Luigi Malabrocca, obviously. Obviously because Luisín had ridden the Giro d'Italia, turned the stage classification and the general classification upside down, blackened the pink jersey, so much so that he triumphed when he managed to finish last, in short, a winning loser or a losing winner, anyway never won and never lost. But also Rukeli, gypsy artist of the ring during Nazism. But also the rugby players of Plata Rugby Club from Argentina who disappeared during the generals' dictatorship. But also the Bosnian divers at the Stari Most in Mostar.

Massimiliano Cranchi, from Sermide in Mantua, is the storyteller of the losers. His ballads are not dedicated to those who conquered golds and laurels, newspaper headlines and book covers, in short to those who covered themselves in glory and entered history, but to those who were relegated to brief news notes or abandoned to oblivion: forgotten extras, neglected domestiques, journeyman boxers, anonymous props, ignored defenders. Like El Trinche, the last of his heroes. "Tomás Felipe Carlovich, called El Trinche – Cranchi recounts – was an Argentine footballer, a number 5 with the imagination of a number 10. An irregular player, a tightrope walker, someone capable of things that others struggle even to imagine. He played only three matches in the Primera A, but his fame crossed the ocean. There is no tangible proof of his class, only the dreamy memories of the Rosario fans, a few interviews and that legendary 1974 match against the Albiceleste. The call to Buenos Aires and him stopping on the Paraná River to fish. He returned to the headlines when Maradona crowned him the best player in Argentine history". A few days ago "Carlovich - Searching for El Trinche" (Garrincha Edizioni) was released, his first book.

On Saturday, October 17, Cranchi will be at the Trattoria popolare Arci Traverso in Milan, at via Pacinotti 4, for a concert of "The Important Thing Is to Participate tour". With him, voice and guitar, will be Francesco Sambo on violin, Luca Zerbinati on keyboards and Alessio Bettoli on percussion. And there will also be Malabrocca, Rukeli, rugby players and divers, and above all El Trinche.