Still willing to sacrifice
According to Gigi Simoni, his ex-coach at Inter, Gianluca Pagliuca is an
athlete who will be able to give much to Bologna for some time yet.

By Cesario Picca.

His adventure in football started in Bologna, and he has always dreamed of
ending it in Bologna. You talk the talk, you walk the walk. It was enough for him to say it, hope for it and want it, and his wish came true. Pagliuca
can really consider himself fortunate. Ever since childhood he dreamed
of becoming a goalkeeper and he has made it. He dreamed of being great
and he has made it. He wanted to return to his hometown to play (and play well, we must add) the last years of his career and he has fulfilled that
objective. But his professed love for the red-and-blue colors was not
born after Inter had decided they had no use for his talents anymore.
No, Gianluca Pagliuca had expressed this desire already at a time when
this transfer could not even be imagined. It was Monday, 11 January.
19:00 on the clock. The ex-nerazzurro was at his home in Milan. The
following Sunday Inter was to play Bologna, and Forza Bologna News
talked to the goalkeeper during the customary interview of Bologna's
former player. "I like it in Milan - said Pagliuca on that occasion -
but it is not easy to forget where your roots are. My biggest wish would
be to play the last year of my career at Bologna, but I would only come
with the intention of helping the team, otherwise I would not do it. I
believe it would be wonderful to be able to play at home, with my
team." And so the former goalkeeper of the national team has had his
wish fulfilled, and, as it happens, he will also have the chance to play
in the UEFA Cup, a chance that Bologna has taken away from
Moratti's troops. The only regret that he may still have is not having
been able to win all that he could have won. The Champions Cup with Sampdoria, for example, but also a World Cup, a competition in which he took part three times, (Italy 1990 as number 22, USA 1994 and France 1998 as number one) or the UEFA Cup lost on penalty kicks against the German
club Schalke. Gianluca Pagliuca is content to have returned home.
Paradoxically, this happiness outweighs the disappointment over the way his career at Inter has ended.
Pagliuca left Bologna 13 years ago, when he was 20. At that time he was
goalkeeper of the youth team in a club that was relegated to Serie B
for the first time in its history. He returns, having won some important
trophies, and brings with him a will to remain at the top of his game for some time yet. "Bologna has made a great deal - says Luigi Simoni, his ex-coach at Inter, now at the helm of Piacenza - Luca is an athlete of great physical integrity, an athlete of notable depth, and he still has so much desire to sacrifice himself. He can still give much to Bologna. He is a great guy who always works very seriously."

But what will Pagliuca be able to give to Bologna, and for how long?

"With this purchase, Bologna has acquired security in the goalkeeper
position for many years to come. I know him well, Luca will come to
Bologna strongly motivated. Antonioli is gone, but with all due respect
for the one who has left, I believe Pagliuca has achieved more."

Coming back under the shade of the Twin Towers [a Bologna landmark] where
he was born, where he lived as a child, and where he has always enjoyed
himself when visiting, Pagliuca has not only forged his own
happiness, but also that of his mother Maria Rosa. Football has separated
them for 13 years, now they will be able to meet and spend more time
together.

What does Maria Rosa think of the way things have worked out?

"I am very content - she says, visibly emanating joy - but I am happy above all because my son is happy. The way I look at it, at least I will be able to enjoy him a little after 13 years that he lived far from here."

The rest of the interview can be found in Forza Bologna Magazine, July 1999 issue.

Translated by Julia Tarasova.