[People] Giflo: The firm belief under the helmet

Sports Weekly Special Correspondent in Italy Xiao Wu

Inter Milan officially announced that the 44-year-old Romanian coach Givot will serve as head coach, and the two sides will sign the contract until 2027. Kivo once coached in the Inter Milan echelon and took over Parma in February this year, leading the team to achieve the goal of relegation. Inter Milan previously announced that Simeone Inzaghi had left office, and then negotiated with Kivo and quickly finalized the agreement.

Givu, from Romania, is a triumphant champion of Inter Milan. "Milan Sports Daily" reviews the journey of Kivo through a manuscript.

The full text is as follows:

Inter Milan's new head coach is a person who loves classical football art. This love comes from his family education and also comes from the unforgettable goal: in the 1988 European Cup final, the Netherlands won the championship, and Van Basten won the championship with one kick. In that game, Christian Kivo was watching on a hill in the Romanian countryside. The TV was powered by a car battery and someone needed to keep turning the antenna like a trainer waving a lasso. If this is not a love for football, then what is it?

Givu grew up in the small town of Reshica. He inherited the enthusiasm of his father Mircha. His father was his role model in the path of players and coaching. He began to learn to become a modern guard: practicing left-foot pass control, circling from the central defender to the full-back. Most importantly, he made rapid progress and climbed to the top: in 1997, at the age of 16, he made his debut in his hometown first team, and two years later he transferred to the University of Craiova, the club his father longed for. But by this time, his father had been dead for several months. A year later, the phone was called from the Netherlands. Mom asked, "Is this team called Ajax very good?" Kivo gave a positive answer.

From then on, Christian became the well-known Givu. He became captain of Ajax at the age of 21, and his armband was tied to his arm by Ronald Koeman, the big brother of the team and also defender, who personally worked on his arm - he understood that "leadership in silence." In 2003, he switched to Rome at the strong demand of Fabio Capello, and started four years by joining the Samuel trenches, and there were also many frictions and conflicts with fans.

Finally, he spent his last seven years of playing career at Inter Milan (until 2014) and also gained all his glory, including the immortal Triple Crown. But the journey was far from smooth sailing. For example, Roma fans nicknamed him "Swarovski" and "Crystal Kivu" to mock him for his fragile physical condition. These stings are no less than the heavy blow he suffered in his game against Chievo on January 6, 2010. At that time, he had an accidental collision with Perisier, causing a severe fracture of the skull. Before being sent to the intensive care unit for surgery, the only thought in his mind was: "I want to survive, I want to see my newborn daughter again." Two months later, on March 24, he returned to the starting lineup in his home game against Livorno - a decision made by Mourinho himself. Mourinho is his other "father" after his father Mircha. That season, the protective gear on Kifu's head became a symbol of tenacity and his lucky thing. A month after his return, he scored against Atlanta, and in celebration, instead of taking off his jersey, he raised his helmet and towards the sky – a few months later, he held up the Champions League trophy in the same position.

And under the helmet, Gif always treasures the belief he learned from this experience: never retreat in the face of difficulties and pain.

Every time he heads the ball, his left half will be numb for a short time, but he never stops jumping. Facing the players he led, he always tried hard to imitate Mourinho's appearance back then. At that time, the whole world only cared about how he recovered, and Mourinho only asked him one sentence: "When will you come back?" It was not "whether you can come back", but "when". He had long planned to put Kivo on the Champions League list - that was the first "cheering" after regaining his life.

When I was a kid, Kivo was fascinated by Van Basten's elegance, but as a defender, Kivo would be like sandpaper - just ask Messi and Robben to know. They both suffered a lot in the semi-finals against Barcelona and Bayern in 2010. Of course, Kifu is sometimes too excited and has fallen into some "inner devils", but now the "devil" has long been tamed. What’s important is that he can always face his mistakes calmly.

In February 2011, he hit Barrie player Marco Rossi with no reason in the face, and then he lowered his head in front of the camera to admit his mistake: "I still have a little dignity, I want to apologize to everyone..."

And recently, he also apologized for Parma's "lost first half" in the match against Inter. After the halftime break, the team chased from 0-2 to 2-2, almost completely shattering the Nerazzurri's dream of winning. Now, the task he has to do is to sew the Serie A championship badge back to the jersey with needle and thread.

This new coaching career is actually just beginning. In December 2017, he obtained a coaching certificate and embarked on the road to promotion in Inter Milan's youth training: U14, U17, U18, took over the youth team in 2021 and won the championship in his first season. Last summer, he left his home to save Parma, and those 13 relegation battles were the prelude to the new chapter.

The old antenna is still connected, and love is still the same as before, but now everyone just wants to look at him and walk forward.