Roberto Mancini is cheering on Sampdoria” data-scaytid=”2″>Sampdoria and Sinisa Mihajlovic against Juventus” data-scaytid=”5″>Juventus today. “They’ve become my life’s biggest rivals.”
Roberto Mancini is cheering on Sampdoria and Sinisa Mihajlovic against Juventus today. “They’ve become my life’s biggest rivals.”
This Serie A fixture kicks off in Turin at 19.45 GMT, click here for a match preview.
“I spent 15 years at Sampdoria, an indelible period of my life,” Mancio told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“Would I return as a Coach? It’s difficult to answer that. Essentially yes, but when I think about it I consider the pain that would follow if I should fail. I fear it would cancel out all the good work I did here in 15 years.
“Football can be cruel, so if I ever returned to Samp, it would be to win. The work of the Garrone family in recent years has been simply to keep the club at a certain level.”
Meanwhile, Mancini’s former teammate and assistant manager Mihajlovic is now on the Blucerchiati bench.
“He supports Sampdoria and you can tell. He puts into his work that something extra that only love can bring and the results confirm it.”
Yet Mancini reveals he very nearly missed out on becoming a Samp icon, but has since challenged Juventus with Inter and most recently Galatasaray.
“It’s incredible how Juventus have become my life’s biggest rivals. As a child my father would take me to Turin on a Sunday with the Juventus Club Jesi bus, which took seven hours. We were such big supporters.
“Destiny picks some strange paths for us. Juve represent the strongest opponents and therefore it’s a test of your capabilities. If you face them with the concrete chance of winning – and I’ve been fortunate enough to prevail more than once – it means your own value is elevated. It comes automatically.
“Actually, I nearly joined Juve. They called Bologna the morning after my transfer with Samp had been finalised. If the two phone calls had arrived simultaneously, I would’ve pushed for Juve. I was such a big fan of theirs, even though I’d have been on the bench in Michel Platini’s first season.”
Galatasaray knocked the Bianconeri out of the Champions League in a game spread out over two days because of a snowstorm, but Mancini hit back angrily at those who accused them of foul play.
“I read that there were tractors tearing up the pitch and other sneaky tricks, but quite simply that day the field was not fit for a football match, which is what I said to the referee before the second ‘round’ started.
“Then what happened was that the weaker team – and my Galatasaray was certainly weaker – made the most of their chance to eliminate the stronger side.
“I am confident Roma will challenge to the end, but Juve will win a third consecutive Scudetto.”