If after 21 years the Como team are back in the top flight, part of the credit also goes to their number 10: Patrick Cutrone. Dropped into Serie B for the first time in 2022, the twenty-six-year-old former AC Milan player scored 14 goals, leading Como to promotion. Patrick’s career began at the age of 5 when, encouraged by his father, he wore the jersey of his country’s team: Parediense. «Parè is a small town and accessible to everyone – says the center forward – As a child, my parents took me to the playground where I spent hours and hours with my friends. I remember exchanging Pokemon cards with them, while with my father and mother we often went to the ice cream shop. When I went to my grandmother, I always started kicking a foam ball and she improvised as a goalkeeper.”
At the age of 8, it was the AC Milan scout Luigi Rampoldi who discovered his talent. «He was the one who took me to Milan: I was little, but it was a great emotion. I followed all the procedures for joining Milan but, as long as I could, I continued to live in Como.”
In 2016 he made his Serie A debut with the Rossoneri, while in August 2017 Patrick scored his first goal in the top flight. In March 2018 he first played for the national team, before moving on to the English side Wolverhampton in July 2019: «In England they also dedicated a song to me which immediately went viral on social media. Last year a group of Wolves fans also came to Como to watch me play.”
Then the brackets at Fiorentina, Valencia and Empoli, before joining his hometown team in August 2022. Patrick rejoices. «Having been born and raised in Como, bringing the team and the people of my city to the top flight is one of the greatest emotions».
The striker dedicated this achievement to the reference figure of his career and his life: his father Pasquale, who passed away two years ago at the age of 58. «Every time I enter the field I think of him, I know he is there with me. In recent years I have suffered a lot both football-wise and humanly speaking: hard work, however, always pays off in the end. I promise everyone that this is just the beginning.” Now a great season awaits for the Como team who, after many years, return to the Olympus of Italian football. «We are ambitious. We have to think one step at a time, but we will all give our best to do the best we can”, concludes Cutrone.
INTERVIEW BY Luca Zaccaria
