Roberto Baronio interview: “Pirlo learned from me…”

If Roberto Baronio could enter Hogwarts he would gladly steal the “thinking room”. The sink to revive memories. Every now and then he would use it for himself, fishing out postcards from Brescia or Rome, but more often than not he would help his mother, suffering from Alzheimer’s, who he calls once a day to tell her the same thing: “Remember that I love you”. Baronio, 48 years old, a quality old director turned coach, dusts off the album of his life from the United Arab Emirates. Since last summer he has been deputy to his friend Pirlo at United FC, in the second series.

“We are second at -1. After the defeat at Sampdoria, with the dismissal after three days a few months after the playoffs reached without being able to make the transfer market, we needed a new adventure.”

When did yours start, however?

“In 1990, when I was 12-13 years old. I was watching “Galagoal”. Alba Parietti conducting it, an overhead kick goal from Fonseca in Sampdoria-Cagliari and the song “Uno su mille fa la fa” by Gianni Morandi. Well, there I thought: “The one who can do it must be me”.

And when did you realize you could do it?

“With Lucescu, in Brescia. He doted on me and Pirlo, his lifelong friend. He called us to the first team from the students. From the backyard to the jacket of life. I grew up in a humble family, of workers, with an older brother who was 7 years old. The first TV was in black and white. Before becoming a footballer I also worked as a house painter. You know those summer jobs, to earn 50 thousand lire? My brother gave me a hand, also because at home, At the time, it was just me, him and our mother.”

What kind of man was his father?

“He died when I was 11 years old, on 28 December 1988. Cold character, great worker. When I made my debut in Serie A with Brescia, on 23 April 1995 in Bari, I would have liked him to be there.”

How important was your mother?

“It was everything. In the summer of 1996, before going to Lazio, I cried. I didn’t want to leave it. It took me three days to sign, even if we were talking about a contract worth half a billion. In Brescia I earned six million. At the time Juve and Inter wanted me, but I only found out about Lazio after the fact. The day I left I had four bags. I didn’t know what I was doing. I really wish he’d remember it.”

What does he say to her when he hears her?

“To remember that I love her. “I’m Roby, your son,” I point out. She says yes and smiles. I don’t know if she really knows who you’re talking to.”

What would you like him to remember?

“That I made our dreams come true.”

First in Brescia, then in Lazio.

“I think of Zeman’s training sessions, I vomited every other evening after running the three thousand metres. Then we ate little: vegetables, soups, stews…”.

And in the meantime Pirlo was still in Brescia.

“Moratti took him away from Parma and left him there. We grew up together: we won the U21 European Championship, shared a room and played for Reggina in Serie A in the best year of my life together with those with Chievo. In 2000 Milan wanted me, but I chose to return to Lazio. Who knows how it would have gone.”

Has the constant comparison with Andrea overshadowed you?

“I never got close to him, ever. No envy. Maybe at the beginning they spoke better of me, but he wasn’t Pirlo yet. Jokingly, I tell him that he learned how to be a director from me. In New York I once told him “oh, in a few years you’ll be my deputy”. And he said: “If anything, it’s the opposite, I’ll find a team…”.

And in 2020 he called her to Juventus.

“We started with the U23s, we found ourselves in Serie A. Two titles and qualification for the Champions League on the last day were not enough to stay. I would have continued.”

“The first month he only said ‘hello’ to me, then, one afternoon, I kicked a few free kicks after Pirlo. All at the top corner. He was on the sideline with Nedved, he asked him if I had played. When I told him that I had shared the dressing room with Couto and Conceicao he lit up. From that day he started calling me for crosses. He wanted the ball at the spot to hit it with his head. I was in a cold sweat.”

And instead, did you have a good career?

“To be a champion I would have had to be one in everything, not just in technique. I wouldn’t have won the World Championship, but with more effort in everyday life I could have done more. And sometimes I’ve been unlucky.”

On purpose. What happened in Perugia with Gaucci in 2003?

“Cosmi did everything to have me, he didn’t. He didn’t agree on the salary. The truth is that in the first games, where I did poorly, I had a urinary tract infection. So Gaucci went to the coach and told him: “Either you don’t let him play or I’ll kick you out”. He didn’t call me up, I couldn’t talk to journalists. A sort of mobbing. Then, Gaucci again, told Cosmi to take me to the bench and not let me play. In the end, to justify everything, he came out saying that the number 13 was bad luck and that’s why I wasn’t playing. In the end, the club decided to put a “+” between 1 and 3. At the end of the season, Riccardo, Luciano’s son, called me and apologized on behalf of everyone. I had a hard time answering.

A nightmare, like at Fiorentina the previous season with relegation to Serie B.

“I went for Mancini, but the club was in disarray. One day Stankovic and Mihajlovic showed up, but the deal fell through because there wasn’t the money.”

And how do you rate your history with Lazio?

“I wanted to play, that’s why I always went out on loan. The only year in which I played was 2009-10, where I won the Super Cup as a starter. With Ledesma out of the squad, I was there. The good thing is that in January I had already closed the agreement with Bologna, but Lotito swore that he would give me a two-year contract. “Come to me at the end of the transfer window and we’ll close everything”. For six months I couldn’t speak to him, he disappeared. Pastorello I tried in every way to contact him. I never gave interviews, never made any controversies.

What would you say to twenty-year-old Baronio today?

“To do more, not to sit back. The thought “I’ll make a lot of money anyway” was the beginning of the end. Today I teach young people not to look at money”.