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The Interview: Sven-Göran Eriksson (Ep. 53)
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast with John Solano, Carlo Garganese and Nima Tuvali.
00:00:24
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Italian football podcast and welcome to the very first interview episode of the Italian football podcast. We are very, very, very excited during these weekly interview episodes. We will be bringing you a special guest from the couch show world. And for our very first one, we have a very big one. We're starting it off huge.
Interview Introduction
00:00:45
Speaker
We are very pleased to welcome Sven Gorin, Ericsson, the former manager of Lazio, Fiorentina Roma, the English national team. Before we bring him on though, if you would like to gain access to all episodes of the Italian football podcast, you can go to patreon.com slash T-I-F-P. Again, that is patreon.com slash T-I-F
Eriksson's Rome Experience
00:01:09
Speaker
-P. So without any further ado, we are proud and honored
00:01:13
Speaker
to welcome managerial legend Sven Gorn-Eriksen to the Italian football podcast. Sven, how are you doing? First off, thank you so, so much for joining us because this is a massive honor. How are you doing? I'm fine. It's a pleasure to be with you. I'm fine. Thank you. Even if it's Corona times.
00:01:32
Speaker
Yeah, you're not joking. It is absolutely a very delicate, awkward moment for everybody. But again, I hope you're doing well. So let's just start with the beginning of your career, particularly the beginning of your career in the CDR. So you arrive at Roma in the summer of 1984. This is following successful stints at IFK, Gothenburg and Benfica.
00:01:56
Speaker
So with Roma, you won the Copa Italia, you fall just short of winning the Scurrato in your second season, despite being level with Juve with just a couple of matches to go. So what are your memories from your first job in Italy and that title race particularly? Is there anything that you remember that stands out above the rest? Well, of course, I remember a lot of things. I came to
00:02:21
Speaker
team who has been very successful during the year before I arrived there. They've been winning the league two years before and the year before I arrived they played Champions League final against Liverpool at home and they were losing penalties. I struggled the whole first year, a lot.
00:02:49
Speaker
With the mentality, I had a very good team, but a very old team and a very not hungry team because they had Bruno Conti, Roberto Crutso, Graziani. They were all big, big, big, big stars. They were kings in Rome.
00:03:13
Speaker
and to do what I asked them to do, to run a lot, to come on time. They didn't really like that. So I struggled. Then during my whole first year, I was not allowed to sit on the bench. I had to sit on the stands and I couldn't go into the dressing room in half time either. So many times during my first year in Roma, I regret that I left Ben Pica, really.
00:03:42
Speaker
But second year was much better and we should have won the league. The second game from the end, we only had to beat Lecce and Lecce was over in Serie B and we didn't, so we would have won the league then, but we didn't.
00:04:01
Speaker
As a follow-up to that, though, can you discuss how difficult it is to work in the city of Rome? People such as Fabio Cappello have been very outspoken about this. It's a difficult environment with a very particular set of supporters. Is that something you agree with? You agree that this city is quite challenging to work in? I totally agree. I mean, the team's winning the big titles, Scudetto and Europe and so on and Copitalia.
00:04:30
Speaker
That is you and Milan and Inter. Historically, I think rarely another team will win the league, very, very rarely. I don't have any percentage and a statistic, but that's a three big teams. And if you can win the league with one of the other teams, like in Rome or Verona or something like that,
00:04:59
Speaker
That's great. That's big, big. But the interest of football in Rome is incredible. They have their own, more or less their own newspaper coming out of Rome, Correia della Sport. And that covers Rome and Lazio. Mainly, more than half of the paper is full of Rome and Lazio. They have, I guess, four or five radio channels in the city of Rome.
00:05:28
Speaker
And they're talking four hours, not even four hours aroma every day, seven days a week. So it's, it's beautiful. If you are successful, it's very tough. If you struggle, uh, winning games. I just wanted to ask you quickly, you said you weren't allowed in the dressing room and you weren't able to coach in the first year on the bench or near the team. Why was that? What was the reason for that?
