Fabiano Santacroce retraced some significant moments of his career in a long interview given to La Gazzetta dello Sport. The former Parma and Napoli defender revealed curious episodes and personal memories linked to some protagonists of Italian football.
Among the most difficult opponents to face, Santacroce mentioned Pato in his first season at Milan, describing him as impossible to mark. But it was Hernan Crespo who left a particular impression: “He had boundless tactical intelligence. Do you remember the beach match scene in ‘Three Men and a Leg’? Well, facing Crespo was like that. He would suddenly disappear, it seemed like he was hiding under the sand.”
The former defender then recounted an episode involving Antonio Cassano during a match against Sampdoria: “I was tense, they had a great team. At one point I hear: ‘Santa, Santa’. It was Antonio, who said to me: ‘Watch what I do now’. He went up to one of my teammates, whom he knew well, and pinched his butt. We all burst out laughing, right in the middle of the match. He was crazy.”
Among his Neapolitan memories, Santacroce revealed a brawl with Lavezzi in 2008, when he first arrived in blue: “During a dinner, Lavezzi started throwing ice cubes at me. I reacted by throwing a Coca-Cola bottle that hit the group of South Americans. There was a huge brawl with a chase along the Naples seafront. There were about 10 cars, it was chaos. The next day we talked and cleared things up. From that moment we became great friends.”
The interview ended with an anecdote about Marco Materazzi: “In a clash in the box, we both fell and he hit me right in the face. He was my idol, the only player I would have wanted to ask for his shirt. We never met again, I still have the marks from his kick,” concluded the former defender with a smile.
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