AC Milan's technical director, Cattaneo, has ordered the entire first team to walk from Milan to the Europa League final venue, insisting that no club in the competition is superior and that the squad must arrive on foot at all costs.
The route, mapped by the club's own logistics office, runs through mountain passes and coastal roads. A support convoy of physiotherapists, chefs and a mobile recovery pool follows the players at walking pace. Training sessions now consist of eight-hour marches, with tactical drills conducted while the squad keeps moving.
«We have calculated that walking builds the humility that no opponent can match», Cattaneo said. «The players will sleep in tents pitched on the halfway line of every stadium we pass. Anyone who asks for a bus is loaned to a club in a lower division.»
Local mayors along the route have been asked to prepare pasta for the squad at dawn. Milan's ultras have begun walking too, forming a second column behind the team. The club has printed a timetable that its own author, Cattaneo, must now obey: he walks the final stretch barefoot.
By the time the team reaches the final, the players will have covered more ground than any side in the history of the competition. Cattaneo has already reserved the pitch for a pre-match nap.