Former Manchester United striker, Giuseppe Rossi, has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson will be in the dugout for his farewell game in Italy next month.
Rossi announced his retirement from football in 2023 following two brief stints with Serie B side SPAL.
The 38-year-old has arranged to play a testimonial called ‘Pepito day’ at Fiorentina’s Stadio Artemio Franchi on March 22, and several legends of the game have been invited.
Ferguson, who handed Rossi his professional debut with United in 2004, has been invited alongside Gabriel Batistuta, Luca Toni, Antonio Cassano, Sebastian Frey, Antonio Cassano and Borja Valero.
Ferguson will be in the dugout for the first time since 2019 when he managed Manchester United ’99 Legends to a 5-0 victory over Bayern Munich in front of 61,175 fans at Old Trafford.
‘I am very proud to say that my first professional coach, Sir Alex Ferguson, will be there,’ Rossi said when announcing his farewell game.
When asked about his decision to invite Ferguson, Rossi replied: ‘He was my first coach, I signed my first professional contract with Manchester and having him on the 22nd for me is a huge honour.
‘I only played for him for three years, I played little, 15, 16 games with Manchester United but when we called him he immediately answered, ‘yes’, and it makes you understand what kind of person he is, Ferguson.
‘He’s one where you can be Giuseppe Rossi, who did almost nothing with Manchester, or [Cristiano] Ronaldo who scored thousands of goals, he treats you the same and therefore I have great respect for him.
‘I’ll be very happy to see him.’
After making his debut for United, Rossi went on to score four goals in 14 appearances before he joined Villarreal in a £6.6 million deal in August 2007.
It was at Villarreal where Rossi enjoyed his best years, scoring 82 goals in 192 appearances for the Spanish club.
Rossi then moved to Fiorentina where he made 42 appearances and scored 19 goals.
He was born in the United States but played for Italy at international level, scoring seven goals in 30 games for the Azzurri.
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