On June 19, Italian and Juventus legend, 2020 European Championship winner and Italy’s main central defender, Giorgio Chiellini, gave an exclusive interview to the Spanish newspaper AS. Currently studying in the United States, Chiellini looked back on his extraordinary playing career and answered the journalist’s questions with great interest.
The journalist first asked about the former glory of the “BBC” combination, Chiellini replied: “After Bonucci retired, Juventus’ BBC combination (Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini) became history, another BBC (Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo) will also retire, Gareth has already started his life after retirement, I was lucky to play with him. Time flies, these are all part of life, it’s crucial to prepare for the life to come, although I could have played until I was 60.”
Matches against Spain have been a constant in Chiellini’s career, so how does “Coconut” view Spanish football? Chiellini said: “If I had to choose a photo to represent my career, I would choose the photo from the 2015 Champions League semi-final, when I was wearing a bandage on my face, between Marcelo and Varane, that picture says it all. The confrontation with Real Madrid and Barcelona in Europe was the theme of those years, I’m happy that Ancelotti continues to succeed in the Champions League, on the condition that the Italian teams didn’t win. Carlo has always been one of the few people I wanted to work with, but I never had the chance. I’ve been very lucky in my career to meet many great coaches: Lippi, Capello, Prandelli, Conte, Allegri, Mancini… I just missed Ancelotti and Spalletti, couldn’t complete the ‘grand slam’.”
As Ronaldo’s former teammate and Messi’s former and current opponent, Chiellini believes he has some advantages when facing Messi. Chiellini said: “I played with Cristiano, I think it was incredible, I believe those who played with Messi would say the same. I think they are both equally great, have written legendary chapters, challenged records one after another and reached the peak. I still remember the 2005 Gamper Cup, Capello made me play midfield in 4-4-2, Messi shocked us all in the first half. But Messi never scored against me, Cristiano is our Juventus top scorer, he can score in any possible way.”
The journalist brought the conversation to the Italy vs Spain match in this European Championship group stage, and Chiellini opened up. Chiellini said: “Before the 2012 European Championship final, we had no time to recover. The semi-final against Germany took everything from us, we could only be overwhelmed by Spain in the final in Kyiv. However, I have lost many games against Spain, but I have also won many. In the 2016 European Championship, I scored a goal against Spain, and in the 2020 European Championship, we won the championship. Since 2001, the Spaniards have been both my friends and enemies throughout my career, when I lost on penalties in the quarter-finals of the U16 European Championship to Torres and Iniesta. From the age of 17 to 40, how lucky I am to have competed with opponents like Fernando and Andrés? We played each other, insulted each other on the pitch, gave everything for victory, but in the end what remained was mutual respect. Now we can smile at each other, I am honored to have met those epoch-making players many times.”
This article is from a user submission and does not represent the views of Soccer News Pick. If you repost it, please indicate the source: https://www.soccernewspick.com/uefa-european-championship/609.html
