnarumma is the most capped of any active player (251 games), but he is still only 24 years old. The 16-year-old Donnarumma was trusted by AC Milan and saved many times with his own saves, the 18-year-old Donnarumma was caught up in a contract extension for the first time and eventually won a long-term contract with a high salary, and the 22-year-old Donnarumma rejected the Rossoneri's proposal to join Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer.

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This is not the first time Donnarumma has returned to San Siro since leaving Milan. Over the past two years, he has represented his country against Spain, England and Ukraine, where he has been booed by the home fans and the Italian media. However, the night was still special, as it was Donnarumma's first return as an opponent, and in any sense of the word, he was no longer "his own".

Do players have the right to decide their career choices without taking into account other factors? If the way a player leaves is uncomfortable, can the fans say it in the most extreme way? Is Donnarumma leaving Milan really all about money? What emotions did he feel when he congratulated his former club on the night of the Rossoneri Champions League last May? Everyone can have their own answers to these questions.

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There was a rain of paper money in the stands, and Donnarumma looked a little dazed. He walked somewhat reluctantly from the middle circle to the door, his pace slower than usual. The turf in front of the goal was already in shambles, and the Italian goalkeeper even tried to pick up the bills one by one and throw them outside the baseline. In the process of picking up the banknote, did Donnarumma read himself and the "71" printed on it?

Donnarumma's memories may be brought back to 6 years ago. In the summer of 2017, he represented Italy's Under-21 team in Poland and saw the "Dollarumma" banner in the stands and the banknotes thrown into the stadium by local Milan fans in Poland during the match against Denmark in Krakow. Donnarumma, who had only celebrated his bar mitzvah a few months earlier, is hard to tell whether he enjoyed the glamour of more talented goalkeepers or was under more pressure from the club's management, fans and public opinion. Previously, when the first renewal negotiations reached an impasse, then Milan CEO Fasoone told the media that Donnarumma had stated that he did not want to renew his contract. A month later, he received an after-tax salary of 6 million euros to sign a new contract with the club.

Donnarumma became Milan's starting goalkeeper in 2015 and decided to leave in 2021. If you had to pick someone to bridge the darkness and the dawn of Milan, no one would be more suitable. However, even after his transformation under Stefano Pioli as the first-choice goalkeeper, Donnarumma never seemed to have earned real recognition in the world of the Rossoneri, and he once wore the captain's armband for AC Milan, a picture that fans have selectively forgotten.

Albertosi, who played for Milan for six years in the 1970s, is 84 years old this year, but he still loves to express himself. Ahead of the game, the former World Cup runner-up goalkeeper said: "Donnarumma messed everything up, he could have been at Milan for 20 years and became a banner for the club. Albertosi himself was involved in the 1980 Totonello affair, and despite his previous exploits on the pitch, one of the darkest pages in the club's history was directly linked to him. However, Donnarumma is not Albertosi, he ended up leaving on a free transfer and did not cause any real damage to the Milan club. So, why did the red-black world mind so much about Donnarumma's departure?

Donnarumma is not the vanishing Lukaku, nor is he the "skriniar" Skriniar, or even the most controversial destinations as a free agent, as his former team-mate Calhanoglu did. Donnarumma's scolding is probably related to the impression he left on fans during the contract renewal negotiations. In those years, when he talked about the renewal of his contract, he always showed a sticky and ambiguous attitude, and the way he answered was almost like artificial intelligence. People realize: this young man from Milan's youth academy may not have any special feelings for this shirt.

Donnarumma will also feel aggrieved and innocent. At least, he never created the illusion that a contract renewal was imminent, and he didn't deceive anyone in the true sense of the word. Because of this, the Milan management was well prepared to seal the Frenchman's arrival before the Italian international left. On the night of the San Siro, the patron saint in front of Milan became Maignan who used decisive strikes to contain Mbappe's solo breakthrough and became the leader of the club's dressing room with his strong personality. Maignan is not Italian, but he has won the hearts and minds of many Italians, and football is ultimately a sport of heart, where personality and emotion are paramount, and prejudice is everywhere.

Author: Shen Tianhao (from San Siro)

This article was originally published in Sports Plus APP

The picture comes from the Internet

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