Juve-Inter, interview Felipe Melo: “The fouls? I also had quality”

Felipe Melo was afraid only once. At 15, in Brazil, he found himself face to face with a high and tattooed drug trafficker. “Every now and then I attended turns a bit like that. One day this man took me aside, looked at me with two eyes that I never forgotten and said that if he had seen me blaming again there he would have shot me. ‘You have a future in football, here I don’t want to see you anymore.’ I listened to him. Now I don’t know what happened to it, I think he died”. Felipe Melo is the usual river in full. He breaks the banks talking about Inter, Juve, his future as a coach and his past.

What if he hadn’t done the footballer what would he do?

“Maybe I would have ended up in bad laps, I thank my parents. Dad worker, home mom. I grew up rising life and difficulties”.

After all, they call it Pitbull.

“A nickname that I loved. People remember me only for the ugly fouls, but I have always had quality. At the 2010 World Cup I made the most beautiful assist of the whole edition: the one for Robinho against Holland, where I was expelled. A vertical passage of twenty meters that put it in front of the door …”.

Saturday there is Juve-Inter, his game.

“Beautiful memories. I played almost one hundred games at Juve, but I was young and immature. I made dozens of errors and I paid them all”.

“Once I lost the ball, the public whistled and sent everyone to that country. When I went back to my wife’s house she replied. I was a boy: I quarreled with everyone, I replied badly, I was grumpy and nervous. I also discussed with Chiellini, as it is known. We have made peace now: we greeted each other with affection at the Club World Championship. There were also infantine. He is brilliant: he is changing him.”

Inter had already wanted it in 2009.

“Yes, but Corvino said to me ‘or go to Turin or go to Turin. You have no other choices’. The bianconeri paid the clause of 25 million and put Marchionni in the negotiation. Florence did not take it well, he contested me a lot: my first daughter was born there, I loved the Franchi and the city”.

Needless to ask them for those who will cheer on Saturday.

“Inter are in my heart. At home I still have the first page of the Gazzetta after my goal at Verona, when I went to kiss my wife. It was 2015, it is written ‘escape to the kiss’. When Mancini asked me to come I did not hesitate, I was sorry to have remained little”.

What if Frank de Boer would be in front of you?

“He never understood anything about football, he is not able. He also spoke badly about Gabigol, calling him ‘Gabi-Ex-Gol’. He did not speak Italian, he was on the balls to everyone in the locker room. In fact he lasted three months and then he collected disasters everywhere. Thanks to God that year Pioli arrived.”

Does the new Inter convince her?

“The World Cup could have done more, but there is. Chivu has recently arrived and is trying to trace a new line after the four years of Inzaghi, and therefore of automatisms. I like Sucic, I think it can become decisive, and then weaken for Pio Esposito and Dumfries. It is a golden age for him: the ball bangs on him and enters him”.

Is Lautaro Martinez among the first five attackers in the world?

“No … it is among the first three! In 2024, at the Golden Ball, he would have deserved much more than seventh place”.

Can Juve fight for the Scudetto?

“The race with Inter will say if he can do it. I saw the bianconeri in the world championship: against the City they were shameful. Tudor does not drive me crazy, it doesn’t seem to be anything exceptional. It has started well, but it is against teams like Inter who has to make the difference”.

Who is the favorite to win the title?

“Inter are the strongest, but Napoli has quality”.

The essential player for the bianconeri?

“Bremer. Last year he missed like air.”

“Calhanoglu: it’s still the mind”.

“I hope to see many goals”.

A player for whom he would run the triple?

“Calhanoglu and Yildiz. The way the Turk touches the ball drives me crazy. I would have fought for him until the end”.

A few months ago he said: “In 2026 you will see me on the bench: I hope to train in Serie A”. What is your idea of ​​football?

“I want courageous and quality people. If you don’t put on the leg in a contrast, I don’t play. I was a great player, I say it with serenity. I randed and made a goal: there were few medians like this. As I always say with Felipe on the field it could have been difficult, but without Felipe it was even more”.