What memories do you have of your relationship with football when you were a child?
"There are so many memories, because it was the only thing I had been doing since I was four. I still have photos, with the ball always next to me. I wanted to do just that, at school or on the street with friends. There were no videogames like today and we as children thought only of football ”.
Where did you play?
"Every neighborhood in my hometown, Cordoba, organized a small amateur tournament. And I remember that I did them all. Even the one organized in the area where my cousin or other friends of mine lived. Everyone carried a team, with the father of one of us as a coach. And I went everywhere to play ”.
Have you always been a technical soccer player?
"I remember playing with my uncle in the garage with the tennis ball. He would say to me "if you can play with this then with the bigger one it will be easier". I tried the dribbles, kicked them on the power wall and had to get them back on my feet. This happened every day, it was my passion ".
Has your desire always been to become a professional football player?
"It was my fixed thought, always".
Who was your idol as a child?
"When I was little, without doubt Batistuta. At that moment he played in the national team, in Italy he scored a lot and only talked about him. I had the poster in my room. When he came to Rome, my father gave me his shirt, it was a beautiful thing. Then when I grew up a little more I loved Riquelme. It was a landmark as number 10 ".
How did your career start? Did you immediately understand that you would have done it?
"In reality it was not easy. Everything happened very quickly in Argentina. I started playing in Serie B with the Talleres of Cordoba, the team of my city. I made my debut with the first team, playing three or four games. And then I went back to playing with the youth teams. It was a very difficult moment, because I thought I had already arrived. Since retiring and debuting with the older ones, going back was a disappointment. I had to start over, with the same desire as always, but it wasn't easy ”.
Then what happened?
"After six months I went to Buenos Aires with the Huracan, in the First Team. I did the retreat with them but I couldn't play for a bureaucratic issue, I trained alone sometimes and I missed the Apertura championship. When the documents were released, I made the second retreat with them and broke my ankle. This is why I also had to skip the Clausura tournament. I seemed to have everything against me. It was really difficult, I only played five games. The following season I played it all as a starter and in six months my life changed ".
How did you feel at that point?
“I had never made a starting position in the Primera Division and I came to play twenty games in a row, all good. At that point the call came from Italy and I didn't even have time to realize the coast was happening ”.
How did your transfer to Palermo come about?
"They came to watch my performance for two months. For me it was a dream to play in Europe. It was extraordinary, they convinced me immediately. I didn't think twice. At the first possibility I accepted. "
You were a little scared?
"Never, no fear. It was my dream. I came for the thing I do best: playing soccer. My family supported me, because she came with me. And all this gave me so much confidence ”.
What do you bring from the Palermo experience?
"It was a beautiful experience. They represent two unforgettable years. The team played well, we did important things in those years. We finished fourth in the league, one point from the Champions League, in the Italian Cup final, we played the Europa League. We've done things you haven't seen in that city for years. I have so many beautiful memories, people have been wonderful to me. It's the place where I met my wife. It will always remain in my heart, a part of Sicily is with me at home ".
What difference did you notice between Argentine and Italian football?
"The difference is tactical. The games are much more prepared here. There is a lot more freedom left for the players. Here it is different, even compared to France. Then in the field you always go eleven against eleven, but here in the preparation and in the training you are much more attentive to certain aspects ".
When did the PSG opportunity arrive?
"The second year I did very well in Palermo and I already knew that for the company my sale would have been a great opportunity, with the revenues they could put on a new team. For me it was an important step to grow and improve. In the last two months of my second season at Palermo there was already talk of my release. My agent was there to work on this, but I told him I didn't want to know anything, I wanted to concentrate on the championship. "
And in the end you went to France. What did this experience represent for you?
"A great experience. It has been seven years full of events. I arrived in a completely different team than the one I had left. I saw the club grow with me, they changed coaches, they made giant leaps with the media, they renewed the sports center and the stadium, they improved everything. I am very happy to have been with them through all these changes. They made me happy. When I arrived, PSG was not what we know today and I am proud to have given my contribution. I wouldn't change anything in these years. We have won many titles and I have left a nice memory to the fans and the people in France: this is the most important thing ".
