Riccardo Calafiori

Written by Luca Bianchin for Gazzetta dello Sport:

At 22, Riccardo Calafiori has lived the life of a veteran. In 2018 he almost had his playing days ended by a knee injury suffered in a Youth League game. All the ligaments in Calafiori's knee had been torn, along with his meniscus and articular capsule. He was operated in the US by the famous doctor Freddie Fu and he managed to come back to football. He played in Switzerland with Roma and Genoa, then abroad with Basel and in Italy again with Bologna, where coach Thiago Motta decided his days as a left back were over. Calafiori started playing as a central defender and had the best campaign of his career. A Roma fan since childhood, he wrote a public message to Daniele De Rossi when DDR left the Giallorossi: “Thanks for having been an idol, a captain, a great friend.”