Antonio Donnarumma was practically in tears after his “dream Milan debut” in the Coppa Italia Quarter-Final against Inter.
The 27-year-old is the older brother of Gianluigi Donnarumma and was meant to be on the bench this evening.
When Gianluigi pulled out with a muscular problem, then Marco Storari sustained a calf injury in the warm-up, so the elder Donnarumma was rushed through his paces and thrown on to the field.
Antonio Donnarumma was practically in tears after his “dream Milan debut” in the Coppa Italia Quarter-Final against Inter.
The 27-year-old is the older brother of Gianluigi Donnarumma and was meant to be on the bench this evening.
When Gianluigi pulled out with a muscular problem, then Marco Storari sustained a calf injury in the warm-up, so the elder Donnarumma was rushed through his paces and thrown on to the field.
He proved to be one of the best performers on the night, including a desperate point-blank range save on Joao Mario, as the Rossoneri went on to win 1-0.
“I always trained well, I always did my work in silence. Work pays off and fortunately it went well, I could not have asked for a better debut. It was a dream Milan debut,” he told Milan TV.
“When I heard Marco was injured, I was a little stunned, but I told myself to take this chance and have fun. It went well, including the save on Joao Mario.
“We were a real team tonight and the group gives you strength. Now we must take this attitude to Fiorentina on Saturday.
“We were already doing better over the last few games, the group is calm and finally we got the result too.”
It’s a particularly remarkable tale, as Donnarumma was bitterly criticised by Milan ultras calling him a “parasite” earlier this month, suggesting he’d been signed at €1m per year only to keep brother Gianluigi happy.
Antonio Donnarumma came up through the Rossoneri youth academy, but has only one Serie A appearance under his belt, for Genoa in 2012-13, and spent last season in Greece with Asteras Tripolis.