Former Inter President Massimo Moratti calls Guido Rossi “a visionary” and says he never spoke to him during the Calciopoli scandal.
The lawyer was appointed the FIGC’s Extraordinary Commissioner after Franco Carraro stepped down shortly before the 2006 World Cup.
His committee revoked two Scudetti from Juventus in the Calciopoli scandal, with punishments also given out to Fiorentina, Milan, Lazio, Reggina and Arezzo.
Former Inter President Massimo Moratti calls Guido Rossi “a visionary” and says he never spoke to him during the Calciopoli scandal.
The lawyer was appointed the FIGC’s Extraordinary Commissioner after Franco Carraro stepped down shortly before the 2006 World Cup.
His committee revoked two Scudetti from Juventus in the Calciopoli scandal, with punishments also given out to Fiorentina, Milan, Lazio, Reggina and Arezzo.
However, he became a controversial figure for Juve fans after it emerged that he was a member of the Inter board between 1995 and 1999, with some alleging bias after the 2005-06 title was awarded to the Nerazzurri.
Yesterday it was confirmed that Rossi had passed away, and his old friend paid tribute to him today.
“He’s someone who will be missed,” Moratti, Beneamata President at the time, told Corriere della Sera.
“We met for professional reasons, he was an educated and sophisticated jurist, a free man and a great intellectual. Then there was also Inter.
“He had a creative intelligence, he was capable of being solid and he was a visionary. He could solve problems and always said intelligent things.
“Guido was someone who studied and got to the substance of things, being with him was a pleasure, you’d always learn something.
“He was someone who got called in difficult times, he made a courageous decision with the national team at a difficult time. He sent Marcello Lippi to Berlin and Italy won a historic World Cup.”
He also awarded the Scudetto to Inter…
“Do you know we never spoke during that time? Guido had great intellectual honesty, and our friendship was also based on respect.
“There were people of law around him, he’d called [Cesare] Ruperto and [Francesco Saverio] Borrelli to the Federation.
“When he left the chair he told me: ‘You know, you were the only President who never called me…’
“Not even for advice? Nothing. I repeat, Guido was an extraordinary person, the first Italian to graduate from Harvard.
“Friendship is a private matter based on esteem and affection. My wife Milly and I shared visions and projects with him, often talking about the city [Milan] we were so proud of.”