Of
Monica Scozzafava
The former striker recounts his drama: “I took the blood-stained ax to the police, I feared I was like him.” Then on the marriage with the presenter: «The children thought I had abandoned them»
We republish Monica Scozzafava’s article, published on June 10, one of the most appreciated by our readers in 2025
His father killed his mother when Andrea was 14 years old. He hated that man, he harbored anger and revenge. And he drowned his childhood marked by pain in silence. Then one day he decided he had to understand… Andrea Carnivalall football fans know who he is: former striker, now manager of Udinese, experienced the golden ball of the 80s and 90s in the shop window, he redeemed his unhappy life with work, without ever betraying that horrible secret which was partly the drive towards success (“I was meaner, I was hungry”), partly the dark evil that influenced many choices and his relationship with women.
Il «fate of a bombr», the book published by 66thand2nd that he wrote with Giuseppe Sansonna, it is a liberation. A new game to play, to win. He remains a bomber: «I meet the families left orphaned, victims. I told and wrote for them. The trail of blood doesn’t stop, and I go back to being an unhappy child every time.”
Carnival, what did you have to understand?
«I had to meet my father in prison, I went there when I was 16, two years after the crime. I wanted to look him in the eyes, he had taken everything from me. Well, I saw him and hugged him. Strong. Somehow I forgave him, with the awareness that I was dealing with a very sick man. For many years I experienced the pain but also the fear of being like him. No, I’m not him. I understood this when I saw it. And it was the first step towards liberation.”
What was wrong with his father?
«He was schizophrenic. He was never treated, a few years later he took his own life by throwing himself out of a window in front of my eyes.”
She’s very strong on the pitch. Private life always on the cover, for her the goals spoke but also the evenings at the disco. The wild gossip, then a fairytale wedding with Paola Perego, the complicated separation, the disqualification for doping, the arrest for drugs. In the ring always blocking punches… without ever falling to the canvas. How did he do it?
«I ended up there, all right. But I got up. Also add that for 20 years, when my marriage to Paola ended, my children thought that I had left home, that I had abandoned them. I, an orphan who left my children orphaned. Do you understand? Terrible, like reliving my drama. I took on blame that I didn’t have, clinging to just one ray of light: trust in justice. The truth comes out, I told myself. And time was my friend. I’ve done a lot of stupid things, for goodness sake. But not all those that were said in the newspapers and on TV. My response was silence, I’m used to being quiet. I have always lived two lives. The family drama, the depression, the anxiety, the fear that my sisters were in the care of social services, all without speaking. Like a taboo, which prevented us from grieving. We had to fight to avoid disuniting us, to avoid giving victory to those who wanted to crumble what little we had left. We were poor, we struggled to find food. Football saved us, all of us. After Christmases and birthday parties never celebrated.”
Will you see each other again today on festive occasions?
«All that’s missing is my older sister, who also died very young. With the first money I immediately bought our farmhouse in Monte San Biagio, in Latina, where we grew up. I paid 450 million of the old lire. It remains the best investment of my life: the theater of horror has become the theater of love. There is serenity, a strong union, but happiness is something else. Nothing will ever be the same as before. Everyone has their own life, my wife Beatrice is my best world, the woman who understood me immediately, gave me a second chance. My everything.”
He has two daughters, he is also a grandfather. What do you tell them about the issue of violence against women?
«The first time your husband or boyfriend, whatever he is, raises his hands or shouts, leave him. He will do it again, that’s for sure. Report. I did it at the time but it didn’t help. Today I am the testimonial of Telefono Donna, I collaborate with institutions, I want to be on the front line. The death of Martina, killed at 14 years old in Afragola, made me relive Andrea as a child. A wound that bleeds again every time. Report them, I say. My mother didn’t do it for fear that they would do something to her children.”
But did you go to the police?
«Many times. Dad was very jealous, there was an atmosphere of terror at home, I was there when she was slapped and beaten. Insults. Until that morning of September 25, 1975: he woke up, took the axe. He reached mum who was washing clothes in the river near the house. He went to kill her. I ran there, collected my mother’s blood and went to the police: “Do you see the blood now?”.
Now on the front line with the institutions. Is politics doing enough to avoid these tragedies?
«We need to toughen the penalties, create a network with social workers. Families are alone.”
It ended badly with Paola Perego, it was never clear who betrayed whom…
«There was another person. The love was over, I persisted in continuing for the children. I didn’t want them to grow up like orphans. A dad has to try and try again, take responsibility. I respected Paola but I felt disrespected, too many lies. I was wrong at times to rail against her for this reason. Then I was forced to leave. And what I didn’t want happened: leaving the children, Giulia and Riccardo, alone. It took 20 years…”.
Maradona, what does this name mean to you?
«Scudetto in Naples, 10 May 1987: the day I told myself I had made it. Diego was smile, generosity, human greatness. When I wasn’t playing he was the one who came between me and the coach. His cars available to everyone. We won the championship and he gave all his teammates three stripes. Do you know that it was Diego who introduced me to Paola? He liked her and asked for the phone number, he wrote it down on a piece of paper. I stole that piece of paper from his trousers.”
The scudetto with Napoli, the first success.
«I was over the moon, yet I was the only one not crying. I never cried again after mom died. I was argumentative, I responded to the coaches, and Bianchi knows something about it, I got a lot of fines. I fought, I had strength. No more tears.”
Doping and disqualification in 1990, another blow.
«It was my fault. I was at Roma. I was disqualified for taking a stimulant, phentermine, present in the Lipopil I took to lose weight. Out for a year.”
The arrest for drugs.
«A phone call I shouldn’t have made, a braggart who accused me. Everything is fine, but drugs are not! I spent a month under house arrest, no one believed me. Years of trials. I was acquitted.”
Is football more joy or disappointment?
«Even in disappointments, it has always been a joy for me. Was the biggest disappointment the World Cup (Italia 90 ed.)? Yes, but I did a world championship. Schillaci, who is no longer here today, my great friend who slept with me in the room was much better.”
A memory of loneliness?
«I tell it in the book: I was a boy, the journey by ship from Civitavecchia to Olbia to do a trial with Juventus, the 4-hour wait on the dock, no one came to pick me up».
Money or passion?
«I played football because I wanted to eat a sandwich. Out of hunger. When I was with the amateurs I said: give me a plate of dumplings and a chicken on Sunday. And I was happy.”
Then he earned and spent a lot?
«Yes but it takes a moment to go back to being hungry. You need attention. I fell and fell again, a moment before I felt like God.”
What is his second life like?
«Normal, a wonderful word».
January 1, 2026 (changed January 1, 2026 | 09:42)
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