Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Italian football podcast.
Speaker: Just to finish off, Giorgio Chiellini, let's pay tribute to Giorgio Chiellini who announced his retirement from football on Tuesday. He has of course spent the last two seasons at LAFC and he announced his retirement after LAFC lost the MLS Cup Final on Saturday. So from a Juventus point of view, this is somebody who is a Juventus legend, a symbol of Juventus, 18 years at Juventus.
Speaker: 561 appearances, the third most appearances in Juventus history, only behind Alessandro De Piero and Gigi Buffon.
Speaker: Trophies incredible trophy hall nine Serie A titles five coppertalliers five super cups roots the Champions League final twice 19 trophies in total for your events has only performed has won More trophies for you they say he is a uv legend. He's a complete uv legend. He will be remembered as a world -class defender one of the best offenders in the world for for a decade or more one of the best offenders of his generation in the world and
Speaker: a fierce competitor, aggressive, physically strong, you know, brave, brilliant tack club, brilliant positionally and tactically, outstanding in the air. He scored over 50 goals in his career, which is actually pretty impressive, I think, for a centre -back.
Speaker: Also, and I think he never got enough credit for this, deceptively good on the ball. He was very good at breaking the press with a little burst up the pitch, even though he was sometimes come across as a bit awkward, technically, and even joked about that himself. But he made that little burst, that little break out from the press, which is so important, even in modern football. So I think he's deceptively good in that way on the ball.
Speaker: But certainly, and I know you love this about Himnimo, is that he's an old -school defender. He's probably the last real old -school Italian defender, isn't he really? Yeah, he is. He's the old, of the old mold. We don't see any of that.
Speaker: Yeah, with the Gentiles, the Ferrara, Cannavaro, those kind of, they loved defending. He loved defending. I mean, the way that he would celebrate tackles like scoring a goal, you know, the way, remember the way he celebrated that tackle in the dying minutes when Juventus knocked out Tottenham in the Champions League, maybe it was 2018.
Speaker: For me, the hooking of Bukayo Saka is just the most quintessentially Giorgio Cellini thing. For me, that's just his career. Knowing what to do to stop a goal, get a yellow card and take one for the team is just... I just love that. That is iconic.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely. He wasn't a dirty player. No, no, he wasn't dirty. For me, dirty is what Mourinho and Mancini are, you know, at Roma, not right now. And Mourinho never used to be dirty. Now, his Roma are a dirty side, because he's completely mentally destabilised that club, and the squad.
Speaker: But Carini was never dirty. He was hard. He played like a cherubee's doing now, just on the limit. That's not be playing dirty. That's just the dark arts to
Speaker: to pay tribute to our Primface friends that they love to use. That is different. That's different. Dirty people. But Man Marker, I mean a fantastic Man Marker, but again you don't get Man Markers really in the, I mean the Chubby's a good, maybe the Chubby's the last one actually, but yeah. But Kilini, I mean,
Speaker: a man marker in an age of zonal marking. I mean, he just don't get man markers anymore today. And I mean, he had some great battles against some, some great attackers. I mean, Zlatan Irimovic, I mean, I think he was Zlatan's bogeyman. Zlatan rarely, if ever, got the better of him. He would always seem to do brilliantism. Luis Suarez, of course, that famous Biden incident.
Speaker: Yeah, he knew all the tricks in the book, like you said. And he was a winner as well. He was a winner and he was a leader. I mean, one of the best leaders of his generation. I mean, he embodied everything about what it meant to be a leader, what to be a captain. And he was a warrior on the pitch. And he's somebody that you said about Calabria earlier in the show about what it means to be a captain. I mean,
Speaker: You had Keilini as your captain, you would stand by and you would die for him in battle. I mean, he led by example. But also of his class off the pitch as well. I mean, on the pitch, you know, I think sometimes he can be mistaken for being this kind of hard man brute who had this mentality, which I guess is true in some facets, as you just explained, but
Speaker: Let me tell you from experience, he is one of the good guys in football. I mean, off the pitch, he was such a lovely person or is such a lovely person. He's so generous with fans, with the media. I mean, I can't remember covering Tottenham vs Juventus game a few years ago and Tottenham won the game. And after the game, he spent 30 minutes, probably more than 30 minutes with the media, with the fans, just talking to them, laid back, smile on his face, so relaxed.
