"?Ex Milan manager Sinisa Mihajlovic has revealed that he incurred the wrath of head honcho Silvio Berlusconi by dropping first-choice goalkeeper Diego Lopez in favour of 16-year-old wonderkid Gianluigui Donnarumma.
The Serbian revealed his lucky escape, speaking to Corriere della Sera, as reported by "?Squawka, and told of his pride at giving the young Italian stopper his debut.
"Everybody was questioning my decision to play Donnarumma because we also had Diego Lopez and Gianluigi was only sixteen. But now he is part of the national team and is priceless," he told the Italian publication.
"Giving him his debut will always be something I am proud about. Did I take a risk by playing him? When I played Donnarumma, Berlusconi came to Milanello [Milan's training ground] twice to tell me that I had to play Diego Lopez.
"I told him that he had two options. One option was to fire me and put Diego Lopez back in the team, the other was to keep me and see Donnarumma play. He decided to keep me, fortunately."
Donnarumma, now 17, made his debut for the Italian senior team in a 3-1 friendly defeat against France in September, and is viewed as the long-term successor to Gianluigi Buffon between the sticks for the Azzuri.
Meanwhile, Mihajlovic was sacked in April, after just ten months in charge at the San Siro, having become the latest manager to fail to overturn the Italian giants' fortunes.
Milan finished seventh in Serie A in 2015/16, no less than 34 points behind old rivals and eventual winners Juventus - who have done a much better job of recovering from the 2006 Calciopoli scandal than La Rossoneri.
The former Torino boss has been succeeded by Vincenzo Montella, who has blooded more youngsters in the first team, and they currently sit third in Serie A, just five points behind pace-setters Juve.
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