Pagliuca issues three challenges

Gazzetta dello Sport. 25/05/1999

Inter gets the starting goalkeeper back for the game against Mazzone’s
team, valid for European championship qualification.

To Milan which would like to start a cycle, to my hometown Bologna for
a place in Europe, and to Sereni who would like to take my place.”

“Next week I will ask the club to update me on all the plans. I want to
stay at Inter for another three years, but, as in a marriage, we need
both sides to agree. However, I do not want to leave at least until
winning the scudetto.”

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

Appiano Gentile - He is returning to the field for the playoffs. Against
his hometown, and perhaps his future. “I have always said that I wanted
to end my career at Bologna, after winning the scudetto with Inter.
However, we are still in the period of aspirations, and no one can
guarantee to me that this wish will be fulfilled. It depends on the
circumstances more than on me: in three years I will be 35 years old.
Who will coach Bologna at that time, and will he want me?”

- And does Lippi want you? Since the announcement of his imminent
arrival, strange rumors have been going around: it seems that Pagliuca
does not match the new coach’s profile of an ideal goalkeeper.

-But what does that kind of thing mean? I have not spoken with Lippi
yet. I have seen him only briefly in the head office, and that certainly
was not the ideal moment to talk to him and bring up these rumors. But I
would like to know what characteristics I should have. For years now
I’ve done work worthy of the podium, that is to say I am constantly
among the best goalkeepers. Last year I played without reproach in the
World Cup. So I don’t understand, where is the problem?

- The only thing to do then is to bring it up with Lippi. However, when
certain drums are sounding, there is always some truth to what they are
saying.

-Now I am concentrating on the two playoff games. But the first thing
I’ll do next week is ask the club to be updated on all the plans. I want
to stay at Inter for another three years, but, as in a marriage, we need
both sides to agree.

- It is not out of nowhere that the radio has announced the purchase of
Sereni. And the Empoli goalkeeper has already clarified that if he comes
to Inter, it is to be the starting goalkeeper, not to wear the number 12
shirt. He intends to compete with you for the position as an equal.

-Yes, tell him to come and sit very nicely on the bench. Just like
Landucci, Frezzolini, Mazzantini, Frey - well, all the number twelve
shirts in the five years that I have been at Inter.

- But he intends to have an open rivalry... Wouldn’t it be better to
stick with Frey?

-Eh, but the frenchman is very young, and understandably he wants to
play, to gain experience. No, we need to get a second goalkeeper.

- Was it presumptuous of Sereni to issue a challenge?

-Even those second keepers who accept the role at the start, afterwards
begin to aspire to the starting position. It is an absolutely normal
ambition that every goalkeeper has. Even when I was third in line, at
the beginning at Bologna, I never lost the conviction that I would be
able to climb up the ladder. I remember when Mazzone was the coach, and
I was training with the first team, one day he came up to me and said,
"Hey, kid, they tell me you’ve got some talent. But you shouldn’t eat so
much, or else...” I was in the army at the time, and, in effect, was
some four or five kilos overweight.

- Explain to me, as a native of Bologna, why is Mazzone leaving after a
good season?

-You have to be a part of Bologna to understand it. I have spoken to
some players, and all seemed to be happy with Mazzone’s management of
the team. I know him as a wonderful person.

- Does this Bologna scare Inter at present?

-Our season has been so disastrous that a victory in this playoff will
not save it. Rather we are talking about the last line of defense, which
has to be held at any cost, above all for the fans and the club.
Participating in European cups is now a fundamental necessity for a
club. It is clear however that even by qualifying we will only give
ourselves a little present, a dose of sugar before the vacation. The
bitterness will still remain.

- And of course, there is Milan’s scudetto...

-It was a really important Sunday, we believed in Perugia until the end.
A beautiful final, a beautiful championship, with this fantastic
head-to-head race. I think Galliani said it well when he insisted that
both teams deserved the scudetto. Lazio seemed formidable, but Milan did
not steal any games, it was ready at the right moment.

- Inter’s bad luck continues, while Milan has had five wins in the
nineties. A clear domination.

-Eh, yes, we have to admit that they have taken away our satisfaction
many times. They have found so many players who were able to make a
difference; we haven’t. But if with Sacchi and Capello there was a
cycle, you will see that Zaccheroni will encounter major difficulties.
Soccer in the year 2000 presents a state of great equilibrium, putting
together a string of wins will be very difficult.

- Well, Inter has to prove itself now.

-Yes, that is the objective. And I would not want to leave without
winning at least the scudetto.

- And then the finish at Bologna.

-Well, aside from Inter, that is the only Italian team where I could
play.

Translated by Julia Tarasova.