00:05:56
Speaker
Because they didn't allow foreigners to sit on the bench. Really? Yeah, but then in the second year they allowed foreigners, but you had to work with the Italians. You had to sit on the bench with the Italian coach. Interesting. You know, before me it was Lidon. He is Swedish, but he didn't count as Swedish. He had all his life, a professional life in Italy, so he was Italian.
00:06:24
Speaker
Just to see, Italy hasn't changed much with these old rules. No, no, no, Italy is Italy. Yeah, it absolutely is. Okay, well, so moving on, after Roma, you took over at Fiorentina, where you coached the young Roberto Baggio. So I would like to know, what was it like coaching Baggio? And is he the best natural talent maybe that you coached in your career?
00:06:49
Speaker
For sure, it's one of the best. I had many. I had Wayne Rooney. He was not bad neither. But you know, you know, Badu was fantastic when he came. He came with coming back from a bad knee injury. So in the beginning of the first season there, he was not really ready. He played, but he didn't play well and he couldn't train 100%.
00:07:17
Speaker
But you could already see at that stage that this would be a big, big player. He had more or less everything as a football player. He had the vision. He scored goals, he made assists, he could dribble. And physically he was not a monster, but physically he was good. He was very strong, very, very strong legs. So he became better and better than I mean,
00:07:47
Speaker
second year we we reached europe and that was very much thanks to him and dong and borgonovo yeah he was my hero as a as a kid i i used to i used to have his yellow dia dora boots and i used to want to have his ponytail but my my mom wouldn't my mom wouldn't let me help okay well so after furantina you you returned to to benfica and uh and you enjoyed great success once again
00:08:14
Speaker
But for fans of Italian football, they most remember that spell at Benfica for the European Cup final in 1990, where you lost to Riko Saki's legendary Milan team, 1-0 in the final. What do you remember about that final? And is that Milan team maybe the best side that you ever faced in your career?
00:08:33
Speaker
Milan at that time was the best team in the world, the best club team in the world. No doubts about that. I mean, if you only take the four engines, Gulli, Thru, Gulli, Pambasta and Rekha, those, all over 190, all quick.
00:08:49
Speaker
good technique, extremely good football player. Then you end half of the Italian natural team, or more to that, with Barrese, Acosta, Colton, Maldini, Ancelote, Giovanni, Laimda. That was a great team, great, great team. So, with Benfica, we know that it would be extremely difficult to beat them. And it was. I think we did, we, Benfica, we did very well. We defended very well against them.
00:09:20
Speaker
But we couldn't get in behind Bariesi Kostakurta Maldini many times in 90 minutes. And you know how Milan with Saki they played. They played very, very short team. They played outside all the time, pressure on the ball. So it was very difficult to come in behind them. And we were not good enough to do that. We had maybe one chance in 90 minutes. But we lost one in Milan. Well, nothing to say about it. They were better than me.
Sampdoria and Team Building
00:09:48
Speaker
To move on a little bit further after that, you came back to Italy, you came back to Sampdoria in 1992, and I find that part of your career, maybe some of the most fascinating work you did in your career, mainly because of the limited resources you had with the Blue Czech Kjarti, and also the fact that you worked with Roberto Mancini and Sinisami Hailewicz, two players which you had a very close relationship
00:10:11
Speaker
moving forward. I'm keen to hear what your first impressions of them as people and players were, and how important do you think they were for the success you had later on in your career? Oh, it's a lot of things to say about that. You know, when I first heard from Sampdori, I was in Benfica. I got a phone call from someone. I don't think it was her owner, it was a vice-chairman, someone.
00:10:41
Speaker
And I was invited to Monte Carlo to have a talk about moving because my contract with Benfica finished. This was at the Eastern time before I started the work. I arrived there to a very nice hotel in Monte Carlo by private plane. And I met in that hotel, the owner, the president, Montavani, with two players, Mancini and Lialli.
00:11:11
Speaker
And I was surprised, what are they doing here? I thought, when you're going to negotiate with a new coach. And he presented himself, the chairman said, I have heard your name, he said, but I don't really know a lot of football. So I don't really know if you're good or not, he said. But these two guys here, probably you know them, he said.
00:11:38
Speaker
they have put into their head that the only codes they want for the next time, next years in Santori is you. So, that's why you are here, he said. So, I was chosen by Viale and Manchini, I would say. We made a contract and I stayed in Santori for five years. Unfortunately, before I started there, Mantovani phoned me and said,
00:12:07
Speaker
I cannot compete any longer with Milan, Juventus, and Italy, economically. So I had to sell Viale before you start, and he sold it to Juventus. So I never was a coach of Viale, even if he chose me.
Triumphs at Lazio
00:12:22
Speaker
That's a great choice. But yeah, it was a great time, because Sampdoria was a very familiar club. And we had good scouts, bought
00:12:36
Speaker
uh... young players like Karen Burr, Sidor Vedom who later became great, great football players among the best in the world. And as you said, Mancini, of course, Mancini, he was Sampdoria, he was coach, he was kitman, he was fixing the food. He did everything. He was a president as well, I think. And the captain, of course.
00:13:06
Speaker
And I met Mihailovic there, of course. Mihailovic was on loan from Roma, and he was a left winger. And after some months, I told him, Sinisa, you are not a winger. He said, you are a defender. I said, no. He said, I'm not a defender. So we started to put him as a left defender. But after a while, I said, no, Sinisa, you are a central defender. And he protested. He didn't want to play there.
00:13:37
Speaker
So after some weeks I forced him, you have to play that in another way on the bench. And he was furious. And he did the first game very, very well and then he became one of the best in the world. He came and hugged me after every goal he scored and that's the minimum he could do because I saved his football life economically and by years, by far.
00:14:07
Speaker
Well, these two players, of course, when I went to Lazio after that, these two, plus Sebastian, were on these three I wanted to take with me. Then, obviously, Lazio, as you mentioned, and the real golden age of your Italian career, where you won pretty much everything that was to win, and another UEFA Cup final, which you lost, but you won the Cup in this Cup after that.
00:14:33
Speaker
I mean, I mean, aside from his financial backing, what do you think was a secret to this fantastic success that you had at Lazio in Rome, a city that you see yourself earlier said today in this interview, you said that it's a very difficult place. It's a very it's a it's a pressure cooker. Pressure cooker. That's a good expression. Yeah. The secret, one of the secrets, as you said, was that
00:15:03
Speaker
between Craig Naughty and me we became professional friends but also personal friends and he did more or less everything I asked him to do by selling signori which was scandal according to the Italian media at that time by buying more or less every player I asked for
00:15:32
Speaker
He should have bought Mancini, Mihailovic and Ron the first year. I told him, buy these three plays and I guarantee you we win the league. He only bought Mancini and the second year he bought Mihailovic and third year he bought the Ron and then we won the league. So when we won the league, I told him you could have bought these two and we would have won three times.
00:16:07
Speaker
The only one he didn't buy, which I asked for, was Battistuta. And I can understand that he was extremely expensive, and he was not young at that time when he played for Fiorentina. But he bought Alas instead, so it was not bad. Were you close to buying Battistuta? Because obviously he was going to Roma. I wanted Battistuta before he went to Roma. But at the end he said, no mister, we will never get any kind of money back from that.
00:16:24
Speaker
At least at least it's enough with one.
00:16:38
Speaker
we found Salas and we bought him instead. Yeah and you won, you finished the in runners-up one year and then you won the year after that after the most dramatic, I mean if we talk about dramatic scudetto deciders, you've against Perugia away, you winning in Rome that night, I mean it must have been crazy, I mean have you got any great stories to tell us from the celebrations that night because it must have been mad. The celebration was great but before that when you
00:17:06
Speaker
you finish your own game and you have done what you should do to be able to win the league and it fell off game and finished. And then you sitting in the dressing room and I remember no player took the shower, no player changed position. They were sitting, just sitting for 45, 50 minutes waiting for the game in Parucha to finish. Parucha
00:17:32
Speaker
Juventus and it was stopped because of the heavy heavy rain coming and that's a very particular way to win the title because you sitting I couldn't sit I was moving all the time and and you cannot do anything you can only pray if you want and hoping that Juventus will not score Perugia had scored and
00:17:59
Speaker
And that's what happened, but there were a long 45 minutes, extremely long, the longest in my life, I think. But it's beautiful because I think the whole 70,000 at the study Olympics stayed, more or less all of them, for extra 45 minutes to wait and see what happened in Palucha. And when it was clear that we had won the league, that was a big party.
