Interview by Aldo Serena

Guerin Sportivo, March 1996. Reprinted in a Japanese magazine.

Aldo Serena:Hi, Gianluca. How are you? How is your second season
with Inter?
Gianluca Pagliuca:I'm doing great. I'm trying to do my best on the field. I can't say that my second season with Inter started well. I couldn't play an active part in some games and I made mistakes, but from now on I'm only going up.
AS: You lost a game with lower-ranked Lugano in the UEFA Cup, but Coppa Italia is still left. It is very important for Inter to win this title, isn't it?
GP: As for Coppa Italia, the prospect is very clear. I hope that everything will go well to win this title.
AS: Unfortunately, you have to play Fiorentina. It would be much better if your opponent were one of other two teams which are in the quarter-finals, Atalanta or Bologna. Fiorentina is second in the league now and doing very well. Batistuta has recovered his form of last season. He's scoring one of every two tries.
GP: Yes, unfortunately you are right. Maybe Fiorentina is the strongest of the four teams. But when we had a game in Firenze several weeks ago, we managed to embarass them in the first half (by the 11th minute, score was 1-1). Fiorentina overtook us in the second half with difficulty. Anyway, we are doing our best to win Coppa Italia. This is our last chance to get a title.
AS: How about the championship? What do you expect for the second half?
GP: Well, I want to be within the first five if we can. There is still a possibilty.
AS: Has anything changed after your manager was replaced? Needless to say, tactics and style of play, but how about other things such as the mood of the team or the way you prepare for the games mentally?
GP: Of course my way of thinking has changed compared to when our manager was Bianchi. Hodgson has brought new confidence to us and he has made us feel strongly that we want to win. Now we have come to understand naturally what we should do and how to move on the field every Sunday. This is thanks to Hodgson's repeated practice of tactics with us. We were afraid of playing soccer at the San Siro till just the other day, but now, we are driving the ball forward without being afraid of mistakes as before.
AS: Are his directions for goalkeepers also different from Bianchi's?
GP: Hodgson says the same thing as Sacchi in the national team. He tells me to take my position in front of the line so that I can come out, because there are many situations when a goalkeeper has to move forward in case of a counterattack. He also told me to play the role of a libero as well as goalkeeper. In addition, he asked me to advise and help younger players as a player with a lot of experience.
AS: Did you think that Bianchi was a good manager? Why did he fail at Inter after succeeding at Napoli? Don't you think it's also the players' fault?
GP: I don't think Inter's last season was a failure. We got into sixth place by miracle and got the right to play in the UEFA Cup, though we had a lot of problems.
AS: Frankly speaking, you can't say that to be sixth is a victory for Inter, a team that aims at the scudetto [Italian national championship award].
GP: You are right, but nothing worked, even if we tried our hardest, you know, Aldo.
AS: Yes.
GP: Returning to Bianchi, this season we didn't do well at the start and the press exaggerated Inter's problems. As a result, relations between Bianchi and the supporters got worse and finally it led to his dismissal. I think Bianchi is a good manager, but we couldn't help him though we did our best. And when Bianchi was at Napoli, they had Maradona and Carecca.
AS: But Inter has to be a team that is always aiming at the scudetto, just like Juventus or Milan. When do you think Inter can get the scudetto and what should be changed in order to do this?
GP: It is actually difficult to get the scudetto in the present state, but there is a possibility if we get a few good players.
AS: In which positions?
GP: One would be an aggresive half-back, another a forward and the last a drawn-back midfielder or defender.
AS: How about goalkeeper?
GP: No. I am enough.
AS: By the way, did you have any problems when you transferred to Inter? I felt that you grew accustomed to the atmosphere that is always noisy and where criticisms never end.
GP: I became friendly with the team very easily and I had no problems. It might have been one of the best seasons in my soccer career.
AS: But didn't you receive any criticisms?
GP: Just a little bit. I had presumed they would come, and critics were from the press, not from the supporters. Honestly, my game last season was very bad. I made many mistakes, but I think I have always fulfilled my duty when I made mistakes. The last season was regrettable, because I made many fine saves. Anyway, many games are still left in this season. I want to win many fans before the end of the season.
