"Golf is among the most beautiful sports in the world. I started playing at the time of Real Madrid and from there this great passion was born. As far as the Italian Open is concerned, the hope is, obviously, that it can win an Italian team.
From Guido Migliozzi to Francesco Laporta, from Renato Paratore to Edoardo Molinari, passing through Emanuele Canonica, I am friends with many of these guys and I root for them."
Christian Panucci, golf
This was said by Christian Panucci, former footballer for Milan, Real Madrid and Roma among others, present in Cervia for the first round of the Italian Golf Open.
Christian Panucci (Savona, 12 April 1973) is an Italian football coach and former footballer, who played as a defender. After playing in the youth teams of Veloce Savona and Genoa, he made his debut in Serie A with the Grifone shirt.
He then moved to Fabio Capello's Milan, where in the mid-1990s he won two scudetti, two Italian Super Cups, a Champions League and a UEFA Super Cup. He then moved abroad: first to Real Madrid, where at the end of the decade he won a Spanish Super Cup, his second Champions League and an Intercontinental Cup, then (except for a brief interlude at Inter) to Chelsea, in whose ranks he raised an English Super Cup, and finally to Monaco.
At the beginning of the 2000s he made his second return to his homeland, joining Roma; over the course of eight seasons he became a symbolic player for the Giallorossi,[1] playing more than 300 matches in the capital and scoring 31 goals, taking part in the victories of two Italian Cups and his second Italian Super Cup.
He finally ended his career in Parma, after having made more than 650 appearances in professional football. Panucci began being called up by the Under-21 national team in 1992, then winning the European Championships twice in a row in 1994 and 1996, on both occasions playing the final as a starter.
After having also played for the Under-23s, in 1994 he also made his debut in the senior national team, taking part in the qualifying matches for Euro 1996, the 1998 World Cup and the European Championship 2000 without, however, being called up for the final stages of the aforementioned tournaments.
He returned to play for Italy in 2002, being called up for both the final phase of the World Cup in Korea and Japan and for that of Euro 2004. After a further break, he returned to the national team, taking part in the 2008 European Championship before leaving for good from the national tour. In 2015 he began his coaching career.
