“Barcelona were also interested, but in the end I went to Juventus” revealed the 2006 world champion goalkeeper
An Italian blue jacket, a lighter in his hand which he plays with by passing it between his fingers. Gianluigi Buffon he is about to end the first twelve months of his life without matches, without football played, without competitive spirit writes Matteo Pinci in La Repubblica.
She seems impetuous”As a boy I was made and finished for southern society and environments. Like Rome, Naples, Bari. I fed myself with the closeness of people, even when it became morbidity. But in the end I never landed in one of those squares. My father and my attorney guided me. Turin and Juve allowed me to find my balance. In a messed up place, the way I was, I risked that the scales would only tip one way.”
So would it have gone differently for Cassano at Juve too? “Antonio was born a champion and always has been. Together we did the European Championships, a World Cup, we had a blast. But in the end I told him: Anto’, luckily it only lasts a month, keeping you like this for a year… I only experienced the beautiful part of Antonio. Then clearly there was something that came out, you had to give it to him, you can’t always repress everyone, follow a decalogue.”
Its sliding doors? “In 2001, from Parma, I almost made it to Roma. It was a matter of details. Then also with Barcelona. In the end, however, I went to Juventus. Then in 2005 there was a huge foreign company that wanted me, but I didn’t take it into consideration. In 2011 I was going to Roma again: Montali called me, I liked him and something had broken with Juve. But then Conte arrived and imposed my presence. When I returned to Juve from PSG I was about to go to Porto. I had already seen the flights, the city. And twice more I was very close to Atalanta. I had decided on the second one. But at Juventus they know me like the back of their hand. They had a meeting: there was me, Paratici, Pirlo. Who told me: Gigi, damn, it’s the first year I’ve been coaching, I came knowing you were there… What could I answer him?
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April 30 – 09:01
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