Gian Piero Gasperini attended the presentation event of Luigi Garlando’s book, “Nel mezzo del pallon di nostra vita”. The latter can be identified as a sort of ‘Divine Comedy’ of today’s football. With the protagonists being distributed between Hell, Paradise and Purgatory. “Which coach would I send to Hell and which coach to Heaven? I would put all the coaches in Heaven, it’s a job with incredible ups and downs: moments of exaltation and moments in which everyone is in difficulty. Just the choice to do this job deserves heaven.”
When asked during the evening, Gasperini (also) spoke about his future. “Talent is increasingly rare in fast-paced football. But it’s the most beautiful thing, the first thing you try to notice in a youth player: sensitivity, imagination, ease of play. Eliminate tactics from football of kids? No, especially the individual one: it’s part of talent, how a player manages body position, control, protection of the ball. Football is complex and made up of many ingredients that must be combined together to create a winning team “.
Gasperini continues. “Years ago I believed in certain ideas that have spread today, especially about how it is the best way for me to defend myself. But in football there is no copyright, ideas are taken and adapted. I am told a lot about the all-court man-to-man game, but little about the fact that my teams score a lot of goals. It’s too early to say whether I would accept Saudi Arabia’s money, but in recent years there has been the possibility, but I wasn’t mentally ready and I had a commitment.”
The coach concludes. “Game or result? Football remains a spectacle: when you have such full stadiums you have to offer those who pay something that they like. There have been many philosophies, there was a period in which only winning counted. But I believe that a higher chance of winning comes precisely from good football. These are philosophies that then take root. I have never had any doubts: when a team performs well it has a better chance of winning to overcome oneself there is one great victory. And football also teaches you to lose and start again, creating a new goal.”