Paletta recalls journey to Milan, favourite memories and relationship with Galliani | OneFootball

Gabriel Paletta is the latest former AC Milan player to feature in ‘Unlocker Room’ as he went into detail about his time at the club, on and off the field.

Paletta is now 38 years of age but he only retired last year after doing four years with Monza. His career path was an interesting one, having started with Banfield in his native Argentina, then taking him to Liverpool and Boca Juniors.

A move to Italy came in 2010 when he joined Parma and then five years later he got a switch to Milan where he spent three years, including a loan spell at Atalanta.

He holds the distinction of having made three appearances for the Italian national team, which came when he impressed with La Dea, but he was part of the Argentina team that won the 2005 U20 World Cup. Now, he is believed to be heading to Aldini as a coach.

Paletta was the latest guest to go on ‘Unlocker Room – The Rossoneri Podcast’ produced by Milan TV, and he spoke about his experiences from 2015 to 2018.

Let’s start with that famous tackle on Rigoni in Genoa-Milan…

“I’ve seen it a lot of times, mostly from kids, who didn’t see the game. Every now and then they make me watch it again. But it wasn’t a bad tackle (smiles). If you see, I slapped the ball and then I caught him. But that year it was a bit like that for the red cards…”

What are you doing now? Are you well?

“I’m calm, for now I’m enjoying my family. I have a lot of time for them that I didn’t have before. I play padel, I’m quite good. I’m paired with Lucas Biglia, we play with Rodrigo Palacio and a teacher we know.”

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Do you want to become a coach in the future?

“Yes. I know it’s difficult, because then the players get annoying (laughs). Managing to have 25 people all happy is not very easy. This idea doesn’t give me much excitement (smiles).”

And you were a big character in the dressing room…

“Well yes, I was, I am someone who gets quite p*ssed off (laughs). But I was, I think, a good companion with everyone.”

Can you tell us about your childhood? You were born in Argentina, you have Italian origins…

“I come from a humble family. We are four brothers, all boys, I was the youngest. We were always playing behind a ball, my mother was a housewife, my father drove a truck and was always busy; my mother was always with us.

“I remember that I was always playing football with my brothers and their friends. It was a beautiful childhood. Then at 7 years old I started playing in Banfield. We played soccer in a team near my house: we went to do a trial at Banfield as a team and we all stayed.”

Were you a Boca fan as a child?

“Yes, in my family we were always Boca fans, everyone was Boca except my second brother who is River. But then once you start playing you lose this thing. Until I was 19 I played in the youth sector of Banfield, it was a wonderful time for me.”

Did you have a dream of Europe?

“Yes. In Argentina, it’s hard to say, you do well for 1-2 years and then you want to go. Also because you don’t earn much and you see certain stadiums, certain players on TV… And then you want to go.

“It’s like that for everyone: you start, you play a few years in your team, maybe you play a few games in the Copa Libertadores, and then after that you say you’d like to go overseas.”

What was life like in Argentina?

“It was pretty quiet at that time. Nothing was happening, security-wise it was quiet. In recent years it has gotten a lot worse, but I remember a wonderful childhood: we were always out with friends. I did pretty well at school.”

Let’s talk about that U20 World Cup with Messi, