Giuseppe Bergomi recalled Franco Baresi in the pages of La Gazzetta dello Sport, retracing the most significant moments of their relationship. The former Inter captain recounted his last meeting with the Milan icon, which took place at the end of June in a bar frequented by Nerazzurri fans, where he handed him the Olympic torch as a memento of the opening ceremony of the Olympics on February 6.

“He was fragile, with a faint voice, and with suffering and dignity, referring to the treatments, he simply told me: ‘It’s a long road…’,” recalled Bergomi. In the following weeks, it was Beppe Baresi, Franco’s brother and teammate of the former Inter defender, who kept him informed about his friend’s condition.

The bond between the two dates back decades. Bergomi recalled when, at seventeen, he was given a ride home by Beppe Baresi together with Carletto Muraro. It was Franco himself, the eldest of the Baresi brothers, who tied his first tie knot for him. “One evening Beppe told me: ‘Come sleep at our place, Franco is there too…’,” recalled the former Nerazzurri number 6.

The Olympic ceremony on February 6 remained etched in both their memories. During rehearsals, Baresi had a moment of hesitation: “He called me and said: ‘Look, Beppe, I don’t feel up to it…’. He was very tired.” On the day of the inauguration, they arrived at the stadium six hours early. “He remained silent the whole time. He was never a man of many words, but I could see he was moved,” explained Bergomi.

Franco especially wanted to have the torch as a keepsake of the evening. “I made an effort to please him. In the end, I managed to do it and gave it to him at the end of June, in a bar near his home, a den of Inter fans where he felt at home,” recounted the former Inter captain.

On the pitch, the two were rivals in the derby but teammates in the National Team. In Bergomi’s first derby, on September 6, 1981, which ended 2-2 in the Coppa Italia, he scored with Baresi on the other side. “In the battles on the field, we were always very far apart: we could only exchange a handshake and a hug at the start, then we wouldn’t cross paths anymore, each defending his own area,” he explained.

Unforgettable was Franco’s farewell match. “He called me personally and said: ‘You’re coming!’. I joked back: ‘I’ll get so many boos…’. And he replied: ‘Don’t care…’,” recalled Bergomi. “I was an Inter man, still playing, yet Franco wanted me there next to his brother. I will always be grateful to him for wanting me by his side on such a special day.”

The National Team further strengthened their bond. In 1982 they became world champions together: “We were the youngest in the group, we were always together. I still remember our walk through the streets of Madrid after the final,” recalled the former defender. They also shared Euro ’88 and the 1990 World Cup, where Bergomi wore the captain’s armband but felt protected playing alongside Baresi.

“I think we have always been very similar: both discreet, polite, children of another era, bound by sincere esteem. I like this definition: captains without rhetoric,” concluded Bergomi, recalling how both lost their parents in their youth and how this composed suffering brought them even closer together.

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