The former Genoa and Torino goalkeeper, now a veteran agent: “I was friends with Dzeko’s father, and I brought Edin to Roma. I had a very difficult childhood in Sarajevo, shoveling snow for 200 lire.”

Silvano Martina is a man who, throughout his life, has not only worn goalkeeper gloves, but also many different hats. As a child, he went to school without any clothes because of poverty in Yugoslavia. As a teenager, he risked being traded for a horse and then, unfortunately, he is still remembered by many as “the one who risked killing Antognoni.” Despite this, the former Fiorentina player has always defended him.
Martina, yours is a unique story…
“I was one of the first non-EU citizens in Italy: my father is from Friuli, my mother is Bosnian. In 1965, we weren’t doing well in Sarajevo, and my father jokingly said to my mother, ‘Let’s go to Italy, it can’t be worse than this…’. Those were times of absolute poverty: I went to school in my underwear, bare-chested, with only my schoolbag on my shoulders. I got by delivering bread and shoveling snow for 200 lire. Luckily, Toni Bacchetti noticed me and took me to Inter.“

In Bosnia, he was friends with Dzeko’s father.

”We lived 150 meters apart and played soccer together. Years later, Milan signed Edin, and I thought he was his son: I called Mito, and we resumed our friendship. In 2015, Sabatini told me he needed a strong striker, otherwise they would have slaughtered him in Rome. I suggested Dzeko, he lit a cigarette, took a drag and said, ‘Call him, I’ll buy him’. Edin was in Split, Walter and I drove from Milan to close the deal.”

Is it true that you risked being traded for a horse?

“I wasn’t present at the negotiations, but Sogliano (Riccardo, ed.) had traded me from Varese to Sant’Angelo Lodigiano in exchange for a horse. But then I stayed and had an incredible season. By the way, let me tell you an anecdote. In ‘78, I was with Genoa: I knew I was going to Atalanta, but one morning, reading Sports Predictions, I found out that it had been done with Varese. I didn’t want to go there. I immediately ran to the headquarters to protest, but Fascetti (Varese coach, ed.) asked me for an appointment. ‘Mister, if I have to go to Serie C, I’ll go where they give me more money.’ His response? ‘Go to hell, you have someone here begging you, and you’re acting cool after warming the benches of half of Italy’. I jumped to my feet and shook his hand.“

Are you sorry that your name is always associated with the incident with Antognoni?

”It doesn’t bother me or surprise me. Antognoni behaved like a true gentleman. I could never have hurt him on purpose: the ball hit the edge of the area, he tried to jump over me, slipped, and there was contact between my leg and his head. It was the only case in the world where an athlete went to trial and the prosecutor was more of a Fiorentina fan than a public prosecutor. I was just very sorry for my colleague.”

Did you immediately realize the seriousness of the situation?

“Not at the time, no. The referee didn’t even call a foul. I wasn’t used to all the fuss. The following week, I was unwatchable in training, so much so that I asked Gigi Simoni to leave me out. He responded by sending me onto the field.”

And he was right: a week later…

“Genoa-Ascoli, after 20 minutes I saved a penalty and it changed my mindset: from that moment on, no one could score against me. At the time, Sports Predictions compiled statistics on the average ratings of players, and not even Maradona was better than me. Only Platini.”

What kind of coach was Simoni for you?

“He said he wouldn’t even swap me for Zoff. I was thrilled when, reading his book, I discovered that he considered me the best goalkeeper he had ever coached, along with Pagliuca.”

Antognoni returned to the field four months later, in Genoa-Fiorentina.

“There was great anticipation, with 100 photographers ready. We looked like Trump and Putin! The match ended 0-0. Actually, when I went to visit Giancarlo in the hospital, I told him, ‘The first time you see me, you’ll score a goal against me.’ It happened the second time, with a nice 3-0 win for Fiorentina and a goal from him. He could have said anything to me and I would have understood, but instead he was always a gentleman.”

Another historic match, Napoli-Genoa 1982. Grifone saved, Milan in Serie B.

“The whole San Paolo stadium was singing for Genoa, we were playing for our lives. With five minutes to go, the Napoli goalkeeper let the ball slip into the corner, Faccenda stepped in and scored: Genoa saved, Milan in Serie B. But there was no bad faith. We returned to Genoa and it was as if we had won the Champions League with 10,000 people at the airport.“

What about your history with Torino?

”The only small regret: in 1985, we could have won the Scudetto instead of Verona, but we finished second. The goalkeepers made the difference: Garella was a 9, I was a 7.5. Then I got injured and basically stopped playing.“

And what did you do?

”I was a sales representative for electronic cabins, even though I didn’t understand anything about them. Then, during Torino-Lazio, I went to say hello to Fascetti (who had become Lazio’s coach in the meantime, ed.). He said to me, ‘Train, you never know.’ Two months later, he called me back and said, ‘Come to Lazio.’ I thought he needed a third goalkeeper, but instead I had an amazing season as a starter and we brought the team back to Serie A.”