Legendary AC Milan goalkeeper Villiam Vecchi, who was also part of Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid coaching staff as a goalkeeping coach has passed away on Wednesday at the age of 73.

Villiam Vecchi will always be fondly remembered as the club’s goalkeeping coach during the 2014 La Decima season, a year in which he settled the competition for the goalkeeping spot between Diego Lopez and Iker Casillas.

He was the one who proposed the idea thhat Lopez should play in LaLiga Santander, while Casillas should play in the Copa del Rey and Champions League games.

His idea worked so well that we won both the Copa del Rey and Champions League titles, while also challenging for the LaLiga Santander title until the penultimate matchday.

He also worked with Keylor Navas in the 2014/15 season.

Vecchi trained as a goalkeeper at the AC Milan academy, making his debut in 1967. He was dubbed as the ‘Hero of Thessaloniki’ by the AC Milan fans for his spectacular Cup Winners’ Cup final display against Leeds United in 1973.

As a goalkeeping coach, Vecchi worked at AC Milan, Reggiana, Parma and Juventus, as well as Real Madrid.