And then there was the call of Rome.
"It represented a wonderful opportunity. I wanted to change team to feel like an important player again and get back to my lost role at PSG, for the arrival of many other level players. Rome was the best proposal, we are talking about a great city that my wife and I love ".
However, the first year was not easy. What did you feel at that time?
"The adventure started well and I was very excited to play here. Then unfortunately I hurt myself a couple of times in a row and then there was the injury to the forward Derby. Everything started to go bad in September. I had lost the confidence of the coach, because I was never in the field. Physically I have never been well, I could not manage training well or improve my physical condition. I have played very few matches and it was not an easy year, on a personal and sporting level ".
Then summer came, what did you think before the season started?
"I had so many things on my mind. Many changes were taking place in the Club and it was all a question mark for me. I took the first days of vacation with my family, but before starting the season I wanted to talk to the company and the coach, I wanted to know what they thought of me. I knew I hadn't done well the previous year, it hurt me to think back to my last season and I didn't want the new coach's ideas to be influenced by those performances. From the first day the Company told me that the change of coach would have been positive for everyone. In the first training sessions I immediately showed I wanted to change what had been a bad year for me and the whole team. The coach was always very honest, he showed he trusted me. He asked me to forget what had happened before, to train one hundred percent. They handled me well. I talked to the staff, I told them that the previous year I had never been able to find the right shape: for different needs I was still forced to take the field and for this I was not doing well for the team and I was hurting myself too ".
How did you prepare for the new season?
"In those days I talked a lot with the coach and the staff. I could try to reach the best physical condition by playing all the friendlies, but for a week we chose together to stop. It was not an injury, but with the double sessions every day, knowing my body well, I asked to be able to recover a little more, not play some friendly and train alone, because I had felt cramps. I am aware that in those days during the friendlies you earn a place and I knew that by not playing I risked losing an opportunity. But I preferred not to risk hurting myself right away, to avoid being out during important games. The coach accepted, he told me "you train well these days because for the first game you have to feel good". The coach made me play for a few minutes, in order to calmly resume the right condition. And now my body begins to feel the same as before. "
In addition to this physical work, what did Fonseca ask you on a tactical level?
"So much, especially the first months. We have worked on various aspects. He wants a midfielder to always aim the opponent's goal and not face our area. I had to concentrate a lot in training, because I was used to staying behind the door, to do one-two with my teammates. The coach, however, wants us to play forward, making a continuous game change from right to left. But the most important thing is the confidence the technician gives us and the way he speaks to us. I had several coaches and I learned a lot from everyone: I can say that this technical staff has an enormous desire to do good and win. They are all young boys, they have so many important convictions and they transmit them to us. For a team like Rome that wants to aim high all this is fundamental ".
And you managed to turn the whistles into applause with the latest performances. How hard was it to feel that you didn't trust the public?
"I picked up the boos in all the teams I played in, as well as the applause. It's for my style of play. If I am well I can give my best, but if I am not there physically I cannot give my best. Sometimes if you don't have the strength to run back, you want to make a good run forward. And all this the viewer notices. I sometimes appreciate whistling more. When things go well, it's obvious, but when they go wrong you need an audience reaction. These are things that personally give me something extra, I say to myself "ok, maybe it's better if I go to training two hours earlier". People saw that I was not well and my wife and my mother also saw it. My family was so worried, they realized that something was wrong, they came here every month asking me questions about my condition. And if they could realize it, let alone the fans that are every Sunday at the stadium. These are things that make you think. In the end this represents a passion for us, but it is also a job and we must respect the people who follow us for the profession we practice ".
Perhaps there is the embarrassment of the choice among all those with whom you have played: but which is the player with whom you found yourself better?
"There have been so many. The strongest attacker I played with is Cavani, because he is a genius with my qualities. I like to make assists for goals and I had a good feeling with many teammates, but with him more than anyone else: it is devastating as a tip. And then I can't fail to mention Ibrahimovic. If we include all aspects, including mentality, professionalism, it's incredible: it's the player who inspired me the most to improve. If you look at it in training you will learn. I'm still in touch, I'm very close to him, he's one of the best teammates I've ever had. "
Did you go to Paris at 22, how much did that experience help you grow?
