Olimpia Milano, Adriano Galliani gets some credit.

Galliani gets some credit

Monza CEO Adriano Galliani, during an interview granted to ‘Il Foglio,’ talked about his strong connection with basketball and the presidency of Olimpia Milano: “It all started in Monza in 1955/56 when Simmenthal, a company from Monza sponsored soccer and basketball. To watch soccer my mom used to take me as a child. To go to watch basketball I had to wait until I had my driver’s license and my first car. When I was 19 years old in 1963 I got a Cinquecento and began to follow Simmenthal with endless passion in 1963/1964. I remember vividly the semifinal with Real Madrid won at home, lost away that year and then I remember being in Bologna, again in the Cinquecento, in 1966 for what we can call the Final Four where we beat the Red Army in the semifinals and then Slavia Prague in the final with Bill Bradley playing for us. Since those years I have always followed basketball with great passion.”

“In 2004 the Gazzetta sounded the alarm: basketball in Milan is dying. I called King Giorgio Armani who came in first as a sponsor and then as an owner. If I had not made that call, without giving myself excessive credit, and if Giorgio Armani had not intervened, the sports title that year would have ended up with Virtus Bologna, which was not in A1. We will have to be eternally grateful to Giorgio Armani,” the former Milan ad continued.

Finally, a comment on the playoff finals, won by the Milan team against Virtus Bologna, and on the decisive players according to Galliani: “Shields, who played better, was also Mvp of the finals, but I still think that the symbol is Chacho who gives me crazy emotions.”