Friday evening’s Serie A clash between Genoa and Salernitana will provide an encounter between 2006 World Cup winners Alberto Gilardino and Filippo Inzaghi for the first time as coaches.
Gilardino and Inzaghi overlapped in what has been described by La Gazzetta dello Sport as the last golden generation of Italian football. Despite a nine-year difference in age, both were valuable members of Marcello Lippi’s triumphant squad 17 years ago.
Despite Luca Toni and Francesco Totti being selected as the starting forwards in the tournament in Germany, Gilardino and Inzaghi chipped in with one goal apiece on the way to the final, in games against the USA and Czech Republic respectively.
Both of the former Italy internationals were also teammates at club-level for a period of three years between 2005 and 2008, often competing for a spot in the Milan line-up.
Gilardino has enjoyed a successful start to life as coach of Genoa since being appointed in December 2022. Having originally joined the club as a Primavera coach last July, he was fast-tracked into the role of first team coach following the dismissal of Alexander Blessin.
A few months later, Gilardino and Genoa earned promotion to the top flight, having finished as runners-up in Serie B in 2022-23, and now sit respectively in 15th place in Serie A.
Friday’s game will be just the second game in charge of Salernitana for Inzaghi, who took over from Paulo Sousa on October 10. The Granata are still yet to pick up their first league win this season.