Pagliuca - he used to win the Milan derbies.

Gazzetta dello Sport, 28.10.2001, Silvano Stella.
BOLOGNA - When he returns to San Siro, Gianluca Pagliuca (who will be 35 in December) always feels emotional. He is very headstrong, but he also has a big heart. For five seasons, the ones he played at Inter, this stadium was his home. So he's happy to come back here, also because Milan is the city where he met Aurora, his fiancee, and the city where he owns a house. "San Siro has a mythical quality. I don't think there is a player who would not be fascinated by it. It is not by chance that they call it La Scala of Italian football. You feel the beauty and the joy of playing before this audience. I think it's the best. The Inter fans remember me and save some applause for me. From the Milan fans, who probably remember what happened in the derbies, I get hisses."

Pagliuca loves to have full control of what he says and does. And he's said and done so much. Fore example, in the ten matches between Inter and Milan in the nineties. Gianluca never knew the bitterness of defeat: he won four and brought six to a draw. These were the derbies where goals came from such people as Fontolan, Seno, Junk, Paganiin, Djorkaef, Branca, Zamorano, Ganz, Simeone, Ronaldo, Moriero and Zanetti on the Inter side, and from Maldini, Stroppa, Savicevic, Baggio, Weah, Cruz, Albertini and Leonardo on the Milan side: "With Inter, I only won the Italian Cup, but it was the most intense period of my career: at the same time, I was also the goalkeeper of the national team. But no words can describe what you feel when you win a derby in Milan."

However, Pagliuca does not live by memories and nostalgic feelings alone. Currently, along with Lazio's Peruzzi, he is the least perforated goalkeeper of Serie A: 3 goals in 7 games. After Inter, he picked Bologna, the club that brought him up and started his career before sending him to Sampdoria for 300 million lira. He would like to finish his career here. That would mean playing another two or three seasons at Bologna, also trying to reach the count of 500 games in Serie A. But his contract ends in June and his future hangs in the balance again: "Three years ago I made a choice that affected my life in football and my personal life. I'm playing in a team that represents my city and I'm completely identified with this team. We are going through some good times and we intend to make it last. Up to now, I've only let in three goals because I have in front of me a team that is in good shape and works very well. But I feel well myself and I contribute my share."

The match against Milan is a double-sided proposition. On the one hand, it could give ground to dreams of a much higher place in the rankings than could be foreseen, but on the other hand it is a dangerous game, because Terim's team has been revitalized by the derby. Pagliuca knows that Inzaghi and Shevchenko are extremely dangerous. "We should learn from experience: last season the ukrainian forward beat me two times. Inzaghi and he are similar and they work very well together. They have a sense of the goal like few others do: they excel in the air and they strike quickly and perfectly from right and left foot. For them, scoring a goal is like punching a timecard. But we shouldn't mourn before time: on the field, we'll see the players, with their advantages and their weaknesses, and not the sacred cows."

translation by Julia Tarasova.