It was a real ‘carrambata’ that Giorgio Chiellini had at his table of friends, none other than the four former football champions, the protagonists of the new Sky UK show ‘The Overlap on Tour’.
Gary Neville, Ian Wright, Jamie Carragher, and Roy Keane were all busy eating and talking football. After hanging up their boots, they all went on to become well-known pundits, and in the instance of Neville and Keane, they even tried their hand at coaching.
None of those present knew about the unexpected appearance of Chiellini, who, before sitting down at the table, turned to point out the name printed on the Manchester United shirt he was wearing: it was Keane, who was surprised and blushed. Not an easy thing for a “tough guy” like the former Irish striker.
At 40, Chiellini has just started his new life at Juventus as Director of Football Institutional Relations, but he also found time to respond to the producers of the new show, who relied on his empathy and fluency in English to make it happen. The first episode’s posh guest.
The quartet of former England players were sitting in a restaurant – in a very relaxed atmosphere with soft lighting – when the former Italy international turned up, greeted with a mixture of warmth and amazement. Chiellini, wearing a United shirt, immediately turned around, showing Keane’s name and the number 16 printed on his back, to the even greater surprise of the Irishman, who clapped and blushed.
“You look great in that suit!”, Neville told the former Juventus captain,
While Keane added: “It looks great on you.”
The Italian legend humorously explained he’d chosen the Irishman’s shirt over those of modern players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at a vintage jersey event.
Chiellini sat down and began: “I have to tell you this story. I was at an event for vintage football shirts and they asked me: ‘Ok, pick one’. I looked at the first one. It wasn’t Ronaldo, it wasn’t Messi. I said: ‘Well, I want Roy Keane’s Manchester United shirt’.”
Then, Keane got even more emotional and stood up to sign – next to his name printed on the back – the Red Devils shirt that Chiellini wore.
