The parable of a predestined
Freedom, impossible in today’s cages, is the strength of Mancini’s story and of this book that knows how to grasp it in the folds of goals and also of violent quarrels: “At 16 he flew on the counterattack, at 26 he dosed his lunges to place them in the most important moments, at 36 he didn’t have even one left, in a football already accustomed to other rhythms, but he knew how to take the time of a defender, deceive him, deceive with a heel a whole crowd of men intent on stopping him ». Blinding beauty enlivened by a thinking personality (how many athletes are?) But clouded by many shadows: the little blue dressed in career or the very left-handed moments of anger and “in those outbursts of anger, in the cursing for a wrong passage or for a unwelcome whistle, the fan found a profoundly human trait despite having to recognize how inhuman talent was. Mancini was at the same time sacred and profane, unattainable, yet so close ».
The Sampd’oro and the twins of the goal
Genoa loves him and that love is the fire that makes him dance, making fun of time, until the Wembley final lost in extra time in May 1992 against Barcelona: at the final whistle Mancini sits in midfield and cries. Sampd’oro ends that night and so does the age of innocence.
Mantovani dies, Sampdoria is in disarmament, Vialli goes to Juve and Mancini to Lazio, where he is practically omnipotent and scores one of the most imaginative goals in our football in Parma-Lazio in 1999. He leaves by winning the Scudetto and the Italian Cup. From the pitch to the bench of the biancocelesti he creates a beautiful Lazio, at times irresistible. He moved to Fiorentina and then to Inter, becoming a football teacher rather than a manager. The four seasons at Manchester City make him international, with that Scudetto won in the 92nd minute thanks to a goal from Sergio Agüero. Then, Galatasaray, again Inter and Zenit St. Petersburg, until the call in blue, he who often felt opposed by the blue.
On the blue bench
In Coverciano he rebuilds a family: «What made the difference was once again the value of the bonds built on the journey that led him from Jesi to the most coveted bench in Italy. They are all there, always friends: in the staff, together with Vialli, there are Fausto Salsano, Attilio Lombardo, Giulio Nuciari and Massimo Battara ».
The European is here and now, the blue, like the sea of Genoa, shines before Mancini’s eyes: «Roberto is the captain, the leader – remembers his friend and partner Siniša Mihajlović -. At Sampdoria he did everything: the president, the coach, the player, the fan and the pain in the ass ».