00:18:30
Speaker
Jews and half of the city, not the whole city, because half of Roma got crazy, absolutely crazy. And I lived in the center of the city and I should go home after hours. And it was impossible. And they recognized me. I had a Volvo and
00:18:49
Speaker
often the traffic and I think 10 people, fans were on the roof of the Volvo. The police had to come and take the Volvo and take me by a police car. Yeah, it was scary but it was great and I think we deserved to win
00:19:13
Speaker
the league, and we should have won it one year before. We didn't, but as Cranotti said, once it's okay.
England Manager Challenges
00:19:23
Speaker
Well, it was certainly an amazing achievement, and after Lazio you went to take over as the manager of England, and they were in a crisis when you, I remember it well, struggling to qualify for the World Cup.
00:19:37
Speaker
And you immediately turn their fortunes around. You thrashed Germany 5-1 in Munich, which is a historic result. And then in the 2002 World Cup, got to the quarterfinals and only went out to that Ronaldinho goal, which was a bizarre goal, lobbing David Seaman from miles out. What do you remember about that game? And more importantly, I'd like to know, do you think Ronaldinho meant that, or was it a fluke?
00:20:03
Speaker
Every time I met Ronaldinho after that goal and think for years in different locations, football locations, I always told him, you didn't mean to score from there. And he always told me, yes, Mr. I don't believe you. You're a liar. No, no, no, no, no. He said, oh, of course he didn't want to score from there. That's impossible. And yeah, what I remember from that game
00:20:32
Speaker
We started very well, scored 1-0 and just one minute before half-time they scored in the counter-attack. We lost the ball, we could have won it back once, twice in midfield. We didn't and they scored 1-1. Then they scored 2-1 and they got one man sent off as well. So especially what I remember was when they had 10 men and they didn't need to score a goal and we in 11, we couldn't take the ball from them.
00:21:02
Speaker
I was criticized the whole team, but I especially was criticized in England said, why didn't you attack more? I said, bloody hand to attack. You have to have the ball. And if you can't win it from them, they, I mean, technically they, they were the best team and they were overhead, the best team and they won the World Cup. But
00:21:28
Speaker
When they just went on to keep possession, it was very, very difficult to get the ball from them. And we had to run from right to left, they changed side. And we got very, very tired. And when we got it, we didn't have the force to attack as good as we should have done. But looking at that game, same day, we lost it. And even today, Brazil were better than we. They deserved to win, and that's it.
00:21:59
Speaker
And you were unlucky with England. I mean, you lost on penalties in Euro 2004 and then again at World Cup 2006 in your last match against Portugal, which is a game that's famous for the Rooney red card and then Ronaldo's wink to the sidelines. I mean, you obviously, everybody knows you to be a very calm, to have been a calm coach, a calm man, a gentleman.
00:22:24
Speaker
what are you a part of you must be a little bit unhappy with the role that say ronaldo played in in the room sending off. What ronaldo was smarter than me but he was old as well so more experience but what i really regret regret what i
00:22:44
Speaker
difficult to accept is that 2006, I think there were no better teams than England in the World Cup. I won't say we were the best, but there were no better teams. Italy won it, but they didn't play brilliant football. Spain hasn't come to become the great team they were. Later, Germany was so-and-so, Brazil, so-and-so. No, I thought, and I think the players as well, they thought that we could reach the final 2006.
00:23:12
Speaker
And then once again penalty shootouts and of course you talk about luck. We are not very lucky because in that game we played one hour with the 10 men against the 11. And we created chances against them and could have scored that.
00:23:29
Speaker
At the end it became as it became and what I regret there is that I didn't take in a mental coach or penalty shootout. I should have done that. But I thought the team I had was very experienced with Lampard, Jeddah, Beckham and so on and so on. But no.
