Giulio Donati

In 2020, playing for Lecce against Lazio in Serie A, Giulio Donati was bitten on the arm by Lazio defender Patric. VAR picked it up, Patric was sent off, and he was later banned for four matches and fined €10,000. Donati was not injured.

His path had started at the Lucchese academy, which he joined in 2003 and left in 2008 for Inter. He made his first-team debut for Inter in a 2009 Coppa Italia tie against Livorno, a 1-0 win, and it ended awkwardly: substituted, he left the pitch quickly because of cramp and was reprimanded by José Mourinho, who told him to slow down and use up time for the team.

Regular football did not follow at Inter, so Donati went out on loan — to Lecce, then Padova, then Grosseto. The permanent move came in June 2013, when Bayer 04 paid €3 million. He became a fixture in the defence there and was a close friend of Hakan Çalhanoğlu. In January 2016 he joined Mainz 05 for €1 million and stayed until 2019.

Two moves that never happened stayed with him. He was close to Napoli in 2016, but the club pulled out; a switch to Brighton in 2017 also fell through.

With Italy's Under-21s he played 25 to 26 matches without scoring. He appeared in all five games as Italy took silver at the 2011 European Under-21 Championship, and UEFA described him as ever-present in the run to the 2013 final, where Italy lost 4-2 to Spain. He was never called up to the senior side.

He signed for Monza as a free agent in 2020 and spent four seasons there, retiring in 2024. In 2025 he returned to play for Ravenna.