Bologna, 27 May 2024 – Jackson Pollock he hated easels, he preferred to paint on the floor. “I feel more at ease – explained the American artist –, I feel closer, more part of the painting, because in this way I can walk around itwork from four sides and literally be ‘in’ the painting.” Lorenzo De Silvestri he is someone who walks around things, people, feelings until he enters them. This is why he is literally inside Bologna and inside Bologna. It is part of this city, of that wonderful red-blue painting made by a hundred thousand hands in Piazza Maggiore.
Lorenzo De Silvestri, 36 years old: with Genoa he reached 432 appearances in Serie A. In Bologna since 2020; on the side the bus with the players and De Silvestri together with Orsolini
Lorenzo, Bologna is in the Champions League.
“Every time I hear this phrase, it has more and more effect: Bologna-is-in-the-Champions-League (he chants, ed.). We celebrated a lot, but we still don’t realize what we’ve done. Maybe we’ll just realize it when we will see the great European teams arrive at Dall’Ara”.
The last time you played in the Champions League you were 21 years old. She turned 36 on Thursday. “I’m very proud to be back after so long. At Samp with Sinisa we reached the Europa League, but we went out in the preliminaries. The same thing happened at Toro. My dream was to reach Europe with Bologna too: but this year we went too far. ..”.
What would you say to that very young Lollo today?
“I would tell him to continue doing this job with passion, waking up every day with an incredible desire. The same that I still have today.”
By the way: the people of Bologna need certainties these days. Stay here next year, yes?
“I’m very sincere. My will is to continue as a footballer: mentally and physically I feel great. I have clear ideas, but the club now has more important things: we will decide together.”
Thiago, however, decided on his own. He was very touched by your embrace on Friday evening after the match in Genoa.
“I want to say ‘thank you’, but also ‘congratulations’ to the coach. Because it wasn’t easy, arriving after Sinisa, after such a difficult and delicate moment, and Thiago immediately placed himself with us in a very sincere manner. He relied on us to create this type of group, he left us a lot of responsibility in this. Then, between us, since we are almost the same age, a relationship has been created that goes beyond that between coach and player.”
However, there is a large part of the fans who took Motta’s farewell badly.
“Maybe I’m getting old, but I would like to send a message: let’s remember these moments, these eyes full of joy, the crowd in the square, the many photographs of these happy days. In the Champions League after sixty years: they are many, eh. There will come a ‘another season and we’ll start again. So let’s enjoy the moment because football goes fast.”
And, in fact, her father Roberto wanted her to be a cross-country skier…
“It’s true. As a child he made me do cross-country skiing and gymnastics, and consequently it was my sister Martina’s turn too. But after training, he always found me with the ball between my feet and all sweaty. At 11 years old it was due give up, also forced by my mother and my grandfather. But I will always thank my father because those hard sports forged my character, teaching me the value of sacrifice.”
What did Mihajlovic teach you?
“Courage. First of all on the pitch. When he arrived, he gave us a strong, European imprint: in a delicate moment for the club, he proposed innovative, almost brazen football. We became aware. Then he taught courage in life: with his illness we had to mature, we grew as men. He forged this group which is the basis of this season’s masterpiece. I want to send him a thought, I want to dedicate this Champions League to him.”
What effect does it have on you to know that another Mihajlovic, his third son Miro, will come to Bologna to study as a coach?
“When I found out, I was moved. That surname will always have a place in my life, that family too: I often talk to Arianna and her children. I will always be there for them. Thanks to Sinisa I grew up, I learned to face problems. And I will always be grateful to him for taking me to Bologna.”
Few like her can understand what the Champions League means for the people of Bologna.
“After the celebrations with Juventus, I wanted to take a photo with Ricky and Lucasz (Orsolini and Skorupski, ed.): we have been here the longest, we know the sacrifices made, the dark moments overcome to reach this dream. For us it is a double pride”.
In Serie A which is now in the hands of the Funds, what does it mean to have someone like Saputo?
“The president is magnificent, polite, humble. He has a sense of family: he remembers the names of the players’ children and wives. His permanent presence here was an added value. When you say ‘we are one’: for us it was literally like that.”
I tre key moments of this season?
“I certainly put the victory against Inter in the Italian Cup: winning at San Siro in a comeback was an incredible emotion, it gave us great awareness. There we understood that it would be a special year. Then I say the victories in Bergamo and the one away to Roma, which are decisive for the European dream. Personally, however, I will put the match against Frosinone with my diving goal: I will never forget it.”
The best message received these days?
“Robbie’s, Soriano. He was here until yesterday, he experienced many important things with us, the same goes for Nick, Gary, Jerdy and Marko (Sansone, Medel, Schouten and Arnautovic, ed.). They did a lot for me I like his words, because Robbie is a friend. This Champions League is also thanks to him.”
You love art: what if this Bologna was an opera?
“It would be a painting by Pollock, this team is an ‘action painting’. Inside there is a bit of everything and everyone: the corporate part made up of serious and competent managers, the incredible work of the staff with the players. And then the symbiosis with the fans, who have always been close to us: they made us feel like we were in Bologna in stadiums throughout Italy.”
Do you know that if you ran for mayor, you would risk being elected?
“It was born as a gag: hashtag Lollo mayor. Because they see me as a bit like the uncle of the group, I often travel around the city, I have made many relationships. My wife Carlotta and I feel great here. We bought a house: our future we see it in Bologna”.
What is his secret?
“My family and my friends. My career is short, the spotlight goes out, it’s important to maintain my own balance: well, having a wife who is an oncology researcher often reminds me of this. Just as my friends who do jobs remind me of it. normal. This is the advice I give to my younger teammates: don’t stay closed in the muffled world of football, open your eyes, get to know more people to understand the important things in life.”