Speaker: and you know this is a game you guys are just lost and he I mean he was he was such a lovely such a lovely person so generous but he also believed that what happened on the pitch should stay on the pitch and
Speaker: I just remember how he behaved after Luis Suarez bit him, infamously. I mean, he said after that game that Suarez, you know, he called for Suarez not to be punished and for this big campaign that was against Suarez, and obviously he got a long ban, didn't he, for that Suarez. And he was saying that, you know, let's not all punish him like we are and victimize him. You know, he said he understood it. And this was despite Italy being knocked out.
Speaker: because of it. I mean, Swari should have been sent off. Uruguay should have gone down to 10 men. Italy qualify from the group and go through to the last 16 in that World Cup.
Speaker: Well, this is what I mean about respecting your opponents in Italian football. This is something that I absolutely love about Italian football, to tie back what I said. There's a lot of madness, there's a lot of stupidity, but overall, you always respect your opponent. What happens on the pitch stays on the pitch. You don't take it too far. You show grace in victory and defeat.
Speaker: You know, and that's that's why I feel that how I feel about Keilini off the pitch was exactly that a gentleman, a very, very classy guy. So no, he is one of the great ambassador for Juventus and for Italian football. And, you know, the best
Speaker: The best Italian and Serie A defender, I think, has to be over the last 15 years. I mean, since the Canavaro, Nesta, Zanetti, Turram, Maldini generation, I don't think... I think, by the style, he gives them a run for his money. But I would probably agree that in terms of Italian defenders, it's difficult to argue with that.
Speaker: Well, I think Italian and Serie A. I mean, he was he was named three times. He was three times Serie A defender of the year before the award was scrapped in 2011. And then since then, he was in Serie A team of the season five times after that. So we let's say eight times. He was eight years. He was in the Serie A team of the season. I mean, no one's no one else is going to be. I mean, Kula Bali, I guess, was fantastic. Kula Bali, Kim and Jay. Yeah, Kim and Jay, one year. And we're talking about, you
Speaker: It depends on how long you want to go. But if you look at his career and how during his peak, you're probably right. I think Balzali year. Over a long period, yes. I think there's no doubt. If you want to narrow it down to who was the best at their peak, then yeah, there's more of a debate over a shorter period. I mean, Tiago Silva was great. Walter Samuel, fantastic.
Speaker: probably going a little bit further back with Samuel aren't you but yeah the last kind of let's say 10 years or 12 to 15 years and of course Italy legend an Italy legend yes no doubt 117 caps fifth most in the history of the Italy national team played in two World Cups four euros and of course gave us that crowning moment he captained Italy to win euro 2020 the age of nearly 37 and
Speaker: was absolutely brilliant in that tournament, especially in the knockouts, the wins against Belgium, Spain and England. And so many iconic moments in that tournament, one in particular, which you've mentioned, putting the sack back. But I mean, I love the mind games of Jordi Alba, the penalty shoot out toss up. I thought that was great.
Speaker: And he's one of those players that kind of it was great to see him win that tournament because he'd never won one of the, you know, like the major, major continental tournament, you know, whether it's a World Cup, a Euro or a Champions League. You always feel a bit sorry when there's a great legendary player that doesn't win one of those three. And obviously he failed to win two Champions Leagues with Juventus. And obviously there was no chance of winning a World Cup with Italy being in the World Cup. But so it was lovely to see him win it. And
Speaker: Of course, the legendary partnership with Benucci, the BBC with Bazzali and performed behind them. I mean, those four did so many great things together. And of course, went close to winning Euro 2012 and excelled at Euro 2016. I think the one regret, as with all Italians, is the World Cup performances during Killini's career. Not him, but Italy. I mean, two failed World Cup qualifications in a row.
Speaker: It's funny that how Verratti and him, and Marchesio to a certain extent as well, like three fantastic talents, world -class players, who played in Italy during the Italian national teams, probably darkest days.
Speaker: And of course, Varati and Killini were able to win something and salvage something from winning the Euros. But it's interesting. It's interesting. No, absolutely. Legendary career. And we see what happens soon next. I think he'll return to Juventus. I think that's a guarantee soon. Pretty soon, I would say.
Speaker: Yeah, I think within the next year or two, I think you'll be back at your Venice in a director role or ambassador or not ambassador role, more important role than that. Yeah, I think he's if you're going to build a new UVA with somebody who people respect and also is a nice guy. I think he's almost a shoe in to work for UVA, this new UVA, no doubt. Yeah.
Speaker: I think that's an absolute guarantee and it's what he wants as well. He said that in an interview in which he also said that West Ham were better than anyone else. We'll let him off. We all have our off days. We'll let him off for that. We'll let him off for that. Okay, right. God, we can't make him prim face for the week, can we? We can. We absolutely can, but we won't do it on the week where he retires. Yeah, we won't. Right.
