Calciopoli Justice Has Been Served, Johan Cruyff Ahead Of His Time - Luis Figo
Recently retired midfielder Luis Figo looked back on his long career, talking among other things about his first 'El Clasico' as a Real Madrid player and his experience in Italian football with Inter.
11 Jun 2009 20:30:24
Photo Gallery
Zoom
Luis Figo waves goobye to football after helping Inter lift their 17 Scudetto
Related Links
Teams
Players
Today former
Inter midfielder Luis Figo, who hung up his boots last month after his fourth season with the Nerazzurri, gave an interview to
Sky program
'I Signori del Calcio' in which he talked about his storied career.
One of the topics he tackled was how he nearly moved to Italy ten years before he signed with Inter.
"My contract with Sporting Lisbon was running out, I had a chance to sign with Juventus, I had talked with [Luciano] Moggi," he revealed. "We had reached an agreement which had to be approved by the club.
"However, Juve wanted to talk with Sporting first, and this was not good for me because I had not left them on good terms. Then I was convinced to go to Parma and I did sign a contract with them, but this led to problems which prevented me from playing in Italy for a further two years. This opened the door for me to go to Spain and I went to Barcelona.
"I had the chance to choose between Barcelona and Madrid, I went to Barcelona because [Johan] Cruyff, a football legend, coached there. It was his last year as coach, he gave me a lot. Today I still think Cruyff is ten years ahead of anyone else. After him, I had other great coaches, but the Dutch school is fantastic."
On his passage to Real Madrid and his first 'Clasico' as an opponent at the Nou Camp, he said, "It was a difficult night because I returned to Barcelona and I was playing against my
[COLOR=#0464D1 ! important][COLOR=#0464D1 ! important]friends[/COLOR][/COLOR]. In any case, it was a unique experience, I don't think any player has ever had 130 million people against him."
He also talked about the Calciopoli scandal which erupted after his first season at Inter.
"Everyone was talking about what was going on before but no one had the courage to say anything about it," Figo said. "I've always said what I thought, when you see injustice, you have to speak. When I was playing in Spain, my national team-mates who played in Italy told me about how things went. I was surprised. Thankfully the truth was uncovered."
Danilo Pochini, Goal.com
10 years of FIF
Forum Supporter
FIF Special Ones
Most Humorous Member
