Aspire in the World Fellows Book - 2023

/86 9TH ASPIRE ACADEMY GLOBAL SUMMIT So canwe say the technique accompanied you during your walk? Is theWorld Cup your best achievement? Can you comparewhat you feel playing for the National Team to a big club like Juventus? I always thought that if your sport were athletics, you would be both a sprinter and a longer runner. You usually score goals in all themost important matches, but you also have the consistency to score 10 goals or more per season in 17 years in a row. Howcould you livewith these two identities, the sprinter and the long runner? Definitely. When you are in the Final of the World Cup, thinking about when we lost the World Cup in ’98, at Quarterfinals on the penalties, We lost the final in ’94, we lost the Semifinal at the penalties, we always lost at the penalties. It was a revenge for us. We lost in extra time against France in 2000 in the Euro Cup. That was definitely a big moment because, during that walk that is that 35 meters everything came into your mind, including my first day of training. It’s impossible to understand how many things came in your mind, from the dream that you had the night before or something that happened What is my feeling may not be the feeling for everyone. A small friendly game against your friend can be the most important moment of your life, because maybe in that moment you realize something special, or learn a lesson that you will never forget. Every time that you win something for the first time, for example, is the first time and every time is the best one. So, I don’t like to compare what is going on with your personal life, or I would love to add 10,000 kilometers as well because I was a number 10. When I played, number 10 was the guy that needs to create, to invent, so, “leave me alone and don’t make me run.” But in football something switched, and I was part of the team that switched that mentality. Everybody had to run in the same way: but it didn’t work in that way for me; why should I run with everybody and then request to me to be creative all the time. It became difficult, it’s like playing two different was kind of boring, right? But it was very strict and he explained how important that part of the game was. Technique was always very important for me also because I have to thank my parents and God for giving me many gifts , but not of course physicality, so I was always facing guys much bigger and faster than me, so I had to be good with my feet. It is very important part that I remember my first training, because we were going up and down the full field doing one exercise, simple exercises, but it was very important. 30 years before. It came to my mind the fact that I was hitting the most important penalty in my life for my country. Will they care? Well, they’re going to blame you forever. You need to hold onto something concrete, with something that you know to feel secure and technique definitely was one of my things. I start to joke with myself. It’s going be hard, it’s going to be tough but you trained all your life, you played all your life for this kind of moment. I was dreaming since I was eight years old, when Italy won the World Cup in 1982. I was there with a flag, hanging on the street because we celebrated the winning of the World Cup and now it’s your turn! Juventus to the World Cup, because it is different. When you play the World Cup, it’s, of course, much more. I love to live every moment and by far, winning the World Cup is the best achievement that a football player can have. You feel completely in another level, you feel like God, I don’t know how to explain how good you feel. games. Every moment that I jumped on the field was the most important moment. If I don’t feel that way, it’s better to walk away. Ivan did a great speech about the youth and that is very important to me, because I have young kids that I hope they are going to achieve. We all try to win, because that gives us everything: recognition, success and you prove that your idea was the best one. I would love to add how important it is to improve and how important it is for the coaches to improve their players. It depends where you play, because in the youth, when we talk about lack of talents we talk about why we don’t have enough players, it’s also because I don’t think we teach the right things when they are young. If I’m a head of Academy I don’t look at coaches that are winning, I would love to see coaches that are improving players as much as possible.