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The difficult time Inter are going through, fighting injuries that doesn’t seem to end and the negative results that are pouring down. All this and some anecdotes from his life as a footballer is what Andrea Ranocchia talked about with Gianfelice Facchetti in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport’s Sportweek. We begin by talking about what happened before the interview when Ranocchia was asked to do a photo shoot in front of the newspaper’s headquarters. Ranocchia agreed to do it, but asked the photographers to hurry up “because I don’t want anyone to stop and tell me to go to practice instead of taking pictures.”

Have you ever found it inconvenient that people shout at you in the street?

“Wherever I played and whether it went good or bad, the relationship with the fans has always been good, it has always been correct. Last season here in Milan, which was perhaps the most difficult for me since I turned professional, I received, above all, encouraging words. It has happened, but it is also a part of the game. To me, mistakes are a chance to develop and get better. If I stopped to think, I would lose myself in doubts.”

On your website there is a quote from Albert Einstein that defines a mistake as a “blessing.”

“That’s how it is, I am convinced that I matured more in the last season than I have at any other time throughout my career.”

There must be something that irritates you when it comes to the assessments of your performances?

“I hate when assessments goes from the technical side to the personal. Sometimes it seems like a mistake, all of a sudden makes people forget everything good I’ve done until then. I don’t accept that.”

Is that the secret to where your normality comes from?

“I’ve always followed my passion, from the first kick. I had neither fame nor glory in mind, but just the will to continue to develop with patience towards my little dream…”

But you are in a world where the whims and excesses definitely are louder.

“Before I arrived to play for Inter, I was fortunate to go step by step through various stages: Arezzo, Bari, Genoa… I got big and can count on my friends for life, and with the support of the family. When I reached the top I had already grown up.”

But you were actually not even close to imagining that one day you would play in Serie A?

“It’s just the way of nature that has taken me this far, I barely noticed it. It was only the collecting cards that made my fantasy run wild, now and then I looked at them and said, ‘I want to end up on one of these”

When did you realize you had something more than your teammates?

“It’s been nice to never realize it. During each workout, I showed up and in the end I was always playing and in the meantime, I made progress.”

Then one day you realized that it was true…

“I was in Bari and we were facing Milan, I played against my hero: Alessandro Nesta. I spent the entire warm-up by looking at him with the eyes of a child and studying him… I was more interested in asking him for his shirt than to play the game. Time magazine had him on the front page, a real role model.”

As a mentor in Inter you had Marco Materazzi, whose jersey number 23 you inherited.

“When Marco was a captain in Perugia, I was a ball boy at the Stadio Curi. He has always helped me, even before I put on this shirt. Wearing his number is a great privilege.”

Is the legacy of Mourinho at Inter so heavy?

“I’ve had the opportunity to practice and play with most of these champions, therefore I am convinced that the legacy of success should help us get back to the top quickly.”

Had you expected that you would have won more during these two and a half years?

“The results during my time at Inter has been varied, I can and will give much more. So far I have won the Coppa Italia and a team with a history like Inter’s can’t be without titles for a long time. My challenge is this: I want to win with Inter.”

What has kept you from doing it so far? Bad luck?

“I do not believe in luck, it is not consistent with my beliefs. 2012 was a disastrous year with injuries, misunderstandings with Ranieri and involvement in the unfortunate case of calcioscommesse. I never thought that the year would end. Today, I would be more ready to come out.”

Do you read much?

“It goes in cycles, I like Coelho, although he is a bit monotonous. I speak quietly about the fact that I dared myself to Plato’s Symposium.”

Well done, last movie?

“Skyfall, I’m a fan of the 007, a passion I inherited from my father Marco. I call him Bond. In the mobile phone, I have written his name that way.”

Source: fcinternews.it