Long interview with the Spaniards of As by the Valencia coach: “Playing football was my dream, if they had paid me ten times less I would have done it anyway”
Very long interview of Gennaro Gattuso, currently coach of Valencia, to the Spanish newspaper AS. Among the many topics touched upon, the one that tickles more than others is the indication that Ringhio gives to the transfer market, i.e. the only player who looks like him. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a player like me, but I saw him at the World Cup: Amrabat. He moved me a lot, I looked like me when I was 27 years old.”
little coach
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“Now that I’m coaching I see football in a totally different way than when I was playing – Gattuso later said -. Pirlo? God gave him incredible qualities. He had four eyes. His position on the pitch, how to move without the ball… things that now many teams lack them. But it was a different kind of football. I started from scratch. As a coach, I prepared myself by going to watch matches of any category. The other day I enjoyed seeing Villarreal in Guijuelo. On a field where I it could have been played. It gave me an incredible feeling. When I talk about style it can give the impression that I have no respect for the way others play. It is exactly the opposite. You can win with totally different styles. You saw the World Cup? Many teams defended themselves, closing the field well, starting again on the counterattack”.
life
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They ask him if life as a player or a coach is better: “Clearly as a player. I have to thank my wife, I don’t know how she is still with me. Because I live football. When I started coaching I called Ancelotti and told him : ‘How do you do it?’. It’s difficult for me. I start at 8.30 and go home at seven in the evening. Then I’m in the bathroom to pee, I think of something and I write it on a piece of toilet paper. I need to change , why can’t you spend 18 or 19 hours thinking about football” And instead the Growl player how was it? “I ran a lot and tactically I was very strong but surely in modern football I would be missing something. I had character, but character is not enough. Playing football was my dream. At the age of 12 I left home for this, I slept in an apartment 15 square meters. I don’t think what would have happened if I hadn’t been a footballer. I did more than I could. For me it was a privilege to play football. And if they had paid me ten times less than what they paid me I would have played anyway. When Rangers came I didn’t want to go. My father says to me: ‘I don’t even know how to write this figure. I have to live four lives to earn it’. When I insisted on saying no he replied: ‘I give you a lot I’ll be beaten if you don’t take advantage…” When I went to Glasgow I knew nothing, not even a word of English. After two weeks I looked more Scottish than a Scotsman. I didn’t have great technique… but I was prepared to kill mentally my a opponent”.
December 25th – 4.59pm
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