All these years he has been sustained by his faith. The link between football and God was forged early, when, as the youngest son of a Roman butcher, he was allowed to play on the church pitch after services. ‘Before, the Mass,’ he says. ‘After, you go there [and have] the biscuit, play.’ Laughing now, he adds, ‘Without the Mass, you don’t play.’
Patron saint of lost causes
He remains a devout Catholic, telling me he goes to church as often as he can. ‘I am very close to God. I speak with him.’ He prays every night – and during the day, too. ‘If you can help me, thank you,’ he tells God. ‘If I don’t deserve, OK, thank you the same.’
Other times, he says, ‘I want to live but give me the strength to keep all this stress, [to meet] everything with a smile… Give me the right balance.’ Now that he has won the league, he tells me, he has thanked God ‘a lot of times’.