The coach starts from Calabria after a year at home: “With the Giallorossi is a story that has been going on for years”
One stops playing early, at 35, after an important career and 38 national competitions, 264 in Serie A, Liverpool, Sporting Lisbon and Las Palmas. He burns the stages, immediately begins to train and with the spring of Fiorentina he wins and launches talents. Then he launches, he makes a season in B in Pisa and in the end he finds himself at home, without a team. A year stopped, to meditate. Until the Catanzaro arrives: welcome back Alberto Aquilani.
What did he study in this year?
“For sure I was not on vacation … it was training. I followed a lot of Fabregas, his Como intrigued me, he was very helpful, he hosted me. And then De Zerbi, I was also from him in Marseille, is a friend: the comparisons with them is very useful”.
It was a firm year like Allegri …
“I had it at Milan, with him you go on the safe side.”
Instead Catanzaro was in his fate.
“Yes, it is a story that has been going on for years. We had already felt after the promotion if Vivarini had started, then last year it was a soap opera. This was the right year, it went.”
His first sponsor is Iemmello, with whom he played in Sassuolo. And it is the king of Catanzaro.
“I respect him, we confronted each other a lot, our bond was one more reason to come here. He unites the team to the city, did great things and has his weight, inside and off the pitch, like Totti in Rome. Of course, with due proportions …”.
What does Catanzaro’s stage mean at this point in his career?
“I think I have always made the right steps. From spring, despite having won everything or almost everything, it was not easy to climb in B. Today I am more experienced and with even clearer ideas”.
Joe Baron at Fiorentina had baptized him as a future purple coach.
“It was a serious blow to lose it, Joe was more than a director for me: it was a real point of reference. He had designed a project on me, so it was a blow, how to have lost a relative”.
The impact with the B in Pisa was not positive.
“No, I consider it extremely positive. A tough leap, with many difficulties and I treasured them”.
She missed the playoffs and Inzaghi, almost with the same team, was promoted to Serie A.
“No, better to clarify it: it was a different team. Many players were there with me too, but because of the injuries I could train them little”.
Now what football does it have in the head?
“I am not Taliban. The idea is to have a team that proposes something, but I wait for it to be done and then we will decide. Certainly today you have to know how to do everything and the courage must not be missing”.
How much did Spalletti formed it?
“A lot, most of all, always evolves.”
Who else has engraved in his growth?
“Jorge Jesus in Portugal, now he is in Arabia. He has turned on the bulb on many things, such as the module change inside the game: he transmitted them in such an obsessive way that they remained inside and they benefited. And we are talking about 10 years ago”.
He played in Italy, England, Portugal and Spain: can you make a mix of those schools?
“Luck. The attitude to the work of England is incredible, the ball always went to 200 per hour. In Spain I saw the real talent, I was at the Canaries and played on the beach and at the field with the same mentality. And in Portugal the tactic is super”.
Gasperini where can his Rome bring?
“It is the right man: given what he did with Atalanta, it was the best choice for Roma. The coupled with Ranieri is then a guarantee.”
And Aquilani where can Catanzaro bring?
“There is a lot of enthusiasm, for some years it has been a club that has been doing great things. And my ambitions are also high. But they count the sacrifice and the desire to work, the words are not enough”.
The Catanzaro is back from two playoffs with two different coaches: first Vivarini and then Caserta.
“It is a stimulus. It came to us starting to deaf, with humility, then playing well he deserved that goal: we will have to make the same journey, even if every championship has its story”.
What do you expect from the market?
“A couple of attacking exteriors, people with enthusiasm. Once in full we will see how to play, now we work on the principles and then let’s see”.
Palermo, Venice, Spezia, Empoli, Bari … and then?
“It is a trap … the B is particular, those who leave to win perhaps risk retreat and vice versa. So straight antennas and watch out for pitfalls”.
A colleague who will gladly face?
“Ignazio Abate, we hope soon”.
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