Interview Paonessa: “They said I was stronger than Rooney”

There was a time when Gabriele Paonessa He felt like Keanu Reeves, the star of “Matrix”. When he was a teenager, he found himself in front of a Mr. Morpheus with mirror glasses and two pills in his hands. In the first there were Arsenal and Manchester United, in the other Bologna. Paonessa swallowed the blue pill. “I dreamed of Serie A, it was right to stay.” Matrix has never seen it or heard him, but he would still like to know what would have happened if he had risen to the NabukodonaSor. “One of the many regrets I have”. Gabriele He retired to 29 years after a career failed by accidents. The last game played it at 26. The misfortune slipped by soppiatto under the door the night before his debut in Serie A with Bologna. Today it has become an insurance agent for players.

How was it to stop even thirty years of age?

“Tosta, also because the accidents massacred me, mentally destroyed and sent almost in depression. Without these stops I would have done much more. For some years I made the technique instructor, then I chose to deal with the insurance aspect of the players”.

Does players tell his story?

“What I lived helped me: I live and work in Bologna, where we have the study. We follow Birindelli, the Tramoni brothers, Caracciolo del Pisa, De Silvestri, Stretfzza. We meet for a coffee and explain how important it is to protect yourself. One day you are in Serie A, then you hurt yourself and disappear from the Giro”.

As a boy he was a baby phenomenon.

“I was playing in San Lazzaro. At 10 years of age I opened the hole of letters and found two: one from Cesena, the other of Milan, but when Bologna came to know I will find me immediately. At 15 I was in the national teams. Released out later.

Why did you say no to the premier?

“Arsenal and United offered me everything and more, but I was tied to Bologna and I signed with them.”

Francesco Rocca, at the time coach of the youth team, compared it to Rooney.

“He said I was stronger than him. And Marco Motta stronger than James Milner. I still keep the newspaper’s cutout at home. He wash for me, he was like a father. I still talk to Giovinco.”

Another to which it is linked remains Carlo Mazzone.

“He made me debut at the age of 17 in the Italian Cup, against Ternana. I could not look at him for the emotion. ‘You know how to give you to the ball,’ he said. I also played with him at San Siro against Inter. Mihajlovic, just entered, trimmed a beautiful randellata”.

Then Avellino and Vicenza: in those days they called her “Piccolo Baggio”.

“In Vicenza it was Gregucci who gave me confidence: I was 19 years old, I marked Juve with Buffon on goal and above all at Crotone, on the last day. We save, Verona in C. who became an idol. Then the damn co -ownership worked at me”.

“In 2007 I would have gladly remained in Vicenza, but the company did not find the agreement with Bologna, so I was sent on loan to Avellino on the last day of the market. Arrigoni did not want me. I repeat it: the co -ownership was damage”.

In 2008 he returned to Bologna again Arrigoni.

“He did not see me, but after a couple of months he was exonerated and Mihajlovic came. I liked him. In a month I resumed confidence with the ball, I arrived at the top and he noticed him. I was 21 years old. On Thursday, before playing against Genoa, he revealed that he would start from the beginning together with Di Vaio, then gave me a pat on the shoulder and smiled at me …”.

And then? What happened?

“On Saturday, during the finishing, I contrasting with Bombardini and he, involuntarily, blocked my knee as he fell. I remember the sense of nausea. Mihajlovic immediately understood the seriousness of the thing, he had his eyes shiny as I had them. When the doctor said he was the left crusader ligament was broken he said he did not worry, but in his heart he knew.

From then on he did not recover again.

“The beginning of the end. I returned with Papadopulo, but I went on loan to Vicenza. Another ordeal: first a muscle tear, then a distortion to the ankle. One stop behind the other. Then, in 2010, Parma arrived, and I understood that it was over”.

“I signed five years of the contract, I designed a rebirth that never was there, but only afterwards I understood the reason for those long contracts: I was one of those 200 players who served the company to be able to resist. I continued to turn on loan without a destination: Cesena, Gubbio, Como, Perugia. I had no longer my head. They treated us as a slaughter meat”.

From 2013 to 2015 he never played.

“I was out of pink. When Manenti arrived he understood that I had to stop. ‘If football is this then I finished’, I said. I had offered from Bulgaria and Romania, but I didn’t want to move. I said enough at 29 years without ever playing a minute in Serie A”.

Is the fault just the injuries?

“No, but the 2008 stop cut my legs. Maybe I would have stayed in Bologna all my career, whoever knows. I am sincere: in today’s football I could not play. The midfielder no longer exists, I am one meter and 70 tall, the defenders would have thrown me down without mercy. Maybe I would have done half a tip, but today’s football is another thing”.

What was the most difficult moment?

“In Parma, I lived them a nightmare lasting years. I don’t know if I can talk about depression, but I had tough moments, complex, where my family helped me.

But today every now and then he still plays?

“Only on the occasion of beneficial events, but at 38 I prefer to run. If you take the field then you want to win, but the body doesn’t follow you anymore and then you hurt you. And I don’t want to hurt me anymore”.