Giorgio Chiellini was a guest on the podcast BSMTtouching on various themes.
On the BBC.
“Bonucci arrived in 2009, Barzagli in January 2010. In the first season we all struggled, then we started playing. We started alternating, then Conte had the idea of playing with 3: it was an excellent intuition because we were complementary for characteristics, the team took advantage of it. Leo had excellent readings in addition to the technical qualities that took away the setting tasks from me, I could be more free and took away the marking from him. Andrea was the most complete and intelligent of the three of us, he matched the physical prowess to elegance: he was able to manage all situations well. Paradoxically, he is the one who, at an international level, had less prominence but I think he deserved it.”
On retirement.
“I had already decided to retire, we had to play the last final. But the day before in training I had a knee injury: I played with painkillers, injections, special bandages. I’m carrying this thing with me, I can’t do physical activity. I can’t run or play tennis anymore, otherwise my knee will swell. So I think I’ll have to have surgery. This is also why I don’t miss playing, and it was a choice I had already made: coming here was a transition then get to stop and start a new phase of my life.”
On Conte.
“I had a very good relationship with him, I was one of his praetorians. He gets inside you, making you live a different reality: you would be ready to die for him. He’s a sergeant and asks a lot of you every day, so it’s not easy, but he manages to convince you because it shows you that it works that way, both on and off the pitch. He has done a lot, and I am convinced that as he grows he will smooth out more than a few corners. At the beginning of his career, Conte was very rigid, but he lives for football: I am convinced that he is now out of action for this very reason, to take a break, but I hope he can return soon. I don’t know if he will return to Juventus.”