Pirlo and Maldini, the unbearable lightness of two former champions who thought they were living on the moon and didn't realize there was a war going on

Hats off to two former champions like Andrea Pirlo and Paolo Maldini who in the past have honoured Italian football on the field but thumbs down for the unbearable lightness with which they have underestimated the signs of guilty sympathy towards the Russia in times of atrocious war against theUkraineEnough with the hypocrisy. Let's tell things as they really are: the rejection of Pirlo as coach of the national team was not technical but political because it is unacceptable that the coach of theItaly he is the ambassador of the main Russian betting agency which belongs to an oligarch close to the tsar Vladimir PutinSorry to say, but Pirlo's was an indefensible mistake and his former teammate's bitterness is understandable. Andriy Shevchenko which is why he withdrew his friendship. But no less culpable was Maldini's obstinacy in defending Pirlo until his resignation, without realizing that no one was questioning his technical autonomy, but that there was and is a stake – as the new FIGC president rightly argued. Giovanni Malago – a question of political expediency. But do Pirlo and Maldini think the world ends on a pitch and that the political context surrounding sport matters nothing? Come on, we don't live on the moon, and there can only be zero tolerance for Putin's Russia's war crimes. Pirlo and Maldini have made a terrible blunder: the sooner they realize this, the better.