THEY CALLED HIM HOLLIT...

"I was in Holland every day for rehabilitation on the knee and I didn't understand…". That was Dr Rodolfo Tavana, the first great doctor of Berlusconi's AC Milan era. A medical professional who became a close friend of Ruud Gullit after a prank from the Dutch great. They were in the Netherlands together for the delicate operation on Gullit's knee cartilage in September 1989, a few months after winning the European Cup in Barcelona against Steaua Bucharest.

First, therapy and then running around the tree-lined streets and parks of Amsterdam. Autumn 1989, Ruud and Rudi were spending their days together as Rudi Tavana explains: "Dutch sports fans were all smiling, even though he played at PSV Eindhoven and not Ajax. Everyone would stop him asking for autographs which he’d sign with his finger outstretched. I kept hearing Hollit, Hollit, Hollit. I asked if it was a nickname or something dear to him but then Gullit explained that was how it’s pronounced in Dutch. You never stop learning."

The important thing is that after that time spent recovering in Amsterdam, Ruud came back to win another European Cup. After his knee operation in May 1990, he started as the Rossoneri won a second consecutive European final against Benfica in Vienna.

Ruud was a companion. Just before the final against Steaua, the Dutch legend was on the bench at San Siro for a 0-0 draw between AC Milan and Cesena and Arrigo Sacchi, with half a smile, said "Do you know that you’re a real nuisance? You make such a mess that I prefer to have you on the pitch rather than here on the bench with me." Dr Tavana knew full well that Gullit was a prankster. "In his first season at Milan, he was our real star. It was a time when Berlusconi was hands-on with everything about the team at every moment of the day…."

One evening, I was preparing dinner when Ruud rang the bell. He'd come for some advice, something about a small pain or issue he was having. After taking care of it, I asked him whether he wanted to stay for dinner. My big dog was sleeping and woke with a stat to see this big man lumbering into the living room, he got scared and bit him gently below the knee. With a little bit of treatment, everything was sorted. The following day at Milanello, Gullit was on crutches when he saw me, he came over and said: "your dog did this." I felt faint, I couldn't believe what had happened. Then, suddenly, Rudd burst out laughing, it had all been a practical joke, he'd just wanted to give me a scare. The following Sunday he was well enough to play and even scored! 

That was what the great Milan squad was like. It would have been nice if Rudi and Marco van Basten had become such good friends. Instead, the Swan trusted Prof Marti, who would be in charge of the operation on his ankle in December 1992 at the brand new Gut Klinik in Saint Moritz. At Milanello, they’d tried to convince him to not undergo the procedure, a procedure that would later become so infamous that rumours started to spread about the medical records being posted on the walls of the University of Pavia as an example of how not to operate on an ankle. It wasn’t just any ankle, it was the ankle attached to the Swan of Utrecht.

by Mauro Suma