00:23:46
Speaker
we came to penalties and we think I should have taken a mental coach for that and maybe the result would have been different, maybe the same, who knows. I just wanted to quickly ask you, speaking of Gerard and Lampard, that never-ending debate about whether they could play together or not, I've heard you say that you think they can play together and I kind of agree with that, but why don't you think it worked any better?
00:24:11
Speaker
When you say that, I will put the question to you, the same question as I sometimes put to the to the thermalist at that time. Okay, you have Beckham, you have Lampard, you have Jedard and you have Skolz. You tell me, who do you put on the bench and who do you take in? That's a good question. Well, if you couldn't put any one of them on the bench and no one
00:24:38
Speaker
from the bench would even be close to the quality. These four players had different kind of qualities, but so that was for me, not even, I didn't even think about putting out one of them. Absolutely not. And for me, they could play together. And I mean, that they played, it was not the reason why we didn't win the World Cup, for sure. Final question on England. Looking back at your legacy,
00:25:06
Speaker
Do you do you feel you were treated a little bit unfairly by the British by the British press? And and to follow up on that, how would you compare the British press to the to the Italian press? Because they're very, very different. Of course, I was not fairly treated by the English press, but also by the English, I think, because I was sacked because the fake shake in what they said at the end.
00:25:32
Speaker
I was not sacked because football reasons and the making up all that story was news of the world. And that was before World Cup 2006. So they did it on purpose, of course, because they didn't care about England and the World Cup. They wanted to sell and they wanted to scandal. And they knew that they wrote
00:25:57
Speaker
bad things and not true things and later on a year after I won in the tribunal against them and I got right and I got wrong but that was too late.
00:26:10
Speaker
But my big disappointment was that I was sacked by the FAA and I told the people in the FAA, so you are the same as news of the world. You let news of the world run the country and you
00:26:28
Speaker
You allow them to run the FA as well, because you know it's not true. It was a chance to sack me. I would have accepted to be sacked after last game in Germany against Portugal, because we didn't reach semi-final or final. That would have been better, because that would have been football reasons. At that time, they would have sacked me.
00:26:48
Speaker
Because at that time, Porto Final was not good enough for the press or for the fans or for anyone. They wanted more. And we also saw what happened to the news the world after. They closed down, they hacked phones.
00:27:04
Speaker
Yeah, the legal stuff. Yeah, no, but I mean, how they treated a lot of people, I suppose, I mean, yeah, putting out a lot of money costing them for making up the story. And then they destroyed a lot of lives. They've destroyed a lot of a lot of a lot of people's lives. And they, they listening to your mobile phone for years. That's, that's not fair. Of course, it's not. But anyhow, life goes on. And that's,
00:27:32
Speaker
That was England, and I don't know if it's the same today, maybe. But if you compare that to the Italian press, how would you? No, the Italian press, they couldn't care about your private lives. And they would never, ever try to make your private life difficult to have a story. No, no, no, no. If you lose football games in Italy, they kill you. But that's fair, because that's my job.
00:28:02
Speaker
That's my professional job. If I don't do a good job, kill me then. But you could do whatever you wanted in your private life and no one would care about that. Absolutely. That's a big, big difference. He had done a lot in his private life.
00:28:18
Speaker
He certainly has. I wanted to ask you a little bit general about this Italian team. You're Roberto Mancini, you're the guy who was part of choosing EuroSantoria and portfolio Lazio. He's had a really good managerial career now and this Italian side that he's in charge of is looking really, really exciting. How well do you think they can do at the Euros?
00:28:40
Speaker
Well, I saw part of the games, the game they played against, who was it? Against Holland. They played 1-1-0, and I think they did very, very well. I've seen some other games as well, and Bancini is doing a great job, and I think he hasn't lost one game so far in the qualification rounds and things for the next Giro, it is. Well, it might be time for Italy again in the next big tournament. I wouldn't be surprised, and you know,
00:29:10
Speaker
Italy normally they defend extremely well. They are very professional. They are also a little bit dirty if it's necessary. But they can defend one against one and as a collective. And then if they found, if they can find the gold scorers, gold scorers, they are very dangerous. So they have now the lads who sent them forward and he's scoring goals for fun. So who knows?
