Alex Manninger interview: from Wenger’s Arsenal to Juve with Del Piero, Buffon and Conte

After a couple of minutes of calling, the line goes dead. “Excuse me, I’m in the mountains and I’m building a house. You don’t take your cell phone very well.” Give it half an hour and call him back. “I came down, now I’m here.” Alexander Manninger responds from Austria with a smile: the former goalkeeper dealt with the spotlight and pressure in a corner kick and went back to doing what he did before becoming a footballer. “Being a carpenter taught me the importance of sweat and sacrifice. Both Conte and Klopp, over time, appreciated this aspect. They told me that I was fundamental in transmitting the attitude to work to the younger ones.” Today he has retired from football, but when he talks about it the voice still smiles at him. When he leaves he never stops, he talks and gets lost in memories: from the successes at Highbury with Wenger’s Arsenal shirt, to Juventus with Buffon and Del Piero.

Alex Manninger, Europe gets to know it in the Premier League with the Arsenal shirt. It was Wenger’s early years and the Gunners were still playing at Highbury. Memories?

“It excites me even just thinking about it. I was 20 years old, I was a kid. Wenger wanted to bring an international dimension to the club and focus on young people. I was one of those. Arsene also introduced retirement, something unusual for the Premier League at the time. I have to say that, despite my age, I felt calm in goal, I had a sacred monster like Tony Adams in front of me. He taught me a lot. I only have one regret: having left too early. But you know… I wanted to play.”

“Yes, and it was a wrong decision. I found an absurd situation, it was 2001 and the club was on the verge of bankruptcy. For several months we didn’t get a salary. The coach was Mancini and every now and then he told us, ‘I wonder if we’ll train tomorrow’. He joked, but we all knew that we could go bankrupt at any moment. Furthermore, many were not used to such a situation: there were those who wanted to put the club in default, those who come on, in short, a big mess…”.

But Serie A was in his destiny. He will travel around a bit, until he dedicates himself to Siena.

“What a city, what peace. Siena is my home. I had a wonderful time and they treated me like a king. Every time I come back they shower me with affection. However, I must say a thank you to Enrico Chiesa. We had played together in Florence – where we were neighbors – and he helped me a lot at the beginning. He told me ‘come to dinner with me today’. I could only accept, otherwise he would get angry. But how strong was Enrico, my goodness. I remember that he would stop for hours kicking, until that he couldn’t do everything, he didn’t leave the field.”

Someone similar in this respect was Del Piero…

“Of course! When I was Gigi Buffon’s second at the end of training he kept me for hours. And how many challenges. He amazed me especially in penalties: a sniper. And then how many laughs. Ale is also a great golfer, every now and then we talk to talk about it. Sooner or later we will challenge each other, as we did on penalties and free kicks at Juventus”.

“He, almost always. He was in another category. Maybe we can play golf.”

You quoted Buffon, how was your relationship with Gigi?

“Fantastic, really. His greatness never made me feel burdensome. I was amazed by the calmness he had. ‘But how do you do Gigi?’, I always asked him. I’m honored to have played with him and in general at Juventus. Which then, for me was a bit like the closing of a circle.”

“Eh, the Bianconeri had practically taken me ten years earlier. I also did a couple of training sessions with the group, then Van der Sar arrived and I went to Arsenal. Getting back there was my goal.”

His last year at Juventus was Conte’s first as a coach. Can you tell us what relationship you had?

“Antonio impressed me right from his retirement. He took me aside and told me that he appreciated my way of working and that he already wanted to take me on when he was in Siena. I remember that at the beginning he was the only one who believed in winning the scudetto. We were coming from two seventh places and a series of wrong and confusing club decisions. He put the church back in the center of the village. That’s what you Italians say, right?”

Speaking of great technicians. He did the last dance in Liverpool with Jurgen Klopp on the bench. How did the move to the Premier League come about?

“It all started with a phone call. Jurgen knew everything about me, two years earlier I had beaten his Dortmund against Ausburg. ‘I want that goalkeeper there. That day you saved everything for us, you have to do it with me too’. In reality I never played, but I was forty years old. Leaving football while saying goodbye to the fans at the Kop was an emotion.”

Anyone in football who let you down?

“Not disappointed, but I was disappointed by what happened in Brescia in 2004. Already during the summer retreat De Biasi had decided that I wouldn’t play. Without a real reason and without giving me a chance. I was put in the middle of an exchange of players, but they didn’t want me. So I took it and left. Thank goodness I’d say… I went to Siena and then I earned Juventus, they were relegated.”

Today he is back to being a carpenter. The work he did before the journey began.

“Sweat and effort taught me. And today I’m happy. Today’s football is just fashion and business, but I don’t even have Instagram, you think. I’m happy in my peace and simplicity. Now in the changing rooms we think more about hair and posts to make than about working hard. Ah, how we miss figures like Del Piero, Buffon and company…”.