He came third in the Panchina d’Oro (Golden Bench) award behind Conte and Gasp, he thrashed Atalanta without beating them, he saw his star miss a penalty. But someone up there is watching…

Yesterday, the Technical Sector of the Italian Football Federation awarded Cesc Fabregas, coach of the miraculous Como, third place in the Panchina d’Oro, behind Antonio Conte, who won the Scudetto with Napoli, and Gian Piero Gasperini, who brought Atalanta back to the Champions League. A great satisfaction for a coach still at the dawn of his career, but perhaps coming at the wrong time, on a day when he was most inclined to curse his profession. A few hours earlier, he had taken a beating from Atalanta, who had skewered him like Saint Sebastian with twenty shots, and had seen his best player (Nico Paz) miss a penalty at the end of the game. Instead of the five goals predicted by the statistics, he had scored none. And against Milan, things had gone even worse.

If the god of soccer had been looking down from above Coverciano, Cesc would probably have asked him, “Why, Lord? But I play well, as you like. I don’t shut myself off, I don’t start over.” And the god of soccer, tearing through the Florentine clouds, would probably have replied, “Think how boring soccer would be if only those who deserve to win always won… I have given the game the most precious thing of all: freedom. The freedom of a moment, of a bad bounce, of a missed penalty, the freedom to win while playing badly. But you’re on the right track, Cesc, the best one, the one that leads far away, to the light. Persevere without doubt and console that boy who plays like an angel. A missed penalty weighs less than a feather. Truly I tell you: in a year’s time, you’ll still be here, with a Panchina d’Oro in your arms.”