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Bernardo Corradi: Dr Bernardo
Bernardo Corradi’s career unexpectedly stalled last season following a move to Valencia. Yet he’s now back in Italy with the intention of re-finding the form which earned him international recognition. Dominique Antognoni exclusively talks to the Parma striker about the past, the present and the future
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Bernardo, you’ve just arrived in the provinces after recently playing in the Champions League and for Italy. How does that feel?
Parma were my first choice after I decided to come and play my football here again. I started last season really well by lifting the European Super Cup. However, things became difficult at Valencia and I opted to leave. I missed Italy and our style of football. I’m well aware that I’m not playing in European competition, but that is fine with me for the time being.
When you take a backwards step like this, do you fear losing motivation given that there is the risk of taking it too easy?
It depends how you live with football. I have great passion for this sport. Why wouldn’t I feel motivated here?
Because you are no longer with a great club. A player of your calibre could just content himself with playing each week after enduring the season you had at Valencia. With that in mind, is it better to be a reserve at a big club or playing each week for a mid-table club?
When you play for a side like Juventus, Milan and Inter, you still feel like a protagonist when fighting for honours such as Serie A and the Champions League. At smaller clubs, it is unimportant how many games you play. The key factor is how you are treated, whether people consider you as important or just one of the squad.
What went wrong at Valencia?
I now have a clearer understanding of what happened after a couple of months away from Spain. There were four of us who went there last summer, all Italians in the shape of Stefano Fiore, Marco Di Vaio, Emiliano Moretti and myself. We were all international players too as Emiliano was an Under-21 regular. Given that the Coach was also Italian, you can imagine that the others there thought that Claudio Ranieri would just pick his countrymen. That created an atmosphere against us, especially as the nucleus of the side hadn’t previously changed for three years in which they had won two League titles and a UEFA Cup. It wasn’t just me who endured problems. Fiore and Di Vaio found it tough, which is why Stefano has already returned to Italy with Fiorentina and Marco can’t wait to follow. We all suffered and lost our national places as a result.
Was it not possible to stay? After all, many people take their time to settle before making amends.
Absolutely not. Valencia had already signed a few other forwards. They made their decision and I made mine.
Was there anything positive about your year at Valencia?
The city, the fans and Spanish football itself.
Who was the best player you saw while over there?
Vicente, even if I doubt that he will ever come and play his football in Italy. Our championship is a hard one and Spaniards tend to struggle. Therefore they rightly decide to continue to work where they do their best. It is only logical.
Which player would you most like to star alongside?
Zinedine Zidane without a shadow of a doubt. He is sensational when he starts doing his pirouettes in the middle of the pitch, as he is when he dribbles and delivers passes in the right places. He’s immense.
What are your aims for this season?
To primarily remain fit and play well. I basically didn’t feature for eight months last season and it was tough to rediscover my form. I’m on the way to achieving that aim now though.
You’ve never managed to score more than 12 goals in a season and that tally arrived while you were playing in Serie B.
That is right but I don’t take penalties or free-kicks. I would add at least five or six goals a campaign if that was the case. It’s also worth remembering that strikers who have played alongside me in the past have benefited. People like Massimo Marazzina and Claudio Lopez netted loads thanks to my style of football. Anyway, I would gladly swap 10 goals for an important trophy as winning is vital in my life.
But a striker who grabs 20 goals is considered differently, he’ll be valued as a more important player.
I am almost 30 and I know how the world turns. It is enough for me to know that my Coach values me for what I do. One of my former Coaches told me that I must only read newspapers after a victory, otherwise I’ll only get depressed.
You hit the headlines when you were at Chievo. What was so special about that Veronese side?
We all knew each other really well, we played football by heart. There was a massive amount of enthusiasm too after our promotion to the top flight and our young players wanted to become protagonists. Apart from Eugenio Corini and myself, nobody had ever played in Serie A. We also had boss Gigi Del Neri who brought the best out of our characteristics, even if you sometimes have years of success without a logical reason.
While at Lazio, was it true that there was more talk about wages than football?
We did have a few meetings to try to understand the financial situation, but we didn’t think about money in the week before a game. We were players with a few years of good earnings behind us, we happily lived without receiving our salary for three months at a time.
Is former Lazio boss Roberto Mancini, now at Inter, a great Coach?
Yes. He has some spectacular training methods. He was immense as a player, he’s in love with the game and he transmits an incredible amount of passion to his players. Mancini has only recently quit playing and as a consequence he knows how to talk to his squad. Mancini is a great motivator and places his men in the ideal situations to give their best.
You spent a few months at Inter before moving on. What do you remember from that summer and were you disappointed to have been sold to Lazio?
That’s just how things occurred. I did well at Chievo, but Inter needed to replace Ronaldo and they brought in Hernan Crespo from Lazio. Then Inter boss Hector Cuper was honest with me, he made it clear that space would have been limited with the arrival of Hernan. That’s why I opted for the move, especially as Mancini really wanted me.
While you were at Valencia, didn’t Cuper attempt to sign you for Mallorca?
That’s correct. He is a real gentleman and I told him that I would join him if I didn’t find a suitable solution in Italy. Cuper is a great man and Coach, a fantastic and immense person.
You would probably do well in England given your style of play. Was that ever a possibility?
I did have a few offers. Everton and Charlton wanted me but I chose to come back to my homeland.
Do you still hope to play for one of the big clubs in the future?
We’ll get this season out of the way first, then we’ll see.
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| Interviewed: November 2005 |
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