Claudio Marchisio: “When I realized that the family was more important”

The game shoes in hand, full of mud, and the water from the fountain that falls violently, wetting the socks and feet of anyone who passes nearby. A scene that Claudio Marchisio lived in loop for the entire adolescence: he soon realized he had the stuff of a footballer, which could have become a professional if he had put his heart and soul into the field.
Yet, as in a kind of board game where you eventually return to square one, there was a precise moment in which the former Juventus midfielder realized that the family came first. “When I faced the most serious injury of my career, the rupture of the Crusader”, he reveals to us during an event of RED, brand of the historic Re DePaolini hosiery of which it is testimonial. «My companions were next to me in the locker room, but then they had to go out and run to win games. I was walking at that time, and I needed someone who walked by my side».

Basically, the family in front of the locker room.
“Yes, because it was going at the same speed as me. On the other hand, every time we fall, we get up in a different way: sometimes stronger, others a little limp. And the people we choose close to us when we are getting up are fundamental ».

Even if the locker room, for someone like you, was also a bit of a home. Do you have any childhood memories?
«The famous white terry socks, which I have been using since my first workouts. In the winter, when it rained, they got soaked with water so much that you didn’t understand how your foot managed to get into the boot ».

Staying on the subject of socks, do you have any anecdotes related to traditions or superstitions?
«I have seen many players who cut the game socks, just to put under the sponge sock that caused more friction, therefore keeping the foot more firm when changing direction. Basically, the last piece of the game sock they only put on the shin guards ».

Speaking of direction changes, when did you decide to devote yourself entirely to football?
«At the end of high school, I had been training with Capello’s Juventus for more than six months. One morning my mom comes to wake me up to go to school, I tell her that I had already collected too many absences and I would not have passed the year. I had decided a few weeks ago, it was time to push hard with sport ».

During your career, have you ever felt lonely, like a mismatched sock?
«At the first World Cup in blue, South Africa 2010: I was very young and the experience was not positive. Due to the time zone and the many commitments, it was not easy to call Italy: I felt really alone there, at that moment I would have needed the support of my friends, my wife ».

Which is his life partner for over fifteen years.
«To think that our relationship was born with a small lie. At the time I was playing in the Primavera, but when we met I introduced myself as a guy who made architecture. The farce did not last twenty minutes, my friends immediately went to spy ”.

In the end it turned out well. But as a man, or as a footballer, do you have any particular regrets?
“We all have regrets. Personally I think it is important to remember the past for what we did, not whether it was good or bad. Only in this way can we try to improve ourselves, or at least try to have an excellent present and a good future ».