When he stepped onto the senior stage, in 1999, Antonio Cassano was known as the greatest talent of Italian football (what a goal he scored against Inter in Bari’s jersey that year), however, his “crazy head” did not allow Fantantonio to turn the potential into a legend. He changed many clubs, played for giants like Real Madrid, AC Milan and Inter, played best and most in Sampdoria and Roma and collected 400 games in Serie A.Today, at the age of 42, Cassano is often a guest on Italian television and expresses his football opinions, attitudes and viewpoints which, to say the least, can be quite radical and controversial. In the once famous and highly regarded Rai television show “Domenica Sportiva”, Cassano ‘fired’ at Rafael Leao, Massimiliano Allegri, and also teased Jose Mourinho, who, unlike the first two, is currently not employed.##EDITORS_CHOICE##He may not be at the level of the 2021/22 competition, when he led AC Milan to the Scudetto with 11 goals and 10 assists and earned the title of Serie A’s best player, but Rafael Leao means a lot to the Rossoneri. In the current season, the Portuguese collected 12 goals and assists in 38 appearances in all competitions. There are complaints about his commitment (especially defensive), his presence on the field, and it is clear that Leao has a double-double even though he is far from his maximum, but Antonio Cassano does not value the character and work of one of the most physically dominant wingers in the world too much.”I continue to believe that there is a lot of smoke, but not fire. In his role, Rashford would score 30 goals and play well in the championship, but he would also be committed to the defensive, like Foden and Kvaratskhelia. Serie A is not at such a high level anymore, so he thinks he’s some kind of phenomenon and so do the people who glorify him. He’s a good, physically dominant player and that’s it. People like Kaka, Rui Costa, Vinicius, how much money should they get? He asked for a lot of money and got it, now he is worth 120, 130, 140 million? What are we talking about? We are talking about an ordinary football player. For five and a half months he was not a scorer in the championship. We have to be aware that in Serie A there is no quality, no intensity, no rhythm. Then he appears, makes two runs and suddenly you hear ‘look how strong he is, he’s worth so much’. How much is he worth?” Cassano said.##NAJAVA_MECA_8010124##Then continued with that classic platitude of disgruntled, frustrated veterans’ point of view: “In my time…””Ten-fifteen years ago, he would not have had a place in teams fighting for sixth, seventh place in the table. Who is the champion in my opinion? Look at Lautaro, he runs, sacrifices himself, scores goals, assists… He is a leader” said Cassano.”Also, nobody is talking about Lobotka. Two years ago, I was talking about him being a player for Barcelona and Bayern. They asked Xavi who he would take in his team and he said it would be Lobotka. The problem is that certain players and coaches have strong lobies and support of journalists.”Leao did not stay silent and decided to ‘answer’ to the former Italian national team player. The Portuguese footballer responded to on X with emojis that say that Cassano is a fool, a clown…Ormai anche per la RAI basta fare interazioni e ascolti e va bene tuttoVergognoso ascoltare un rutto del genere in diretta nazionale Non ascoltarlo @RafaeLeao7 , non sa quello che dicepic.twitter.com/nrwr7tAU3J— M4rk (@M4rkPhilips) April 7, 2024 Cassano then referred to Max Allegri, a man whose Juventus team was a candidate for Scudetto at the end of January, and who currently, although the position is good, is not guaranteed a place in the Champions League.”He says that the result is the only thing that counts, but he hasn’t won anything in the last three seasons and that’s why he should pull back a bit, drop the ball. Juventus have 17 international players, spent 160,000,000 euros on transfers, but they look lost and they can’t make three passes in a row. When he talks about the fourth position in the table as a goal, he makes fun of everyone. Look at Thiago Motta’s Bologna, they play amazing football, and they only spent 1,500,000 euros. Pioli is the scapegoat because he has no friends among the journalists, and yet he won the championship and played in the semi-finals of the Champions League. With all his mistakes, Allegri is still quite loved.”Finally, a word or two about Jose Mourinho.”He has completely lost his grip, he can’t coach anyone anymore because he’s stuck in the time of ten years ago. In Roma he didn’t let Paredes play, he played Bove before Pellegrini, not to mention Karsdorp. De Rossi is doing an extraordinary job, he restored faith in the team, which is a big thing,” Cassano concluded.
