The former midfielder who scored a goal that made history: “I would like to end up on the Panini stickers next to Parola. The Trap checked if there were any women in the room”
Every time Mauro Bressan raises his head he already knows where his thoughts will end up: 2 November 1999, Fiorentina-Barcelona 3-3, Champions League group stage, Italy’s most famous overhead kick goal. “The Franchi was packed, the lights were blinding, the ball was coming down slowly, like a steeple, and I realized the dream of that boy who helped his parents by being a waiter in the family restaurant.”
Mauro, better overhead kicks than yours?
“None! Jokes aside, Cristiano Ronaldo’s against Juve was perfect, but I’ve never seen anyone score with a high ball, without a cross from the right or left, like I did. Trapattoni, at the end of the match, told me that they would talk about it for decades.”
Had he ever scored like this before?
“In Coverciano, with the Under 18s. I tried them in training, but that day it was magic. I brought out something I had inside. The child who tried the overhead kicks on the sandbags. I didn’t think about where I was, the Champions League or Rivaldo, who scored two goals that day. The difficulty was the lights: I almost didn’t see the ball. Almost 30 years have passed, I’m 54 and I see it once a day. In 2020 France Football placed second among the best goals of the cup, second only to Zidane against Bayern Leverkusen”.
Does it confirm that the best gesture of that match was another one, though?
“Of course: the heel assist for Balbo. I’ve never done it before.”
That Fiorentina wasn’t bad, from Rui Costa to Batigol.
“Cecchi Gori spent a hell of a lot to make it great. He was a true and genuine president and fan, a lover of women. He showed up on retreats with twenty-year-old actresses and TV faces and entertained us with jokes and jokes. We were a squadron of talents.”
Batistuta above all. But was he really as stingy as they say?
“He celebrated alone, under the curve, Fiorentina’s record as the best scorer. I gave him the assist, among other things. We were expecting a dinner or a gift, but nothing. I remember that Cristiano Lucarelli, on the other hand, to whom the president of Lecce had given a Ferrari, gave a watch to all his teammates to celebrate his goalscoring achievement in Serie A. Gabriel did nothing at all. Humanly, I never had a relationship, he was a loner. The leader was Rui Costa.”
Among the friends there was above all Adani. He recently said he brought the Italian Cup won in 2001 to a girl’s house for some erotic games. He confirms?
“In fact, yes, the cup disappeared! I don’t remember much about that evening: there were rivers of alcohol. Lele, however, was already a football addict. And he wasn’t poor, on the contrary: against Arsenal he really canceled out Overmars. On social media they always replay the same video where the Dutchman jumps it dry, but he limited it to a great extent.”
The coach who taught you the most?
“Terim at Fiorentina. He demanded 5-star hotels, top meals and perfect pitches. After all, they call him the Emperor. He had charm and charisma.”
“Another teacher. I had him in Cagliari and Florence. He trained with us: never seen that before. For him, training had to be light, he was obsessed with us getting injured. Furthermore, every evening, before the matches, he would go through the rooms to check if there were any women.”
The one who changed her life was Fascetti.
“He and his ‘organized chaos’. He wrote the lineup on pieces of paper with names crossed out and rewritten several times and hung it up in the locker rooms. He showed up in the press room in slippers. In Bari I spent two years like God, I also met Cassano. He was dry, talented and irreverent.”
Matarrese in Bari, Zamparini in Venice, Cellino in Cagliari, Preziosi in Como. Four flashes on them?
“Matarrese was a father. Zamparini went around with an anti-hex wizard. Cellino hated purple and chose players based on numbers. I found Preziosi at Como and I wasn’t lucky. The club went bankrupt, it was a drain economically.”
What memories do you have of Allegri, who you met in Cagliari?
“He took me to bet on horses: he knew them all. And he also told us the story of when he didn’t show up at the altar on his wedding day. When we asked him why he surprised everyone: ‘I didn’t feel like getting married anymore'”.
What if you hadn’t been a footballer?
“I would have worked in my parents’ restaurant, in Moriago della Battaglia. I owe everything to them. Then at 17 I arrived at Milanello, I made the wrong dressing room and entered the first team’s one. It was 1988, Van Basten, Rijkaard, Maldini, Sacchi, everyone were there. The greatest emotion of my life.”
“If I could, I would cancel the three-year disqualification for Calcioscommesse. I was naive: I had a sports director’s license, but I thought I could bet. I was light-hearted in some friendships. One of those who were called ‘gypsies’ talked to me about the matches. I was out of the loop and yes, I bet, but never to fix a match. I bet like a normal person would, but I couldn’t do it. That label closed the doors to me for a career as a sporting director: it would have liked it.”
“I have lived in Desenzano for 15 years. I have a football academy for kids and I run a service company with my wife. We also deal with cars.”
A wish to express?
“Let Panini put me next to Carlo Parola on the stickers: both of them inverted, at Franchi”.
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