00:29:38
Speaker
And that banjini would be a great coach. I was sure about that because he lives on football. He thinks football, he dreams football, and he's doing everything. As I said, well, in Samtoria, he was Samtoria. And to have him on the pitch or in the dressing room, it's always, he always wanted
00:30:07
Speaker
the best for the players and for the team, if it was Santoria or when he came to Latvia, they say, and he wanted to win. I just, you know, being an Interista and also being from Sweden, I have a quick question here. How close were you to taking over the Swedish national team? And also, is there any truth
00:30:28
Speaker
that you were close to taking over Inter at some point in 2010 when Mourinho left? Because there were rumours of this. No, Inter, no. I didn't have any... I had the possibilities to go to Inter when I was in Benfica in my second spell the year before I arrived to San Toria. Then I had Benfica didn't let me go. Sweden, yes, it was close once when that must have been 2008, 2009 when they changed coach.
00:30:58
Speaker
But I have just signed another contract with another club so I could do it. But at that time, I should have done it.
00:31:07
Speaker
But I agree. I think you could have worked wonders with that generation of players, to be honest. I think you could do that now. I think I'm the only one, one of the few people who wants you to take over the Swedish national team now. Thank you. Right. Speaking of Sweden, I mean, your strengths as a coach has always been to build a team out of strong individuals. Glenn Sternberg spoke of this, of having him as a coach. This is your ability to build
00:31:30
Speaker
And also Vieri, Christian Vieri saying you're the best coach he ever had, your ability to build a team out of strong individuals. Yeah, I've seen him say that. And in Sweden, there's been this debate that the Swedish national team was a better team without Slatin Ibrahimovic, who's a strong individual technical player. What are your thoughts on that whole debate? Do you think Sweden are better without him or are better without him? Well, that's very, very delicate.
00:32:00
Speaker
Sweden has been successful, you could say, during the last years. And they have a collective team. They defend extremely well in the set pieces and in the open game. And they work extremely hard. If you take the strikers during the last Toivonen and Beri, the last tournament, they were defenders and attackers.
00:32:28
Speaker
And now Torben is away, but the other one, he runs the whole day. But you have always a bat. You don't have a Messi. You don't have a Ronaldo. You don't have a Slaton. You don't have a John Valley. You don't have a Broly. If you talk about Swedish football in the team, you don't have that guy who can take the ball and dribble.
00:32:54
Speaker
once, twice, and put the ball in the net easily by himself. Because Sweden, it's collective work, hard work, good work, and they do it brilliant. So I can understand the coach. If he wants to play like that and be very democratic on the field, everyone's running like hell, you cannot take in Slaton. Because Slaton, I don't know if he can, but he would do that.
00:33:23
Speaker
wouldn't run like in Marcus Perry. That's impossible. But probably would score goals. And so it's, well, it's very difficult to say what's right, what's wrong. But Slaton is one of those players who can score a goal by himself. In Sweden, we really don't have
00:33:45
Speaker
those kind of players. He's coming, an interesting one now. He signed for Juventus. I think he will, he's only 19, 20, I think. I think he has something who can do things for himself. He can decide a game for himself. And Sweden needs that. And Sweden always had that. But recently, no, we don't.
00:34:09
Speaker
But anyhow, you cannot complain on the results. Jan Andersson, the coach, has done. You cannot do that. I mean, speaking of Dejan Koulousevsky and Jan Andersson and Slaton, recently, as I'm sure you're aware, I mean, in January, Slaton Ibrahimovic implied very strongly that Jan Andersson had
00:34:27
Speaker
wasn't choosing players with an immigrant background. And then earlier this week, when we're recording this on the 10th of September, earlier within the last week, Slaton went out on Twitter, harshly criticizing Jan Anderson, saying it's further proof, you know, Kielosefsky not starting against France was further proof of racial bias, implying that strongly. I mean, what are your thoughts on that whole debate? What do you think is going on here?
