AC Milan fans mock Gianluigi Donnarumma by throwing fake money at PSG goalkeeper | OneFootball

Highlights

Former AC Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma endured a frosty return to San Siro as he and his current employers, Paris Saint-Germain, travelled to the Italian capital for their all-intense Champions League Group F clash. The 24-year-old Italian, who joined the French outfit on a five-year free transfer back in the summer of 2021, has received criticism from Milan fans since the move as they felt that he chose the ever-growing riches of PSG over his boyhood club.

Amid uncertainty over his future back in 2021, the highly rated stopper was threatened by Milan’s ultras outside the training ground, all while their Serie A rivals Juventus were linked with a transfer. It was PSG, however, that Donnarumma chose and upon his return to Milan, a catalogue of boos, whistles, and chants were thrown in his direction as he came out to warm up with no other teammates around him. And the taunts continued all the way until a ball was kicked as the home support did everything they could to make their feelings towards the 24-year-old known by throwing thousands of fake banknotes into Donnarumma’s vicinity.

Why AC Milan fans threw a flurry of fake notes at Donnarumma and what all the details meant

Now hailed as ‘Dollarumma’ around the AC Milan fanbase, they made it rain with the fake notes in protest at him moving purely for financial gain after he refused to extend his stay in Milan on a £120,000-a-week contract, per talkSPORT. Already a 58-cap Italy international, Donnarumma came through the academy and went on to enjoy a 251-game career at the Italian stalwarts before switching for PSG, where he is believed to be earning a hefty pay packet.

The protest was led by AC Milan ultra group called La Curva Sud, who could be found around the outskirts of the ground pre-match selling a bundle of notes for €2 a piece. The notes are seen to be displaying the number 71, with jerseys in the San Siro also adorning the same number – but why?

The number is a reflection of the Neapolitan system used in Naples to convert dreams and everyday life events into lottery numbers – more commonly known as Smorfia Napoletana, in which the number 71 means a ‘man without values’, as reported by GOAL, which the AC Milan support believes Donnarumma is.

Counterfeit tickets bearing the image of Donnarumma’s face were sold at the iconic stadium with all profits going towards a football school in order to “no longer bring up worthless people like him [Donnarumma]”, according to Eurosport journalist Guillame Maillard-Pacini.

Amid the ensuing chaos, Donnarumma himself seemed relatively calm and unnerved by the rain-like flury of notes coming down into his penalty area. His teammate Kylian Mbappé, however, saw the funny side of the protest and can be seen grinning from ear to ear as he prepared for the mammoth continental encounter. You can watch it below.

Watch: Mbappé's hilarious reaction to AC Milan protests

PSG chairman pleads with Milan ultras

The protests against the young shot-stopper came as little surprise, however, as reputable journalist Fabrizio Romano revealed earlier today that fans of the Milan outfit were planning, on the back of the feeling of betrayal two years on, to launch fake banknotes as Donnarumma made his return to the stadium where he began his career. As a result, PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi spoke to Gazzetta dello Sport and urged the protesters to look back fondly on Donnaruma’s time for the club.

It seems, however, that the Milan ultras turned a blind eye to Al-Khelaifi’s pleads and took little time to show their discontent towards the 24-year-old, despite being two years on from the anger-fuelled debacle.