AS: Well, don't you feel pressured by the example of Zenga who was Inter's goalkeeper for 12 years? Don't you see his 'ghost' at San Siro? How do you persuade suppporters that you have succeeded Zenga whom they loved?
GP: Of course, when I came to Inter, I was ready to do my best to get the trust of all the supporters. It was a great pressure on me, but it was at the same time a great incentive. I knew that they loved Walter, but I believed that I could capture supporters' hearts when I made a save.
AS: How was the first game at San Siro?
GP: I felt stressed. The fans were somehow cold and there was no feeling that we could understand each other. I guess it was after a few games with such atomosphere... when I made a wonderful save in a certain game, I got a big round of applause. That was the first moment that we could understand each other. At this moment, they knew that I was one of them and doing my best for Inter. Even if I sometimes make mistakes (laughs).
AS: For a few months now, you have to watch the national team's games not from the goal, but on TV. Is it disappointing for you? Or it is not very important for you whether you are chosen for Sacchi's national team?
GP: I'm very sad. You were also a member of the national team, so you have experienced it, haven't you, Aldo? Things that were natural when I was in the national team turn to be very different once I'm not chosen to be a member of national team. The press doesn't talk about me and I have to watch important games on TV. I have experienced being on the national team and won second place at the World Cup, so it is very unsettling to be a just a regular person.
AS: When do you think you fell out of Sacchi's scheme of the national team? And can you guess the reason? Did Sacchi tell you the reason you were not included?
GP: Well, I think Sacchi was thinking of getting me out of the national team on the airplane on our way to Italy from the World Cup in America.
AS: Sacchi regarded you as a very important player, so he chose not Rossi or Peruzzi but Marchegiarni and Bucci, who don't have strong opinions, as the second and third goalkepers. Not to give you too much competition.
GP: You might be right. Sacchi valued me highly without reservation before the World Cup in America. But I couldn't please Sacchi in America. Sacchi told me the reason that he didn't choose me for the national team was a technical matter. Anyway, my character or behavior can never be the reason like some press is reporting.
AS: But don't you think that one of the reasons was Gianluca's open interview? I think Sacchi is the type who thinks that a person who is chosen as a national team member is a public person and should be careful about his statements or behavior.
GP: Well, Sacchi said that the reason was a technical matter again and again. If he didn't include me because of such a foolish reason, I would be already selected for the national team again. I just talked about myself honestly and didn't blame anyone. What is wrong with me talking about myself!!! I don't regret what I've talked about in the interview.
AS: By the way, as you get older, what is getting better in you as a soccer player? On the other hand, what is getting worse? Speed?
GP: Now I'm 29 years old, and I think this is the best age for a player. I play using my varied experience.
AS: It is very important for a goalkeeper to have good instincts. So the more experience he accumulates and the more he thinks, it is said that the more he loses his sixth sense. The speed of his reaction falls, he tries to overcome his fear, and he begins to be afraid of mistakes...
GP: That does not apply to me. I am always me. So far I've played more than 800 games and at least 60 international games. This rich experience explains what I have.
AS: Then I'll ask you this. Who is the No.1 goalkeeper in Italy?
GP: I am. I am not the modest type, but I think this is true.
AS: And further down the ranks?
GP: I am No. 1. Peruzzi, Bucci and Marchegiani.
AS: What do they lack compared to Gianluca or what is your advantage?
GP: I have power and speed. I am fast even though I'm tall.
AS: Aren't you forgetting about Rossi?
GP: No. He ranks lower than the players whom I named. He is a good goalkeeper, but he hasn't done well recently. I wonder what happened in the last two years. He played an active role, and Sacchi thought him to be a member of the national team, but he was good only that one season.
AS: Then who is No.1 goalkeeper worldwide?
GP: Schmeichel at Manchester United. He is No.1 for me.
AS: I think of Victor Baia in Porto. Don't you like him?
GP: Actually, I think he is good, but he is a little overvalued. Same as Kopke in Germany, he has talent, but is not perfect.