Sweden's Strategy and Player Insights
00:34:55
Speaker
debate. I don't think it has nothing to do with racism or things like that, absolutely not. I know Jan Anders from a little bit and no, no, it's not that. I think it's more about his philosophy that he trusts the players he had for many years and he's very loyal to them and they are very loyal to the Swedish national team and to him.
00:35:16
Speaker
As I told you, tactically, physically, all those players who play for Sweden, tactically and physically, it's very important that they do the job, that they know how to do the job. I know Basie is playing normally from start, they know it, and they do it. You can be sure that they do it if you wake them up in the middle of the night.
00:35:37
Speaker
I know what I will do on the pitch defending and attacking for sure. Yeah, I completely agree. So last question here is fun. And again, thank you so so much for your time. It is. This has been great. We we truly, truly appreciate it. So our final question comes from our patron Luca over at Patreon, and I will bring him on now to let him ask you.
00:35:59
Speaker
Hello Sven, my name is Luca Criscuolo. During your career you coached some legendary Italians such as Roberto Mancini, Bobo Vieri, Roberto Baggio and a whole host of others. Of the Italians you've coached, which of these players do you think would have a spot in your England team and how would they fit in? If you have Baggio Mancini next time, that's difficult to put anyone on the bench. Baggio will score, Mancini will create things which nobody
00:36:28
Speaker
else normally could do. And Nesta is a defender. Well, John Terry or you've heard Nesta, I don't know. You have to play three central defenders, I think. If you talk about these three players, they could play in any team when they were at their best. Absolutely, they could. And they did.
00:36:47
Speaker
And just to finish off, just for a bit of fun, we'd like to play a quick game with you. It's a rapid fire game. So basically what I'm going to do is I'm going to go through a very quick list and give you two options. And you have to tell us which of the two you like better. So to start off, are you Messi or Maradona? Maradona. Maradona. So Latin or Van Basten? Slatan because I'm Swedish. Good answer. Roma or Lazio? Lazio.
00:37:17
Speaker
Gerardo Lampard or Skulls. That's a draw, that's a draw. Pizza or pasta? Pasta. Sophia Loren or Anita Ekberg? Sophia Loren, the most beautiful woman in the world at that time. I agree. Nadal or Federer? I know Federer a little bit, so Federer. Finally, who's going to win the Scudetto this season?
00:37:43
Speaker
It's easy to say Juventus. Hopefully Lazio, because Lazio, before the Coronavirus, they were playing the best football. They played better than Inter and better than Juventus. But after the Coronavirus, I don't know what happened with Lazio. They lost everything. Next season, no Coronavirus, Lazio. And they're coached by one of your former players, Simon Inzaghi, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Fantastic.
00:38:09
Speaker
What does the future hold for you now? I mean, we're hearing that you might be taking over national teams. What's happening? What can you tell us? Nothing. It's a lot of rumors, a lot of contacts with agents, some pre-contracts going here and there. No, I don't know. And it's always like that when jobs coming up, agents contacts all the manager's coaches who's out of work. So I know that I'm not the only one they contact.
00:38:38
Speaker
it's a long long list so no nothing so far nothing would you be open to returning to italy yes but that would not happen you know i left italy 2000 2000 yeah 2000 2001 so that will not happen but yes of course i would and i think italian football is getting better and better italian football when i was there during the 90s the best best football in the world then primarily
00:39:07
Speaker
to go over and probably Premier League is the best football in the world today, the best league. But I think Italy is on the way back, which will be very good. Yeah, that's something we all hope for. I'm sure most of us would love to see the city out return to even halfway to what it was in the 90s for those of us who remember. So I completely agree with you. Sven, this has been amazing. You've had an incredible career and it was absolutely fascinating.
00:39:34
Speaker
to have you share it with us. You have been far too kind with your time. We greatly, greatly
Closing Remarks
00:39:39
Speaker
appreciate it. Thank you so, so much. Please stay safe. And everyone again, thank you so, so much for listening to the Italian football podcast. Again, if you would like to get all of the episodes, patreon.com slash T I F P. So thank you all so, so much for listening. And until we talk again next time. Bye bye.