Calafiori recalls: “Playing for Roma gave me anxiety.” | OneFootball

Former Roma defender Riccardo Calafiori looked back on his past in the Italian capital.

In a recent interview with Sky Sport, Calafiori discussed his friendship with Edoardo Bove as well as the difficult years at Roma.

“I played with Bove, who arrived in my second year and is now one of my best friends in football.”

“When he felt ill I remember that I wasn’t watching the game. I turned on the TV just to know the result and I saw that the game was stopped, I thought they had simply postponed it. Right after that my mother called me in tears, she is as good a friend of Bove’s mother as we are. I didn’t understand what was happening, it was a big blow.”

On the surgeries that threatened his career, “At 16, after the first operation, they told me I would never be able to play football again. I didn’t want to hear that. If it had happened 3-4 years later, I probably wouldn’t have come back. Instead, the recklessness of being a child, that challenge with myself and against those who thought differently… All this pushed me to go on.”

“For me, Roma was a dream come true. For my age, I didn’t think I had done badly, but I lived the games with too much pressure. Games used to give me anxiety. I was too small and too involved, I remember that I was happy only when the referee blew the whistle and the game ended. Now I can’t wait for the day of the match to arrive, I’m not anxious anymore.”

“The move to Basel? The truth is that that was the only option. I wasn’t convinced, but then I found peace and continuity. I went back to playing with carefreeness.”