From the Wembley party to last night's shadows at San Siro, the friends of always Roberto Mancini and Gianluca Vialli find themselves side by side again, blue twins: this time they are both mentioned in the journalistic investigation called 'Pandora Papers' on offshore paradises.
Together with the two Azzurri there are statesmen, politicians and VIPs: in the last few days the names of, among others, have emerged: Tony Blair o Abdullah of Jordan, and for football Carlo Ancelotti e Pep Guardiola. From the millions of documents in the possession of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), in which L'Espresso per l'Italia also participates, some offshore activities have emerged relating to the Italian coach and the head of the Azzurri delegation, who has been a British citizen for years.
“Mancini – the weekly magazine reports in a preview – is listed in the documents as a shareholder of Bastian Asset Holdings, a company based in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands. Vialli is instead listed as the owner of another company, Crewborn Holdings, also registered in the British Virgin Islands.
From Pandora Papers – it still reads – numerous details emerge about the activities of the two former footballers. It turns out that in 2009 the current coach had reported to an Italian trust company that he wanted to request the tax shield to regularize his position with the tax authorities. According to the documents consulted by L'Espresso, Mancini's Caribbean company owned an airplane. Vialli's offshore screen, instead, was used to manage a series of financings for Italian activities”.
At the moment, no comment from Mancini (whose name had already appeared in the Football Leaks three years ago) and Vialli: in the case of the coach, the offshore chapter would have been closed with the tax shield, to get back on track a position that was otherwise not prosecutable by the Italian treasury. A few days ago, the names of two other top names in football, such as Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola, had also emerged from the millions of available files.
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For the first, who sits on the bench of the Real Madrid, some foreign companies that had ended up in the sights of the Spanish tax authorities are mentioned, while the current manager of Manchester City, according to the documents, had opened an account in Andorra without reporting it to the Spanish tax authorities, a situation that was then regularised in 2012 thanks to a tax amnesty.
Gianluca Mancini chooses the path of caution. At the CONI, after receiving the Beppe Viola Award, the Roma defender made a clear reflection: “If we are first today it is thanks to merit, we fought for every match.”
A premise that acknowledges the value of the Giallorossi's journey, but doesn't open the door to any rushes forward. When asked if Roma-Napoli can already be called a Scudetto challenge, Mancini immediately dampens any euphoria: "Before Roma-Napoli, there's an important European match. It's too early to talk about a 'Scudetto challenge'; it's still November."
In Rimini, guest of the event “The Coach Experience”, Roberto Mancini chose to face without filters one of the most discussed moments of his career: his farewell to the bench of the Italian national team in August 2023. In front of an attentive and large audience, the coach from the Marche opened his heart admitting that, if he could do it again, he would not make the same decision.
“I would never say goodbye to the national team again”, he confessed frankly, explaining how misunderstandings and a lack of communication with the Federation marked the breakup. “If I had spoken more with the president everything would have gone forward, it was my mistake.”
Luciano Spalletti has a concentrated face and sharp words on the eve of the challenge that could decide Italy's destiny towards the next World Cup. Interviewed by Sky Sport before the match against Norway, the Italian coach does not hide, neither in front of the pressure of the moment nor in front of the still unresolved issues with Francesco Acerbi. “One day he will explain to me where I disrespected him, and I will tell him what I think of the respect he had for me and for the national team”, Spalletti said bluntly.
Then a poisonous joke also on Roberto Mancini's social like on a tweet criticizing him: "His phone was stolen, someone is using it to give him likes and make him look like he's enjoying other people's problems. It happens a lot now, I couldn't think otherwise." But beyond the personal differences and the media skirmishes, the coach's goal remains one: to take Italy to the World Cup.
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