Anyone else follow the story of Gila having issues with his girlfriend? Apparently, there is something going on and even a case involving papperazzi guy Fabrizio Corona blackmailing him. I guess that may explain Gila's poor form as of late?
Gilardino investigated in blackmailing scandal http://jurnalo.com/jurnalo/storyPage.do?story_id=23016 Footballers such as Francesco Totti, Alberto Gilardino, Francesco Coco and Christian Vieri together with other high-profile figures such as Melissa Satta, Elisabetta Canalis and the Berlusconis have all made deals with Corona to prevent him from selling them pictures to magazines or newspapers http://www.maltastar.com/pages/msFullArt.asp?an=10528
It's more than girl troubles, unfortunately: the pictures were taken of him (with some girl outside a nightclub) back in 2004 and he paid the photographer six or seven thousand Euros shortly thereafter; but he didn't talk to the prosecutors in the case until last October. Gila may be looking at the possibility of more trouble for interfering with a criminal investigation, because he called the photographer who was blackmailing him to warn the photographer that he had talked to the prosecutors about him. So at one point, fairly recently, the prosecutors tried to obtain a judicial order preventing Gila from leaving the country, which would mean missing the upcoming Champions League game in Germany. But the judge refused to issue the order. So, yes, a lot on his mind (he also seems a little sensitive to me, but I'm not trying to criticize him for that); much more than girl troubles.
The story of the pictures Coco was blackmailed with is kind of funny. One was him shirtless and dancing with a bunch of other men. The other was him with a woman outside a club, but the photographer threatened that it could easily be Photoshopped to make the woman look like a transsexual.
Wow... these aren't minor distractions. Gila is mixed up in a bad situation (which doesn't excuse him handling it poorly). I wonder what Totti and Vieri's involvment with this guy includes? And yes... I guess it is more than girl problems, lol And we wonder why he's been in poor form lately. This kind of stuff must be following him onto the field as well.
The photographer blackmailed Totti with pictures of Totti kissing Flavia Vento (a "showgirl") that were taken at some point after Totti was became engaged (but before his wedding, I think). His friends supposedly paid 50,000 Euro for them last June; Totti supposedly didn't even know about the payment at the time. I assume that Totti has been cooperating with the prosecutors, because we haven't heard otherwise. Totti's involvement became a little more interesting because the prosecutors for a while thought that Flavia Vento might actually have been in on it: i.e., she may have been conspiring with the photographer to blackmail Totti. The prosecutors even asked the judge to place her under house arrest (at around the same time they asked for Gilardino not to be allowed to leave the country). But the judge refused to issue that order, too, and now it looks as if the prosecutors no longer believe she was in on it. As for Vieri, the photographer tried to blackmail him with some picture or other, but he refused to pay, because he wasn't in a relationship at the time and didn't really care if the picture got published. Blackmailing celebrities with embarrassing photographs is not that uncommon in Italy, but the issue here is that one photographer (Nina Moric's husband, if that name rings any bells) was behind a series of blackmails of various celebrities and politicians. And a lot of the girls in the pictures (less famous, but still semi-celebrities) may have been in on the plot. But Coco seems to be the only one who was blackmailed with pictures that might make him appear gay; maybe the photographer should have tried that angle with Vieri, too!