DIMARO (Trento) 27 June 2002 –
This is my first retreat as a father. I miss Mattia a lot, and it’s a pain to start this early, but I’m convinced we’ll do well, because the team is practically the same as last year.”

This is Gianluca Pagliuca talking, at his seventeenth retreat as a
professional player.

“I have recently signed a two-year contract, and I’m still as eager as ever. My trust in Bologna stems from the fact that expert players like Paramatti and Collucci have arrived, and the players who have had injuries
– Macellari, Locatelli, and Signori – are now in perfect shape. I can’t promise that we’ll get 53 points again, or even one more than last year, but I can say that we’ll have another good championship. I remember the year before Bologna’s relegation: everybody said the team was great, but then it went down. Well, this teaches us that it’s best to start out quietly, and then we’ll see.”

Wearing sunglasses and sitting astride a blue mountain bike, the Bologna goalkeeper briefly reviews the World Cup (“I hope Ronaldo wins it”), Inter ( “They have to buy Nesta”) and then turns his eye home.

“Yes, we need at least one other midfielder, one like Pecchia, which means a well-rounded player who could play different positions on the field. But I’m optimistic, because I really want to get to the mark of 500 games in Serie A (he has about forty to go), and because I’m convinced that Beppe Signori can
score fifteen goals. If he stays as well as he looks now, he’ll do it. And then things will be easier for all of us.