A CELTIC cult hero has revealed how a surprise phone call mistakenly led to his wife thinking he was CHEATING on her.
But it was actually football icon Andriy Shevchenko on the other end of the line!
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Massimo Donati came through the youth ranks at Atalanta before joining AC Milan in June 2001.
However, the midfielder struggled to cement a first team place with the Serie A giants and spent much of his six-year spell on the Milan books out on loan.
He spent time at Parma, Torino, Sampdoria and Messina before playing the 2006/07 campaign back at first club Atalanta.
Donati enjoyed an impressive campaign, alerting Celtic to his availability.
The midfielder would make the switch to Glasgow in the summer of 2007 for a fee of around £1.5million.
Donati knew all about Celtic prior to signing for the Hoops, so he didn’t need that much convincing.
However, he received a phone call from a true footballing icon – and former AC Milan teammate – quizzing him about his potential move to the Hoops.
But there was major confusion at the beginning of the phone call.
And that confusion somehow led to Donati’s wife mistakenly thinking the midfielder was CHEATING on her.
Speaking to Open Goal, Donati revealed: “One day in the summer, I was home at my mum and dad’s. Every summer, I go for a week to my mum and dad.
“I received a phone call from a private number. But I wasn’t with my phone, it was over there. So I say to my wife ‘can you answer please?’
“She answered it and nobody talked and put the line down. My wife starts to say to me ‘who was there? Who has a private phone? That was a girl.’
“I don’t know. It starts an argument with my wife because of this phone call.
“I wait maybe 10 minutes, arguments. The phone goes again. Oh s**t – I was a bit scared, oh my god!
“I answered the phone and it was Andriy Shevchenko. I say ‘wow.’ I left AC Milan five years before, Shevchenko is a hero.
“I said ‘listen, you was on the phone before?’ He said it was him but it was a woman so he thought it was an incorrect number.
“He said to me ‘listen, you want to go to Celtic?’
“I said ‘what?’ He said he was a friend with someone on the board at Celtic. He asked me if I was interested to go to Celtic.
“I said yes.”
Donati, now 43, spent two years at Celtic.
He was a regular during his first campaign but fell out of favour and made just a handful of appearances during his second season in Glasgow.
Donati famously scored a 92nd minute winner for the Hoops in the Champions League against Shakhtar Donetsk in November 2007.
He returned to Italian football in August 2009, joining Serie A new boys Bari.
And while he was keen to return to Italy at the time, he subsequently admitted leaving Celtic was the biggest regret of his career.
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Donati moved on to Palermo, Hellas Verona and Bari before returning to Scottish football with Hamilton Academical in 2016.
He would also begin his coaching career while with Hamilton before finishing his playing career with St Mirren in 2018.
Donati became a coach at Kilmarnock under Italian boss Angelo Alessio in 2019 and got his first managerial gig with Sambenedettese back in Italy two years later.
He was sacked after just four months in charge, returning to management with fourth tier club Legnago Salus in June 2022.
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He led the club to promotion before leading the club to the Serie C play-offs, although they would miss out on a second successive promotion.
Last month, Donati was appointed manager of Athens Kallithea, who have just been promoted to the Greek Super League.
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