Marotta interview: “I would like the Champions League with Inter and then retirement”

At the end of the season, with two more titles in his pocket, Beppe Marotta can feel satisfied and can think about how far he has come, how much he has come since the summer of 1976 (he was 19 years old) when he became manager of Varese football. Half a century later, Beppe is the president of Inter, who have just won the Scudetto and the Italian Cup. Adding up all the trophies won, the “Marotta team” would, historically, only be beaten by Juve, Inter and Milan. No other manager has won 11 scudetti (or 10 and a half because he left Juve with their 8th consecutive title in November). We met him at the end of a long series of celebrations to rewind with him the tape of a 50-year-long film, with Beppe looking like the Totò of Nuovo Cinema Paradiso. And that child who helped the Varese football warehouse worker to inflate the balls became the president of Inter… Can you see that Marotta who at 19 years old, in 1976, was already in charge of the youth sector at Varese football?

“Of course, I remember everything about my beginnings. I lived in Avigno, 500 meters from the Masnago Stadium. Varese played in Serie A, and since I was a child that was the place of my dreams. I was 8 years old, when, just to follow the training sessions, I helped the warehouse worker clean the shoes, inflate balls and prepare the shirts. Then, before the 1976-77 season, Guido Borghi, the son of the legendary Commendator Giovanni, the one of the Ignis made me become “manager” of Varese”.

In those years he studied and played football.

“I had just finished high school in Cairoli, where Mario Monti, Alfredo Ambrosetti, Bobo Maroni and Attilio Fontana had also studied. Fontana and Maroni were older than me. I remember that they came to high school with political newspapers under their arms, while I arrived with the Gazzetta. We played in the high school team; Maroni was a grim midfielder, like Benetti, Attilio Fontana, known as Attila, was a Tardelli who scored. I was a midfielder like Calhanoglu. Alla… because I didn’t have the talent to be a footballer.”

He also wrote for the local newspaper, could he have become a journalist?

“No, I wanted to be a football manager. If anything, I liked being a commentator, or rather a radio commentator. I loved ‘All football minute by minute’ and even now I do imitations of Sandro Ciotti, who fits in with his ‘Sorry Ameri’. Well, I would have happily been a radio commentator”.

The first transfer coup as Varese’s sporting director?

“I brought Michelangelo Rampulla from Pattese, a small Sicilian team, and he immediately became the starting goalkeeper. At 18 he made his debut in Serie B against the Milan of Baresi, Tassotti and Collovati and didn’t concede a goal. We are still friends with Rampulla.”

After Varese he was sports manager, and now president, passing through Monza, Como, Ravenna, Venice, Atalanta, Sampdoria, Juventus and Inter. What experience do you carry in your heart?

“All, for different reasons. But if I really have to choose I’ll say one: the promotion to Serie A with Venezia, when we crossed the lagoon as winners on the Bucintoro, the Doges’ boat.”

The most talented player he had?

“Alvaro Recoba. I saw him make plays, even in training, that we humans can’t even imagine. One of the rare cases of an individual who is worth the team, but also proof that pure talent is not enough to make a champion.”

The coach with the most charisma?

“There would be a lot of them. But out of respect for seniority I say Bersellini, the Iron Sergeant, who I had at Como. He was at the end of his career, but he knew how to make himself heard. And I have great memories of Pierluigi Frosio, who has a history at Chivu: I had taken him from the Perugia Primavera and with Monza we won the Serie C”.

“I have had many and all different, but from each one I have learned some lessons and a lot of wisdom. In Varese I had Guido Borghi, to whom I owe gratitude because he gave me my first contract. It seems to me that I earned 150 or 200 thousand lire a month. Then, again in Varese, I had Colantuoni, my mentor and a cultured man who had three degrees and was a friend of Aldo Moro. And then Zamparini, stormy and very competent… I could go on and on hours mentioning presidents who have left their mark.”

“I say Gianni Brera, a giant. I had dinner with him and Colantuoni in the Oltrepò Pavese. And I had a weakness for Ciotti’s voice and elocution. He knew everything about music and always had a deck of cards in his pocket. At the first opportunity, even in the taxi or at the airport he would trigger a trump or a sweep of aces”.

He was also Moggi’s classmate…

“Not really classmates, but we attended the first Coverciano course for sporting directors together. Vitali, Beltrami, Previdi, Pierpaolo Marino, Sogliano were also with us… Allodi wanted that course, a precursor to the role of manager. He claimed that football is the only world in which a bricklayer can become an architect the next day. And it’s still like that.”

