The former Genoa and Roma footballer told Corriere della Sera: “I survived cancer because I was luckier than D’Amico, Mihajlovic, Vialli, and Paolo Rossi. Falcao is an exceptional person, but that penalty…”

Soccer. Music. Illness. Family. All Nela. Full throttle. Just like when he played and won. In an interview with Corriere della Sera, the former full-back (Genoa, especially Roma) tells his story. Starting with his name: “Sebastiano is the man hidden under the soccer shirt. Sebino is the player.” He also explains the meaning of the chant “Picchia Sebino” (“Beat Sebino”) sung by the Giallorossi fans: “I never beat anyone. It referred to the fact that I was stubborn on the field.”

Sebino hides nothing. Not even the fact that he entered the world of soccer thanks to a “recommendation.” “I was a Genoa fan,” he says, “like my dad: I was skinny and they rejected me. I got in with a recommendation. A friend of my father’s, a Genoa fan, said to him, ‘I’ll take care of it.’ I saw my first grass field when I made my debut in Serie B: I had always played on dirt, on pozzolana.” His rise is not unlike that of many other players of his era, who went on to become professionals, raised with the values instilled in them by their parents: “Three hours on the bus every day. Wake up at six, school, training, then I helped my parents in their restaurant. I opened my books at midnight and fell asleep immediately. My father always worked 18 hours a day in the kitchen. He worked on ships. My mother didn’t buy herself socks so she could buy me soccer shoes.“ He continued: ”I found my first contract with Roma: 40 million lire gross. My parents stopped working. The best moment of my life was when I brought home the prize money after my debut with Genoa: my dad started crying.”

book—  All this—and much more—can be read in his book, Il vento in faccia e la tempesta nel cuore (The Wind in My Face and the Storm in My Heart): “I’m shy, I didn’t like the idea of writing a book of anecdotes: how many women came to the hotel during training camp, that kind of nonsense. I said: if I decide to do it, I want to tell Sebastiano’s story.” And again: “Working in silence. At first, I didn’t talk much. The story changed in my second year in Rome.” Yes, Roma and Rome, the peak of his career. The period that saw Nela enter the history books of Italian soccer. He experienced a championship, in 1983, and two great disappointments: “I understood immediately what Roma was. The rival fans insulted us in every way possible: it doubled my energy. Then there was the European Cup final lost to Liverpool the following year. I had a good ball, but I passed it to Graziani: I could have kicked it myself. But I took that defeat well. The one against Lecce was worse, costing us the championship two years later. Rome is the perfect city; in Milan there are more distractions. There is only one fact: we have never had strong owners, with the exception of Dino Viola and Franco Sensi, with whom we won. That is what De Laurentiis is now. But the environment has nothing to do with it. Also because Roma has one of the best fan bases in Europe. Falcao? A wonderful person. But when he missed that penalty in the final against Liverpool, I was disappointed. I know he regretted it a couple of years ago…”.
music—  From Roma to music. But we’re still talking about the capital, because one of its most famous singers, Antonello Venditti, dedicated a song to him, Correndo correndo: “We were on retreat in Montecatini, and he played it on the piano. It was different from his love songs. I listen to it at least once a day. But I haven’t watched the Sanremo Festival for 10 years; it’s become a stage for people to express their opinions, a big political show. Today’s young people sing Patty Pravo and Battisti, no one will sing the songs of today’s artists.“
illness—  Then the most delicate chapter. That of illness: colon cancer. Nela explains. He doesn’t shy away. He almost confesses. He hides nothing. And he emphasizes that he was lucky: ”We footballers live for goals, one game after another. I did the same with my illness. I spent five hours in the bathroom every night with stomach pains after chemo. I said to myself, ‘Let’s try to stay in the bathroom for four hours. Then three and a half, then three.’ It worked. The only thing that bothers me is this nonsense from people who say to me, ‘There was no doubt that with that physique you would pull through. What about all the colleagues I lost? Vincenzo D’Amico, Paolo Rossi, Sinisa Mihajlovic, Gianluca Vialli. The only difference between me and them is that I was luckier.“ Sebino also talks about his relationship with his family during that period: ”One night I found my wife and daughters crying, and I said, ‘Enough, you’re the ones who need to help me. The situation at home changed. I lost my father to this disease, his brother. I lost my sister, the person I admired most in the world: she let herself die after eight years of treatment. My other sister has been living with cancer for 14 years. A family decimated by cancer: we didn’t deserve it. At that time, I didn’t like to show how pale I was. Now I try to always be tanned.“ Between the present and the future—From his football career to the current game and his future plans, Nela concludes: ”I’d like to talk to a Maori in New Zealand. But I’m also happy just taking a walk by the sea, on the Lazio coast. I like reading about politics and geopolitics. I play chess. The Scudetto? Napoli has everything it needs to win again, Inter is the best team, Milan could be the wild card. Roma? Finishing in the top four would be an extraordinary result. They’ve had a convincing start, but let’s see how the others fare. Gasperini needs time.”