AAGS 2021

25 take it anymore, that they shouldn’t have renewed my contract. So, I took the decision to change and go to Juventus. Hearing others saying these things gave me an extra boost, an extra motivation to show them that, even if I was no longer at A.C. Milan, I could still be the number one. I proved it by going to Juventus and winning four league titles in four years, showing that I could still be one of the best players in my position. That was a great source of pride, also because in the first year we fought against A.C. Milan to win the Scudetto and then winning it in Trieste. This was truly a great emotion. If you could take something from your different coaches, can you tell us what and from whom? I would say from everyone. I had great coaches and from all of them I managed to take something that could help me in my career as a coach. Each coach and each person is different, but they can always leave you with something that can help you in your career. I was lucky enough to have many coaches, also many winners in the history of football. For these reasons, I will try to get the best from them. At the end of your career, you played in the US, how was that experience compared to what you were used to? It was a great experience. After the Champions League final lost by Juventus in Berlin, I decided to change because I thought I could no longer reach certain levels, personally and even as a team member. So, in order not to burn everything in a few months, I decided to change and to have that American experience. It was fantastic from all points of view, both in sports and in life, because it was beautiful. Getting to know a different country, a different culture, living outside of Italy where I had never been before, was a wonderful experience. Then two more of our children were born in America, so this experience brought us this too. What kind of advice would you give a 16–17-year-old player who wants to become a top professional player? The advice is always the same: to cultivate the passion that one has, to try to do it in the best way and not to neglect every little detail, because now at these levels they make the difference. Nutrition, training, sleep and all the things which can also lead you to have a small improvement, need to be pursued, because in the end they bring you good results. Having a lot of passion and a great desire to make sacrifices, to improve day by day, to have fun every day you go to train, is the basis of everything. The FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar will be played in the same conditions (travel distance, sea level and weather). How could this impact the team and player’s performance? Yes, I believe that there can be an advantage for everyone, also because it is played in a different period from the usual World Cups, so the players could arrive even less tired. Therefore, since there will be the same climate for everyone, same journeys for all, they should all start from scratch, on the same level and then hopefully express a different kind of football from what we usually see in the World Cups, when the players come to play at the end of the season, after 60 matches and a lot of travel. This time it could be something different. What are your expectations from the FIFA World Cup in Qatar? I expect a World Cup of discovery, one that will be full of surprises. I have been to Qatar several times and I have seen a country in great growth, because the first time I visited was in 2002 or 2003 and there was very little. Now, day after day you see that it is growing, that they are organizing themselves to have a spectacular World Cup. They are taking care of every little detail. We hope it will be truly something special.