The former Lazio central defender is on the technical staff of Inzaghi’s Al-Hilal: “We live in the compounds and adapt to their culture, we pray 5 times a day and train in the afternoon. In Formello at the beginning they called me a spy because I had been at Roma, it’s just a shame I didn’t play for the national team”
Journalist
December 29 – 08:07 – MILANO
The story of Sebastiano Siviglia teaches that if the old life extends its hand you shake it, even if you have to take a walk in the desert and change direction. “‘Seba, what are you doing? Are you following me?’, Simone told me at the beginning of June. And I followed him.” The former Lazio central defender became the technical collaborator of his friend Inzaghi at Al-Hilal, starting again from Riyadh after a three-year break.
What is life like in Arabia?
“We live in compounds where there is everything. Riad is an open construction site where construction is constantly taking place. We have to adapt to their culture. Here we train in the afternoon and not in the morning, there is prayer five times a day.”
Why was he stopped for three years?
“After Potenza I had some offers, but nothing concrete. When Simone called me I didn’t think about it for a moment.”
How much has changed compared to Inzaghi as a footballer?
“A lot. At Lazio it was a constant joke and laughter. He and Tare teased each other. Once Igli drank two liters of tea in five minutes because of a lost bet.”
Where does the history of Seville start from?
“From Palizzi, a small town in the province of Reggio Calabria. Dad is a worker, mother is a housewife. They told me that football wouldn’t give me anything to eat. I was studying to be an accountant, if I hadn’t played I would have worked in real estate. But this ‘disinterest’ left me free. I left from Interregional, then Parma took me, but between the ages of 18 and 19, after having served in the military, I thought about giving up everything.”
“I was registered with Audax Ravagliese. Parma had taken me on loan. But the president died and I was left without an agent. A year and a half out of action. I thought ‘What am I playing?’. One day I called Salvatore Matrecano and proposed myself for Nocerina, in C2. They took me. My rebirth began like this. One of many. Two promotions in two seasons, the last one in B with Delneri”.
In the end, he made the leap to Serie A with Verona, summer 1996.
“And I didn’t even want to go. ‘Now you pack your bags and go to the Bentegodi. Immediately,’ Delneri told me. In that strange dialect that only he understood. It was decisive.”
First Atalanta, then Roma. Why didn’t he go there?
“West Ham and Betis wanted me, but the Giallorossi had won the Scudetto. I had made my debut in Serie A against Batistuta’s Fiorentina, then ended up at Roma. For me it was like closing a circle, but I played little. In retrospect it was a wrong choice. I chose to leave.”
Parma and Atalanta before the second rebirth, however: Lecce.
“There I met my partner and my daughters were born. I needed the warmth of the south. I remember Corvino, a good grump who when he got angry you had to run away, and a return round with more than 30 points.”
Finally Lazio. How did the deal come about?
“Tour to Valencia with Parma. Late at night, like two o’clock. The phone rings. ‘Ao’, is it Sevilla? Are you coming to play with us?’. I asked who he was. ‘I’m president Lotito’. I was one of his 9 signings in one day.”
Did they initially receive it with skepticism?
“Yes, also by virtue of my past at Roma. Someone called me a spy. But time has erased everything. Lazio was the masterpiece of my career. The partner with whom I would grow old.”
“The back-heel goal against Fiorentina in 2010, which I call ‘God’s heel’. The last goal in Serie A in my last year as a footballer. I erased the boos from the year before, when I celebrated a goal against Torino by putting my hands to my ears.”
“We were doing badly, the fans were pissed off. I wanted to tell the curve to stay close to us, but the stadium booed me. I was on the ground, disappointed. That heel at Fiorentina put things right again. But if it had been up to me I would have played another year at Lazio.”
Scattered anecdotes. One on Lotito?
“The night before the 2009 Italian Cup final he called me again. ‘Sebastiano, we have to win’. ‘Tomorrow we will lift the trophy’. It was the first of his management, followed by the Super Cup the following year in Beijing. I thank Matuzalem because he made me win a title by scoring… with his nose. A phenomenon. A gangster of technique and garra. A bit of Pirlo and a bit of Gattuso, with the necessary proportions.”
She also wore Nesta’s 13.
“A pride, but Sandro is Sandro. I was one of the symbols of a working-class Lazio that in that period was also a bit dreamy. In 2007 we played in the Champions League against Real. Me, Mutarelli, Ballotta, Mudingayi. On the other side there were Raul, Sneijder, Van Nistelrooy. But it ended 2-2.”
Other name: Paolo Di Canio.
“Before the derby on January 6, won 3-1, which I didn’t play, he took the team home to see Braveheart to get everyone pumped up for the match.”
Speaking of derbies. She called Totti a “cuckold”.
“Because he said ‘faggot’ to me. Just joking, though: it ended there.”
Do you have any regrets?
“I would have liked to play a match for the national team. In 2005, with Lippi, I came close: I ended up on a list of 36 names in view of a tour of the United States. I didn’t go, but I experienced what I deserved. And then I had Lazio. And Lazio was life.”
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