Nani’s time at Manchester United was marked by personal success and titles. But there’s another episode that stands out – one that happened in September 2012. It’s about the day he punched Davide Petrucci, a young Italian midfielder who played for the club’s reserve team.
This episode came up in a conversation Nani had with his former teammate Rio Ferdinand on a podcast. Nani explained that he and Petrucci had a dispute during training, but he decided not to react. Later, in the locker room, Patrice Evra and Anderson told him he’d handled it well. Then, he was called into Sir Alex Ferguson’s office, where Ryan Giggs was also present. Ferguson asked Nani to promise he wouldn’t do anything.
Ferguson told Nani, “You’re more than that, so promise me you won’t do anything.” Nani promised, shook hands with Ferguson and Giggs, and left determined to keep his word. However, he didn’t keep that promise. The reason might surprise you – it involves another Portuguese player who was on the team.
Nani was getting changed in the locker room when Anderson praised him for not reacting. But then Bebé showed up and said, “Nani should have taken him down because Petrucci was bragging to his friends that he’d beaten Nani in training.” This changed everything.
Nani decided to confront Petrucci and found him in the gym, wearing boxing gloves and pretending to throw punches with his friends. When Nani approached him, Petrucci told him he “talked too much” and things escalated. Nani ended up punching him.
Despite what happened, Nani and Petrucci are still friends. Nani even mentioned this at the end of the story, saying, “We’re still friends, Rio. We’re still friends.” Petrucci now plays in Italy’s Serie C for Messina.
