Louis Albert he wrote a long letter that Locker Room Chronicles he published on his website and which reveals some very interesting behind-the-scenes information about his past in white and blue: “I would never have left the Lazio. I would have stayed for life. And I often think about it: who knows if we could have won the Scudetto in 2020. We were there. Then Covid arrived, the lockdown arrived. Without it, we would have played until the last day. We were there to win, for sure. Because I don’t know what happened. As soon as the championship resumed, we lost Leiva and Cataldi to injury, but also Marusic and Patric. There were only a few of us left, after two months of inactivity, and our pace was no longer the same. Until February, we won home games by the 20th minute. We were leading with Juventus, with 17 wins out of 22 games, and we had lifted the Italian Super Cup. It was normal for us to talk about it in the locker room.
We arrived to face Milan without Ciro and Caicedo. In the first match after the lockdown, we were winning 0-2 against Atalanta. We failed to win 0-3 and in the end we lost 3-2. We talked about it many times in the dressing room. And even afterwards, about how it could have gone. In the end we reached the Champions League, which was important for the fans and the club”.
Louis Albert he also dedicates a thought to his former coach: “I was happy that, at least mister Inzaghi, in the end managed to win the Scudetto. For us he wasn’t just a coach, he was like a footballing father. With him even those who didn’t play were happy. He makes the difference on a human level. I’ll tell you this. Inzaghi had been at Lazio for 21 years. When we didn’t win a match, the next morning he was destroyed. You saw it, the player was struck by it. Inside you, you said: ‘We have to win the next match for him’. He gave you everything and with him, we did what we wanted: ‘Mister, please, can we change the training time because tomorrow we have a dinner?’, or ‘Mister, tomorrow I have to take my son somewhere, can I arrive a little later?’. He was a player and has children, he would answer you: ‘No problem, go. Football is one thing, life is another’. And in the end that stays with you. He always lost his voice after the match! The next morning, in training, he practically didn’t you could feel it. Cataldi was the best at imitating him, truly identical, he does it perfectly”.
Why did he leave Lazio? “Tell me someone who left Lazio well. They do it like this: look at Cataldi now… he was there since he was little. It’s a shame because then you see other teams that behave differently: at least they let you say hello or have a press conference. Radu, but also with Lulic and Milinkovic-Savic, none of them were allowed that. Everyone leaves badly because they don’t speak to you, it’s a shame. Lazio is a special club, but not for the people inside, but for what’s outside, which is crazy stuff. I have many friends who are fans, when you talk to them it’s everything. There are people who put it before the family. We were happy inside because there were Inzaghi and Tare. I argued with Igli a thousand times, but we knew we were two right people and we found the reason. After that period it all ended. That was the difference, even when Sarri left, the cycle was over. I had just renewed, for me the idea was to stay for life. However, I didn’t want to stay in a place where I didn’t I saw nothing clean. I have never been quiet. It was time to leave and be more calm in football. When I left Lazio, I said I would not go to another Italian team. I did not want to”.
The playmaker explains his farewell: “Lazio wanted the price of the player’s registration and for Spain it was too high, as was the salary. I had spoken to some players who are here in Doha and they had all spoken highly of it, and I have gained in life, I can leave the house calmly and do things with the children. They said I left for the money: it’s not true. I earn more but I had the money before. The final end was Sarri’s departure. He had a particular character. Me too. I wanted to go to Cadiz on loan because I wasn’t happy. I returned after 10 days in Spain, it was during the World Cup break. I wanted to go to Cadiz, I trained like crazy. He noticed it and I said to him: ‘I want to go to Cadiz’, to my country. He replied: ‘No, you’re not going anywhere. If you train like this, you’ll play anywhere with me. I understood your character’. He told me that and I trusted him. I started playing. I told him about the offer from Qatar, he said I should renew. We spoke every day. They told me I talked a lot on the pitch, but I tried to help the coach on the pitch. When he left, I was sorry. His video sessions were during the siesta, for us Spaniards with so many videos there was the risk of falling asleep! Tactically the best I’ve had. And yet I’ve seen a lot of dressing rooms. The only year I had fun in my career, however, was another one”.
Louis Albert he concludes by telling which one: “Many years ago, in Barcelona. I trained a few times with the greats. The best was undoubtedly Messi, but I was impressed by Busquets, how he trained, or Iniesta. Xavi was already a coach on the pitch. It was nice to train with them because you understand so many things. It was the only fun year of my career. Even in Liverpool the dressing room was beautiful. I could have done more: I could have stayed there, but I was young and I wanted to play, so I went. Suarez was like a father to me there, he is a beautiful person. A phenomenon. I was always with him. I didn’t play much but I learned, I saw that the Premier League is fantastic in everything, they have an organization that is the best. We were always at each other’s homes. Outside the house with him it was impossible to go out. Now I play a lot of golf. Pepe Reina has infected me. At Olgiata, outside Rome, I started training: at first I didn’t even touch the ball. I made a few friends. I needed it to be 3-4 hours without my phone, I couldn’t hear from anyone. I want to close by saying hello to my team. My friends from ProClub, on FIFA. I don’t play to relax… because it depends on what game I play haha! For me it’s a way to hear from friends you don’t see. I have so many that I go more than a year without seeing them, we laugh and insult each other. It’s a way to stay connected. You forget the rest, and that you haven’t seen them for a long time. I was doing Pro Club with some guys I didn’t know, instead. I had done a live on Twitch, I had never seen them. That live was a sort of selection. It all started like that, randomly. Every now and then we hear from each other, some from Naples and some from Turin. I didn’t know them, they were fans: they knew I was Luis Alberto, but there we were all the same. I invited them to the games and they brought me gifts. My player was called “Gigi” because a friend of mine used to call me that, Alberto Moreno from Como. You all called me ‘Mago’. For me, the time I was truly a magician was a match against Fiorentina. A situation in which 95% of players shoot the ball: instead, I controlled it with my head between two players, I got past them, I faked and I served Ciro. Too bad he was offside. There, I played with a free mind”.