Did he leave Juve in the autumn of 2018 because he didn’t agree with the purchase of Ronaldo?

“I didn’t agree, but it wasn’t for that. Let’s say that when the ownership takes a step forward, the manager must take a step back… I remember many beautiful moments from Juventus and I remained on good terms with Andrea Agnelli.”

But is it true that he left without having anything certain?

“I returned home, suffering the biggest disappointment of my life, without having any commitments. But the next day, exactly the day after, I received a message from a number unknown to me signed Zhang… I immediately called Urbano Cairo to confirm that that was indeed Zhang’s number. And so I left as CEO of Inter. And then the Oaktree fund arrived, towards which I have immense gratitude. I have great respect for their profoundly collaborative and synergistic approach with the club. I owe them gratitude for having offered me the opportunity to become President, thus closing the circle of my career in the most beautiful way.”

What do you say to those who talk about #MarottaLeague?

“Thank you for this question. I think that there are plenty of keyboard lions on social media who know nothing about the people they talk about and the path these people have taken. We are quick to judge without knowing. This only puts mud in the fan.”

Enzo Ferrari claimed that in Italy even thieves and murderers are forgiven, but those who are successful are not forgiven.

“There are too many people who cannot accept defeat, victims of the culture of suspicion and envy”.

Do you believe in God? Where and when did you meet him?

“Of course, I come from a very Catholic family and I am one too. I went through really bad times at the time of Covid, I even found myself wearing an oxygen mask… But I don’t believe in the God who works miracles on request. My God is the one of speakers and solid principles of life. A God who gives me strength and balance.”

Is it true that you relax with music? Which?

“Very true, the first thing I do in the morning is listen to good music. Even while I’m shaving. I love piano music, classical and modern. Like Einaudi, Allevi or Giulia Mazzoni.”

What else does he do in his free time?

“I read a lot. I recently liked ‘Bread and Cannons’ by Federico Rampini. It explains how, today, economy, technology and military power have become one thing and how this changes the concrete lives of all of us. A book that helps us understand the world we live in without suffering it.”

Where does your dream take you, what is the next goal?

“It would be all too easy to say the Champions League. Of course I want to win it with Inter. My teams have played 4 finals and lost them… But there is something more. I want to finally start phase three of my life, that of “serving”, understood as giving back”.

“There is a rule of life from the best Anglo-Saxon philanthropic tradition that divides life into three phases: ‘learn’, learn, then ‘earn’, put it to good use, and finally ‘serve’, give back, try to give back the luck you have had. It has become my mantra. This is why I am writing a book that aims to be a sort of manifesto for sport as I understand it, from the point of view of my experience. Sport as a school of life. A book that can be useful to everyone, from children to to presidents, ministers…”.

Will the new San Siro stadium ever be built?

“It must be done! Because the stadium is the container of great emotions and the home of the club. The new facility must be modern, welcoming and safe, as well as a symbol of belonging. On our part, as on the part of Milan, there is a strong and determined will. The paradox is that the two properties, Oaktree and RedBird, are ready to invest almost 2 billion, yet obstacles continue to arise that slow down and slow down the path. The stadium in Milan should be considered a great work of public importance and end up under the hat of Ministry of Infrastructure. Streamlining bureaucracy is a priority.”

Malagò or Abete for the FIGC?

“I say Malagò, because it would be something new, but at the same time he has great experience and passion. But he will have to dialogue with politics.”

Do you feel more like Kissinger or Richelieu?

“Characters from different eras, but Richelieu was more of a man of power. Kissinger is the icon of the mediator. If I could, I would prefer to be like him.”

Mou told Sportweek that none of Chivu’s team would play for his Inter…

“It’s his thought. I believe that the boys who won the Scudetto and the Italian Cup are great athletes and are all champions. For me it’s not fair just as it’s not fair to compare athletes from different eras like Maradona and Pelé. Football has changed, it will continue to change.”

Next year’s Inter will do a lot… Gym?

(Laughter…) “Everyone likes the gym. Of course we like it too, as we have always believed in the Italian soul of our team. The Italians guarantee the identity and a direct link with the illustrious past of a legendary team like Inter, which has a list of victories full of victories. I believe that to win, a culture of victory is necessary, and only a hard core of Italians guarantees it. However, we will start again with the same structure and some targeted additions.”

Will the Champions League be the goal for next year?

“I was at San Siro when Inter, in 1965, won their second European Cup against Benfica, with Jair’s goal. Well, if we won the Champions League I could even retire…”.