Donnarumma, ball boy laughs: "That’s why he didn’t parry anything"

Italy’s exclusion from the World Cup continues to make noise.

In Bosnia, where people have been celebrating for more than a week now for qualifying for the tournament in North America, now come the words of ball boy Afan Cizmic. The 14-year-old has become a national hero for stealing from Azzurri goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma the piece of paper with directions on Bosnian shooters.

The Manchester City defender, who was very nervous before the penalty kick lottery, failed to save even one, when usually on shots from the eleven meters he is always effective. “Throughout the match I was thinking about how I could help my idols,” Afan told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“When I got this sheet, Donnarumma jumped to the left all five times. He tried his luck. On the sheet there was very precise information about the Bosnian shooters: preferred foot, habits in the run-up, most frequent direction of the shot and signs to watch,” explained the boy, proud of what he had done.

Donnarumma when he realized he had lost the sheet went on a rampage, devolving, “Donnarumma was very disappointed and angry. He picked up the towel and saw that the paper was gone, looked for it but could not find it. He thought the culprit was a steward, he started yelling at one of them. He was beside himself. Then he tried to snatch the sheet from our goalkeeper Vasilj, the referee had to intervene to stop him.”

“He was not calm, that’s why he dived badly on our penalties. He is among the best goalkeepers in the world, on that occasion, however, he was too angry to stay focused,” said Afan, who now wants to exploit his “feat” economically as well. “I showed the sheet to my father and we decided to auction it and donate the proceeds to charity.”