Sassari Nobody outside Dinamo knew of the decision until the announcement after the match, a shame because an applause from the PalaSerradimigni would have been the minimum. Luca Gandini he played the last game of his career against Reggio Emiliathe center of Trieste leaves at 38. «It’s a bit in my nature: I don’t like being in the limelight, I preferred to come out with some declarations. Inside everyone knew it. My teammates thanked me, gave me many compliments, very happy to have finished like this.”
And very happy to have done it in Sassari, he said.
«I have been to many places, but only in one other, Lumezzane, my first experience away from home, I stayed for so long. This alone makes you understand how important this square was for me. I had a great time with the staff, club and fans. My wife (they have two children) he feels great, he found a job here. This is why it was important to finish here.”
Everyone has always recognized her role as a glue in the locker room, things that can’t be bought at the market.
«Here, right at the end of my career, I reached the highest point, arriving in a team that recently won the championship and cups was truly a dream. I was aware that the space would be limited, but also of what I was asked to give, even outside the field. I think I performed as I was asked and I was in the middle of a lot of locker room dynamics. All the messages that are also reaching me from my former teammates are making me understand how much I have entered their hearts.”
He once called himself “the most Minors player in the A’s”.
«Of course, because for better or worse I played in all categories, I started in the youth team in Piacenza: at the time my father was the goalkeeper coach for the team in that city. There I played my first senior game in the First Division. Then I played in C2, C1, B, A2, and it was very nice to conclude the climb in A and in Sassari.”
By the way, your father Rino Gandini was a goalkeeper, why didn’t you imitate him?
«Eh, I tried it as a child, but I didn’t like the role very much and I switched to basketball almost immediately. Of course I never thought I’d get this far. I remember the bet we made with a teammate in Piacenza, which also had the First Division as its first team: 50 thousand lire that one of us would one day play at least in A2. He still has to give me the money…” Then “Gando”, as everyone calls him, played for a large number of teams: Verona, Trieste (promotion to A2), Trento, Mantua, Fortitudo, Ravenna».
The last 5 years in Serie A: the first in Varese: he was already 34 years old, a more unique than rare debut in terms of timing.
“Can be. An incredible coincidence: my dad, in a different sport, like football, made his first and only Serie A championship with Triestina at… 34 years old.”
Then in 2020 the arrival in Dinamo of Poz, from Trieste like her. What do you remember most about these 4 years?
«The two semi-finals with Piero (Bucchi), they are almost like championships because of how difficult it is to fight the excessive power of Virtus and Milan. And the relationship that has been created with teammates, with the staff, with all the coaches, which in the end are the most important things, given that victories and defeats pass, while the relationships created in basketball can last a lifetime. And the relationship with many even off the pitch.”
He finished together with the young Alessandro Dore with 3-4 minutes left.
«He will be able to say that my last match was his first. I also wrote to him telling him that he has great potential, I am convinced that he can have a great career: I have seen little of people with so many points in their hands and talent like him in these 20 years.”
Is the serene, jovial, self-deprecating character the right one to accept the stop?
«It’s not easy, but I had been pondering the choice for a while also due to the small injury I had at the beginning of the year, so let’s say I had already somatized. I’m happy that the farewell came after a victory, even if it didn’t help us reach the seasonal goal of the playoffs. But at least we greeted each other with a smile.”
He hasn’t won much in his career.
«But I still had a lot of fun (laughs). And anyway in the end, come on, I got some satisfaction too. An Italian Cup in Verona, a championship in Trieste from B to A2, even a C1 at the beginning of his career. I could have won much more, but in the end I remember the disappointments of the defeats much more than the joys of the few victories.”
In Sassari he graduated in Motor Sciences.
«Yes, at the end of a journey that lasted almost 20 years. I enrolled in Verona after high school, but then it was difficult to reconcile my career as a player and a student. Then the children also arrived… So two years ago I enrolled in an online university where it was easier to complete the course, I was now missing a few exams.”
Will this be your new field?
«I hope to stay in sport anyway, in which I have over twenty years of experience. I’m trying to take on as many paths as possible, I’m starting the coaching course as well as being a trainer.”
Got it: he will stay in Dinamo.
«It would be nice to be able to help again. I will go and speak to Sardara and Pasquini as soon as possible. Maybe something might come out.”
