Lippi-Cassano: The Real Reason?

By: Francesco | November 10th, 2009

cassano and lippi

Since Lippi has taken over the national team for a second time, the big question has always been, “Why aren’t you calling up Antonio Cassano?” Cassano has widely been recognized as the best Italian player at the moment and there is no other talent in Italy that can even reach his level at the moment (maybe an in-form Totti). Lippi has given us a variety of answers: “A manager doesn’t have to explain his choices“, “Let’s focus on the players that are here, not the ones that aren’t“, “All players aged 18-40 can dream of playing for the national team“, “Cassano is a great player and a nice guy, but I make the choices“, and the list goes on and on. There isn’t one press conference that goes by without the name Cassano being mentioned. Fans everywhere are wondering why Cassano isn’t being called up as he clearly deserves it. Well, Italian satirical news program Striscia la Notizia has claimed to have found the answer.

There was always a rumor floating around that Cassano and Lippi’s son, Davide Lippi, had gotten into a fight some time ago. When Davide Lippi was asked about this he laughed it off, saying it never happened and that he actually likes Cassano and whenever they see each they joke around. However, Striscia la Notizia confirms that this story may be the real reason and the “ugly story” that Sampdoria president Riccardo Garrone talked about last week. They actually have an interview from “somebody that works in the football world” but he remained to be anonymous, so his face is blurred out and his voice has been changed. Here is the interview:

For the non-Italian speakers, basically he describes the story, saying that months ago Davide Lippi and Cassano were both at a club in Versilia, a popular beach destination in Tuscany (close to Lippi’s hometown of Viareggio) for celebrities and filled with tons of famous nightclubs, and that they got into a little argument which led to a fist fight, and Cassano kicked Davide Lippi’s ass.

So Marcello Lippi apparently holds a grudge against Cassano for this whole fight and refuses to call up Italy’s most talented fantasista. Is this the real reason? I’m sure we’ll see tons of the stories relating to this in the coming days, weeks, months, and probably even minutes before the kick-off of the first World Cup match.

What do you think? Do you believe this is the reason? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.