The Gabbiadini clan joins the Serie A siblings club

Date: 28th November 2014 at 2:30pm
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Manolo & Melania Gabbiandini In Italy alone, surnames like Inzaghi, Cannavaro, and Baresi immediately spark imagery of friendly sibling rivalry and a deep bond over sport… And pretty soon, so will the surname Gabbiadini.

Except, instead of provoking images of Simone and Filippo Inzaghi, Paolo and Fabio Cannavaro, and Franco and Giuseppe Baresi, it will provoke the image of Finnish siblings Mikael and Christina Forssell: a brother and sister duo who is cementing its place in the world of Italian football, just like the Forssell siblings did in Finland.

After all, Sibling rivalry is as old as Genesis.

In the beginning, Cain hated Abel. In Shakespearian England, Katherina hated Bianca. In post-War Germany, Adolf “Adidas” Dassler hated Rudolf “Puma” Dassler. And in Britpop-meets-alternative rock, Liam hated Noel.

Siblings in sports tend to push each other, to strive to do better. Whether directly competing against each other or having to compete with each other for success, sports siblinghood seems to make for a stronger all-around athlete… And football is no different.

In fact Football siblinghoods seem to be more abundant than any other professional sport. There’s Gary and Phil Neville, Uli and Dieter Hoeness, Kolo and Yaya Toure, and even Kevin-Prince Boateng and Jerome Boateng (half-brother technicality).

And so, it leads to the question of who exactly is this rare pair of an older sister and her baby brother? The answer: they are two representatives of both the Italy National teams.

One is a veteran, a multi-Scudetti winning matriarch of Italian women’s football. Comparatively, the other is more of a rookie; a debutant Italy international and a fresh club player trying to earn his place.

Meet Melania and Manolo Gabbiadini; two Calcinatese who wear the Gabbiadini name on their respective jerseys with pride.

Melania Gabbiadini Melania Gabbiadini — the older of the Gabbiadini siblings by eight years — is a striker who currently plays for AGSM Verona in Women’s Football Serie A. She began her senior career at in her home of Bergamo from 2000 until 2004 when she was traded to Verona. At Verona, she has won the Scudetto four times (2004-05, 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09) and the Coppa Italia three times (2005-06, 2006-07 and 2008-09).

Similarly, her younger brother Manolo is also a striker. He plays for Sampdoria (who share co-ownership of him with Juventus), but has bounced around from various teams, on various loans, since the beginning of his senior career in 2009. Like his sister, he began playing in his home city with Atalanta (from where he was loaned to Cittadella in 2010-11). In 2012 Juventus bought him, but immediately loaned him to Bologna before agreeing a co-ownership deal with Sampdoria in 2013. In 43 appearance for I Blucerchiati, the 23-year-old has scored 12 goals. However, Manolo still has some catching up to do to his big sister on the National level.

Melania made her debut for the Italian Women’s National team on April 16 2003; since then, she has played in the 2005, 2009, and 2013 UEFA Women’s Championship and has 86 caps and 30 goals to her name. Unfortunately, Melania has not been able to play for Italy in a World Cup competition, as the women’s team has not qualified since 1999, almost half a decade before her first call up. In fact Melania has once again missed out on the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, following their 3-2 aggregate loss to Netherlands in their penultimate play-off qualification match on Thursday.

Manolo Gabbiadini ItalyManolo, on the other hand, is just starting his career on the Italy National Team.

He made his debut with the senior team in August 2012 and has played one additional game since. However, between 2010 and 2013 he played 24 matches — scoring 12 goals — with the U-21 team.

Manolo can learn a lot from his big sister, both from a club and an international level; Melania has helped lead both teams successfully and she is the role model that her little brother can look up to.

The Gabbiadini siblings represent two waves of Italian football: Melanie as the old guard of Italy, an established, title-holding veteran; Manolo as the up-and-coming and promising talent who will be the face of Italy’s future.

However, to each other, they are just sister and brother. Two kids who grew up in Calcinate and still share their love of kicking around a ball.

Now, if only Cain and Abel had a siblinghood that simple.

Follow Sonja Missio on Twitter at: @sonjamissio

 

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