the daughter, the disappearance of the grandparents, the death of the brother – Corriere.it

The coach of the tough ones, the man doesn’t let one go. Luciano Spalletti at 64 won his first Scudetto, he did it with Napoli who had been waiting for 33 years. One record after another, one party after another. An infinite embrace between Lucio and the city. To the point that the municipal assembly discusses and approves the motion to give him honorary citizenship. Spalletti, as is known, has decided to leave. Relations with president De Laurentiis, the difficulty of relating to the top management of the club, but not least the need to be close to the family, he said on Monday in Coverciano while collecting an award. I have a little daughter, Matilda, I have to stay with her, train her. Spalletti, father’s heart, has intrigued the world of football and beyond: for once he has chosen the private him as the cover of an event. He wants to live happiness, because those who work don’t have the time, the thought of him. Not a fairy tale, nor a way to sweeten the divorce. Beyond all the misunderstandings with the president, which also occurred, there is a man who, by his choice, lived day and night for two years in the Castel Volturno sports center, fed himself only on work. He got the maximum and tired. He wants to go home.

The man established the priority (the family, in fact) and prevailed over the coach across the pitch and team. A united family, which over the years has overcome misfortunes and difficulties together. Matilda was 5 years old when she lost her maternal grandparents, Piero and Giovanna Angeli, both of whom died on the same day a few hours apart. The two were the parents of Tamara, the wife of the coach from Certaldo. The couple, who have been together for 50 years, lived in Lerici, in Liguria, where Spalletti, at the time in Rome, rushed to be close to his loved ones. Three years after another mourning and the family put to the test again, the death of his brother, Marcello Spalletti.

The only time that Spalletti – who by his own admission fails to fully enjoy happiness – was moved in public in Udine, on the day of the Scudetto. Game over, defenses lowered and the thought goes to his brother Marcello who passed away in 2019 at the age of 66 after battling a long illness. He didn’t make it, Marcello, just in the days when Inter liquidated Luciano. The kids of the Avane sports club in Empoli where he coached they were the first to tweet congratulations on Napoli’s Scudetto: Proud of everything you’ve always done. Today we too, together with our Komandante Marcello Spalletti, are a bit like Champions of Italy. Lucio, after the decisive draw in Udine, thus once again measured himself with the pain, real and tangible, for the death of his brother. There is never a processing time for the loss of a sibling. And so, after two intense and tiring years in Naples, away from that very important family for him, he had to return home to Milan. With Tamara, his wife and Matilda, his 12-year-old daughter who too soon lost her grandparents and her uncle. The family, indeed. The man who prevails over the coach after a great joy like the Scudetto. The field remains its lifeblood. I’ll find it again soon.