The Sports Gazette interviewed exclusively Daniele Orsato, former referee who ended his professional career at the end of the last sports season after having refereed the match between Atalanta and Fiorentina: “I’ll say right away: I don’t want to designate or be president, I want to teach”. Proposals have already arrived and quite a few: “Various, even from abroad. The one from Russia has almost become a case… In the end I declined and the reason is very simple, I want to give something to Italy first. I’m here”.
So reveals the proposal made to him by the referee designator Rocchithat of refereeing for another year: “It’s true, but I immediately declined, I would have taken matches away from my colleagues. Especially young ones and you don’t do that. I’ve had some fantastic moments, I won’t forget the final tribute of Atalanta-Fiorentina. I couldn’t go back, I had promised my mother who passed away a short time ago. She was the driving force behind me continuing after the World Cup in Qatar, I already had the intention of saying goodbye there”.
And again, Is the AIA waiting for him perhaps? Orsato reveals: “I wait and will wait. I have formulated a proposal on a technical level, not a political one. I am too young to be president. The important thing is that the AIA stops with the internal friction. My proposal is to teach and bring the current referees to high levels. I know that we need to wait for the elections…”. Conclusion on some details, such as the ‘VAR kryptonite’: “But no… I was disappointed when I went to the VAR because I was angry with myself, there was something I had missed to review. Among other things, I often had Irrati, the best VAR referee in the world: what can I say?”. And there is also a coach of the heart: “Mihajlovic. With Sinisa we said all sorts of things, always with reality. I remember him with affection. And as a player I say Zanetti”.