Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 As soon as Marco Sportiello opens his mouth, the feeling is strong and clear, clear and clear.
00:08 He, Marco, does not speak, as in the national and international media of the football population.
00:14 Often, in fact, the language of today's football tends to appear in fact quite pre-conceived,
00:19 in a certain sense normalized, lyophilized, almost standard.
00:24 In extreme summary, what must be said must be said, without excess,
00:28 in the face of a thousand variables and many subtle balances.
00:31 Technical, economic, media, social, whoever has more, puts more.
00:36 Marco does not. Marco speaks. Marco opens.
00:40 With his pasta, with his indole, Marco tells, tells and still tells.
00:47 You can read it in his eyes, his good fire inside,
00:51 his natural tendency to share, to explain, to thank for every question,
00:55 to thank for the attention.
00:57 Because every question lights his matches in his memory
01:01 and pokes on the keys of his strings.
01:04 He is a goalkeeper, among important poles, in historical stadiums,
01:08 but deep down he remains and proposes himself as the goalkeeper of the door next door.
01:13 You could easily talk to him in the supermarket, in front of the shopping cart,
01:17 in the same way he candidly admits, in front of the cupboards and microphones,
01:22 what he felt when he realized that it would have happened, that in Milan he would have really made it.
01:28 It's the last step of my career, so for me it's really a dream,
01:32 in fact I still have a long way to go, even if I knew a little about my change.
01:38 I think I've matured a lot, especially in the last three years,
01:44 so I think it was the right time.
01:48 I think I'm not excellent in many technical qualities,
01:55 but I think I have other values.
01:59 I played for the Gavetta, I didn't play for the Primavera,
02:03 I played for Serie D, I played for the C2, the C1, I didn't play for the B,
02:09 then I went to Serie A, I went back to Bergamo,
02:12 and I brought these values with me, which no one has ever given me,
02:19 I conquered everything step by step,
02:22 and then for me it was a dream to get to Serie A,
02:28 and being there for almost the tenth consecutive year is a great reason for pride.
02:36 Born in Desio in July 1992, Sportiello is one of the number one,
02:42 forged by a true master of goalkeepers, Massimo Biffi,
02:46 an instructor who has also been called the "king of goalkeepers",
02:50 the "artifact of the miracle of the tradition of Atalantini goalkeepers".
02:55 Without ever wanting to appear like a guru,
02:58 but simply with his desire to work and do well,
03:01 without particular secrets,
03:03 he started an important career from the late 90s to today's talents like
03:08 Ivan Pellizzoli and Michael Agazzi, also the "Rossonero",
03:12 but also Andrea Consigli, Vito Mannone, Simone Colombi,
03:17 in short, the many extreme defenders who, right from Bergamo,
03:21 took off and set themselves to the attention of Serie A and the top European leagues.
03:26 A great Milan fan in his youth,
03:28 raised in the cult of Sebastiano Rossi and Cristian Abbiati,
03:31 Sportiello was caught very young by Atalanta,
03:34 who had been coaching him since he was a child, at the age of 7,
03:38 since he then carried out the entire youth line,
03:40 growing and refining, technique, physical,
03:43 and a great security between the poles and in leading the squad.
03:47 Although Sportiello's story is not and cannot be only technical,
03:51 there are some threads of fate that bind him to a giant of Italian football like Davide Astori.
03:57 The defender of the smile and the class was from San Pellegrino Terme, in Bergamasca,
04:02 and Sportiello played for Atalanta.
04:04 Davide started with the "Rossoneri" youths,
04:07 and Sportiello arrived in Milan, and Davide and Marco
04:10 were teammates in Fiorentina 2017/18, coached by Stefano Pioli.
04:16 With the coach we had a very bad experience,
04:19 but it's true that I did the same as all the youths.
04:23 He's a person I always carry inside,
04:27 because we've been together for almost a year.
04:32 He taught me a lot, because he was a guy who knew how to tell you things at the right time,
04:41 because we were a very young team, he was the captain,
04:44 and he knew how to take you in the right way.
04:47 I had the chance to meet his family, his great family,
04:54 and he's a person I'll carry inside, and I think the coach too.
05:00 I think the coach, and I'm saying this from my side,
05:06 has this bond with us for the year we've spent together,
05:10 for the experience we've had,
05:13 and I'm happy to be working with him again.
05:17 Not only football, but a lot of sensitivity from Marco Sportiello, a lot of life.
05:22 How he knows how to pass on the steps of the classic "gavetta",
05:26 he's taken them one by one, each with the right times,
05:29 without forcing and without cheating.
05:32 In 2010, in agreement with young agent Dario Paolillo,
05:36 Marco Sportiello himself had decided to leave his Atalanta
05:39 to face the pressure of the first team.
05:43 With that choice, a sort of mini-tour of Italy begins,
05:46 which starts from Seregno, where he brings together 28 appearances,
05:50 and he shines as one of the youngest,
05:53 most promising of the Lombardy's youth scene, and not only.
05:57 In 2011, the Bergamasca's queen sends him to Poggi Bonsi,
06:02 in the second division, where he contributes to the promotion of the Tuscans
06:05 in the first division, with his saves and his interventions,
06:09 always safe, always tempestuous.
06:11 At the end of that season, the Bergamasca's rescue the second half
06:14 of Sportiello's poster and they lend it to the Carpi in the first division,
06:18 where he gets the second promotion in two years.
06:21 31 nets suffered in 34 matches played, and hitting everyone for the cold,
06:25 especially in the very tight play-off against Lecce.
06:29 Since then, it's escalation.
06:32 It's a season that started very well, but it put him in the middle of the road,
06:36 when, due to an injury to his shoulder, he couldn't be present
06:40 in a Milan-Juventus match played by San Siro sold out,
06:43 which seemed to be all for him.
06:46 He, Marco, Antonio Mirante, Mike Mignan, a team of skilled and mature goalkeepers,
06:52 with Sportiello, who perfectly guessed Mike Mignan's class and qualities
06:57 from the first time he saw him as an opponent.
07:00 Sportiello was on the bench and Mike's Milan won 3-2 in Bergamo,
07:04 at the beginning of October 2021.
07:06 When he arrived two years ago, I told the coach that he was a very good goalkeeper.
07:11 I think he was a really good goalkeeper.
07:13 After Donna Roma, it's hard to replace such an important goalkeeper.
07:21 I told him right away that, I don't want to say it louder,
07:26 but this is a very important goalkeeper.
07:30 He confirmed this to me, obviously, because he's in everyone's eyes.
07:37 But I don't think he's there.
07:39 I've always adapted to everyone, I've always found myself very good.
07:45 Even if I'm 31 years old, I'm not very young,
07:52 but I think I can learn a lot from him and that's what I want to do.
07:57 He's a goalkeeper who respects me, I'm a bit old-school.
08:04 He's a very modern goalkeeper, very different from the others.
08:10 I want to try to steal his things.
08:16 I have my own characteristics, I have to do what I can do,
08:21 I can't do what he does.
08:23 I don't have to make this mistake, because he's him and I'm me.
08:28 But I want to try to steal something from him to learn.
08:33 (upbeat music)