Inter, Dimarco: “Scudetto? Thanks to Chivu, but also to Inzaghi”

Some say that time can heal every wound. Observing Federico Dimarco, the feeling is that this is an unassailable truth: “Last year we didn’t win anything and it was a huge disappointment. We have to say thanks to the coach’s work, who gave us different stimuli and today we managed to realize the dream of winning the championship”. A championship in which the Nerazzurri winger has been the absolute protagonist, with 17 assists so far: “But you also have to have teammates who know how to throw it in… I’m lucky to have them: it’s a historic record, which I will carry with me forever. Many factors determine a season. Then there’s also trust, when you’re calm things come as a consequence. The scudetto is special, it wasn’t at all easy to start again. We all worked to achieve this dream and we did it together, it’s thanks to everyone.”

from the curve to the field

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And if there was a need to give a face to “Interism”, Dimarco’s would be in the foreground: “Everyone knows my story, I don’t deny anything of what I’ve done in my career. They were choices that I made personally, even taking risks when I went to Switzerland. I tried to work, to become an important player for Inter, and I have to say thanks to Inzaghi who kept me at Inter and Chivu for this year.” But who better than Dimarco embodies that sense of belonging represented by Interism? The answer is simple: none. And not because, for example, Lautaro Martinez is less fond of the Nerazzurri environment than the outside. This would be a huge falsehood. But by history, roots, ties. City. Dimarco was born and raised in Milan until he caught the dream of becoming a protagonist with the team of his life. Indeed, there aren’t that many stories of child fans who go from playing to the pitch to become footballers, but Federico’s story went exactly like this. Porta Romana, Calvairate, San Siro: Dimarco’s path, despite some steps around Italy and the season as a cross-border player with Sion in Switzerland to be inserted in the middle, could be summed up like this. Scanned, even more than by time, by the neighborhoods of his city. The certainty comes (also) after a chat with many of those who saw Federico growing up among the fruit and vegetable pallets and his first kicks of the ball.

first duty, then…

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The routine of Gianni, Federico’s father, has never changed despite his son’s successes as a footballer: the wake-up call before dawn, the van to be loaded first and unloaded later, the fruit and vegetable stand placed in Corso di Porta Romana to be organised. And then sell. Who knows, maybe Dimarco has become so strong precisely because he was raised on top quality fruit and vegetables selected daily by his father. He won’t have the biceps that cans of spinach give Popeye, but “Popeye” certainly can’t count on a left foot as sharp as that of the Nerazzurri winger. The shop has been operating in the neighborhood for 58 years and was started by the Dimarco grandparents just after they moved from Lucania to Milan. Even before father Gianni was born, he who today has certainly not abandoned the management of the counter. The keys are humility, sacrifice and desire, the same ones that, like blood, are passed down in the family. “Yes, every now and then when I pick up the shopping from my dad in Porta Romana I come across someone but no one has ever said anything about my future in Serie A – acknowledges Federico”. In these parts, Dimarco grew up there and still shows up every now and then. “He parks, pulls up his hood so as not to attract attention and goes to say hello to his father. But he never refuses when there’s a couple of boxes to put away or the truck to be emptied – says another shopkeeper in the area -. Look, even as a child he used to go and play back here.” The reference is to the Rotonda della Besana, where little Dimarco moved from Porta Romana to go and kick the ball for the first time. First duty, i.e. school and a helping hand from the father, then pleasure. Walking at a normal pace takes about a quarter of an hour, but the feeling is that Federico at the time was gaining time by training running to gain “five more minutes” of football in the square, never with peers but always with kids older than him, both in age and physically.

calvairate

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At the time, when he also started football school, Dimarco played in attack. In his spare time at the roundabout behind the fruit and vegetables but also in the field, always in the orbit of the Porta Romana area. Because it is true that in terms of appeal Calvairate will not have the same charm as the Corso where dad’s shop is located, but from a geographical point of view it is not very far away. And, above all, it will always remain a place of my heart: his father was born and raised there, and it is no coincidence that Federico’s first team was Calvairate. A club which, when Dimarco was a child, was still affiliated with Inter. It took little for the Nerazzurri observers to notice the qualities of that boy who raged up and down the pitch without ever stopping. The constant remained that amazing left-footed player with whom Federico was used to slotting between the lines for his teammates, before being fortunately diverted into the lane. At the time, the San Siro neighborhood was still distant: it began to get closer when Dimarco turned 7 and wore the Nerazzurri for the first time. Now, it has simply become home.