The former Italian goalkeeper: “I still wake up thinking about that cup a meter away from me. Vialli was a true leader, Boskov said to me and Lanna: ‘Be professional until the game.’”

If Gianluca Pagliuca could draw a triangle representing his life, the first of the three vertices would be Genoa, where he won with Sampdoria and established himself as a world-class goalkeeper. “Those were seven wonderful years. We won a historic Scudetto and lost a final that still hurts a lot. It’s a wound that will never heal.” The other two sides would be Milan—five seasons at Inter with Ronaldo and Vieri—and Bologna, his home. He answers us from there. “I am proud to have played with the team of my dreams.” The conversation then drifts between memories, victories, and regrets, above all the match in Pasadena lost on penalties to Brazil in ’94.

Pagliuca, let’s start with Sampdoria. The Scudetto was an extraordinary year.

“People only talk about the Scudetto season and the Champions League final, but we had many top seasons. We were a stellar group.“

Boskov was on the bench. It is said that Mancini and Vialli made the lineup for him…

”Let’s add Vierchowod to that: they were his trusted advisors. But let’s be clear, they weren’t in charge. They discussed things, but Boskov always made the decisions.“

We talked about Vialli. What memories do you have of Gianluca?

”He was an incredible man, someone who told you things to your face. That’s one of the reasons we never argued. I got to know a genuine person, he knew how to be a leader on the field and a group leader in the evening.”

In Genoa in those years, it was said that you were also a lover of nightclubs…

“It’s true, I don’t deny it. I’ve always liked to party. I’ve been with many women. I didn’t like drinking much, but I knew how to have fun…“

Who were your companions at the disco?

”Many, I must say. In the year we won the Scudetto with Sampdoria, there was this ritual: I would go to Bologna on Monday, party all night, and on Tuesday I would be in Bogliasco training. Oh, we won every game on the field. I remember once when I met Vialli in Bologna, he surprised me. ‘You have to put up with me here too,’ he shouted as he hugged me.“

Did Boskov know?

”On Fridays, he would tell Marco Lanna and me to be professional until game day. ‘Turn off the taps,’ he would say. And we would burst out laughing.”

You were a very close-knit group. Is it true that there is still an active WhatsApp chat?

“Yes! We use it often. I have to say that, in the tragedy, Gianluca’s death brought us even closer together. He also wrote a lot, he was very active in the group.“

Would victory against Barcelona in the final have been the perfect ending?

”Absolutely. We would have deserved it. It remains a wound that will never heal.”

Speaking of lost finals, two years later came defeat in Pasadena. Many of your teammates have described it as a nightmare that has been going on for thirty years. Is that how you feel too?

“I still can’t sleep. I wake up at night and watch the videos of the penalties. I wake up and say to myself, ‘Dive to the right!’. Instead, they wrong-footed me three times. I saved one, but it wasn’t enough. I can’t get one image out of my head: me walking past the cup, just a meter away. I could have touched it, it was right there…“

That was the World Cup where Baggio said ”This is crazy“ to Sacchi. You were the reason for that substitution…

”Yes, I was sent off and Marchegiani came on. Robi and I met in the locker room and there was half an hour of absolute silence. A glance was enough for us to understand each other.“

That summer you moved to Moratti’s Inter. In five years, you only won one UEFA Cup in Paris. Did you deserve more?

”Yes, absolutely. In 1998, we suffered a series of repeated thefts. Juve was a great team, but we were stronger and deserved it. Iuliano’s foul on Ronaldo remains an indelible stain. They took a championship away from me. It was a scandal… and every time I think about it, I get pissed off.”

Is it true that you were close to joining Manchester United?

“Ferguson wanted me, but Inter had just signed Ronaldo and I had no intention of leaving: I was playing alongside Il Fenomeno, the best player I’ve ever seen in my entire career. What’s more, Moratti didn’t want to sell me. At the time, the Premier League was less appealing than Serie A. Today, I would probably make a different choice. Back then, all the best players came to play for us.“

Were there any other possibilities?

”When I was at Sampdoria, Mazzone called me. Roma had just been bought by Sensi and they wanted to rebuild. But I was happy in Genoa and turned them down.“

During your time at Sampdoria, you were involved in a car accident. Your Porsche was destroyed, but you were saved by the airbags. Was there any friction with journalists over the misreporting of the incident?

”No friction, but the news reports were a bit exaggerated. I was especially worried about my mom: she heard that I was in serious condition and was scared. It was a serious accident, but I got away with a compound fracture of the collarbone.”

Until a few seasons ago, you were the goalkeeper coach for Bologna’s Primavera team. Before that, he spent a year coaching the Rossoblù youth national team. What kind of coach is Pagliuca?

“I’d say strict. In the locker room, I would scold the boys for wearing earrings and mohawks: ‘I’m not coaching Indians,’ I would tell them. I like to teach them not to give up and to look beyond the obstacle. That’s how you get to the top.”