MILAN, ITALY: Roberto Baggio kicks a corner against AC Milan, during their Italian Serie A football match at San Siro stadium in Milan, 16 May 2004. For the season’s last match, AC Milan celebrates its Italy’s 17th champions title as Brescia’s Roberto Baggio plays his final match before hanging up his boots. AFP PHOTO/Carlo BARONCINI (Photo credit should read CARLO BARONCINI/AFP via Getty Images)
Roberto Baggio says he would have given his life for his ex-coach Carletto Mazzone: ‘He called me when my transfer fee was zero.’
Mazzone revived Baggio’s career in 2000 after the ex-Italian striker left Inter.
Baggio: Mazzone had ‘few rules, but the same for everyone’
“Mazzone was a humble person. Few rules, but the same for everyone,” Baggio told Forbes Italia via Gazzetta.
“I felt great with him; he was always straightforward. There was a respect that later became friendship. I would have given my life for him. I felt a bout of gratitude. When he called me to go to Brescia, I had just left Inter while they were in the Champions League. I trained alone all summer. Nobody wanted me, and my transfer fee was zero. My dream was to return to Vicenza, where I had started. In the end, it was Carletto who called. He asked me what I wanted to do, and I replied: ‘I want to play football.’ From there, four extraordinary years.”
Baggio also spoke about his painful World Cup experiences with the Italy national team and admitted modern football, especially with VAR, would have suited him.
Baggio: Maradona and Mihajlovic would have scored five goals per game in today’s football
“Things would have gone better for me. Back then, it was a brutal game. Fortunately, today there are more protections; before, we didn’t even know where the blows were coming from,” he said.
When there were free kicks, “defensive walls were never really at 9.15 meters. Champions like Maradona and Mihajlovic would have scored five goals a match.”
Lastly, he added about the state of Italian football: “We’re missing people who actually let Italians play, who allow them to express their potential. It’s not that those who come from abroad always make a difference. Without giving young Italians space, it will become increasingly difficult. The backbone of a team must be a group that has played together for many years, solid.”