AS: I prefer Seaman in England. He is one of very few goalkeepers who know what to do on the ground.
GP: Yes, his play is not showy, but steady. He rarely comes out of the goal, but he is loyal to tactics and his positioning is very good.
AS: By the way, I want to ask you about Sampdoria. Do you think that it was a great mistake for Mantovani to take apart that team? Vialli, Ronbalt (?), Yugovic, Vierchowod and you. Don't you think that he broke his precious ornament himself by letting go of such important players?
GP: That team could have won more, but Juve showed about 4000 bilion liras to get Luca(Vialli). Mantovani couldn't ignore this price. After all, he passed away during that season, and the club was to be run by his three children. I think Samp did well. They got out of red figures. Samp doesn't have as many supporters as Juve, Milan or Inter, and is not so rich that they can keep all the players who were part of the golden age.
AS: Returning to the national team, if you were able to go back to the time around the World Cup in America, what would you want to do?
GP: Well, I would do things that Sacchi told me as much as possible. I would like to do over that play where I got the red card and start from the very beginning, but I did not agree with being sent off. I feel that I didn't commit a foul, so I don't blame myself for that. But overall my play at that time can't be called good. I thought that I could play much better.
AS: Why weren't you in good condition? You weren't prepared well?
GP: I don't know. I was not in a good state before the games, and my condition was also bad then. Maybe practice was too hard and then that hot weather made it worse, but I don't know why exactly.
AS: Now the relationship between you and Sacchi is not going well...
GP: Ten days after I was excluded from the national team for the first time, I met Sacchi in a restaurant in Milano. There, he told me to practice a lot, work on my strength and never give up. He said he didn't forget me, and he is always watching me carefully.
AS: Then Sacchi and you are getting along with each other. You didn't break off with each other or have a quarrel.
GP: No. There is no discord between us. It is regrettable not to be chosen for the national team, but I'm waiting for the day when I'll be called again.
AS: For example, if Boskov, who is now the manager of Napoli and was your manager when Samp won the championship, were to be the manager of the national team, do you think you would be selected as the starting goalkeeper?
GP: I don't know. It is clear that he values me very highly and he compares me with great players whenever he talks about me. I think he would be a good national team manager.
AS: He is doing very well at Napoli which doesn't have great players.
GP: He has rich experience and he is sharp. He is one of the few people who really understand soccer and are familar with soccer all over the world. He can make a good team within a short time just like Trapattoni. They can make their players adapt.
AS: You said that you could get used to the noise around Inter. I think it is very different from the 'paradise of your dreams' where you don't have so many critics even if you lose three games in succession.
GP: The pressure I have here from supporters and the press is significant. In Genova, I was friends with reporters, so they didn't write bad things about me, and there were no marks I considered unfair in the articles every Monday. In Milano, however, there are eight main newspaper offices, and there is great competition between them. They are seeking material as new and unknown as possible, so sometimes they exaggerate in their reports.
AS: But there are new things that you can experience because you are at Inter. Don't you think so?
GP: Inter's fame is much greater than that of Samp regardless of whether it is good or bad. There is a huge number of Inter supporters all over Italy. Inter is not Milano's team but Italy's team. Though it hasn't happened yet, if I were to win something in front of 80 thousand supporters, it would be a wonderful memory.
AS: I've experienced it, and it was fantastic. By the way, you are good friends with Mancini, but what do you think of his leaving the field in the game against Inter? He couldn't play in four games because of that game. I guess he couldn't control himself, but he shouldn't have behaved that way because he is the captain.
GP: Roberto was stressed from the beginning on that day. I didn't foul him, but he believed that there was a foul in that play. He loves Samp very much, so he feels very bad when things don't go well for Samp. He was just like a son to Mantovani. He was very shocked when Mantovani passed away.
AS: Thank you very much, Gianluca. You are running out of time, aren't you? You are going to the lunch party at Moratti's house with Inter players, isn't that right? Have a great time. And I hope that you can return to the national team and win something with Inter.

Translated from Japanese by Kaori Hirota. English text editing by Julia Tarasova.