"Much. The first year was a bit difficult for the different language and culture, I was young, more closed and very shy. I spoke less with my companions and with people, I didn't relate well to them. I was really a kid. I was demoralized, inside I thought "I will never be able to learn French, I can't understand it". It was all a matter of mind. From the second year on I got in, I put shyness on one side and started talking: I spoke badly but I didn't care, the important thing was to make me understand. From that moment I managed to get in touch with my companions and the city, even with my wife. I understand that Paris is a magical place. There I became a man and my daughter was born there: I was a boy and I became a father ”.
What is your goal to which you are most attached?
"What I did in the Champions League against Chelsea, with PSG. I entered five minutes from the end of the game and from an action like that a great col came out that nobody expected. It is one of the most beautiful ".
How much has football changed compared to when you arrived in Italy?
"Today he defends himself all together and attacks all together. Ten years ago it was different. When I arrived, however, I was young and just thought about having fun. "
Is it easier or more difficult for a young person to make a career today?
"I can speak for what I have lived, but for me it is more difficult. I am also thinking of the relationships I have with young people in Argentina. Today we only think about money. There are so many families or kids who think about playing to make money and that's it, even in the low categories. I'm not saying that I haven't had any career, but that can't be the first reason. This leaves passion and football aside. When you do this, getting to the top is more difficult. One thing you have to do it because you love it. The money comes later. You can't think of money before arriving in Serie A. Today, many kids are given certain things before earning them ”.
What advice would you give to a young person?
"Playing football with passion, giving everything. Learn from every workout, this is the basis. The rest comes by itself. Serve the head and also a bit of luck. Then things arrive ".
What is the most important advice you have received in your career?
"I have so many people who have helped me. My first agent, Simonian, has been with him for 16 years and has always told me to just concentrate on playing. One of the many things he taught me. Then Walter Sabatini, the person who took me to Europe, touched me so much. He gave me lots of advice when we worked together in Palermo, we talked practically every day ".
What did he say to you?
"He talked to me about everything, about life and about football. I was like a son. Arriving in Palermo I could not do anything, not even in training. He called me to his office to review the game played on Sunday. They were forty degrees in that office and I wanted to go to the beach. He kept me there to review the match and he said "look at it three times and then tell me what you noticed". He went away and did his things, after the ninetieth he came back and told me "ok, what did you notice?". And I answered: "Director, I played some good games". And he replied "no, here you raised an arm against a mate because he didn't pass the ball, you didn't run ten meters back here". He pointed out to me a series of things that one does not see at 19. And he pointed them out to me all. Important details were in and out of the field. Football has helped me a lot ".
How much did your years at Palermo grow?
"Very very much. In addition to his relationship with Sabatini, Delio Rossi taught me movements in a month that no one had ever told me in my whole career. We did individual work, he and I alone at the end of the training. I thought it was no good for me, but he said to me "for a while you won't play the title and go to the bench, when you finish a month of tactics with me I'll get back on the pitch". It was a word: after thirty days I took the lead, I was another player ".
Who is Javier Pastore out of the field?
"A boy, or rather an old man (laughs), normal. I like being at home with my family, I want to live in peace ”.
What's your favourite hobby?
"Now spend time with my family. When I was young I played videogames. Now if I have a day off, maybe I play volleyball. I really like cinema, with my wife we go there a lot. In France it was not easy to see them in another language when we had a day off, we came to Rome with my wife to see one of us and we returned early in the morning. Since I have been here everything is simpler ”.
What do you see in your future when you stop in so many years?
"Now I think I'll have other good footballing years and then I'll think about it. Football is my life, I will certainly do something in this world. But now I still don't know, life can change from one day to another. I am Argentine, my Italian wife, my children were born in France. Who knows where I will live one day. They will definitely choose them. First I think of the family ".
What is the goal of this season?
"Always be available to the coach at all times. For ninety or ten minutes. I want to feel good physically and bring Rome as high as possible. Football is a team game and if Roma ends up high it is because the whole team has done well, not just a player ".
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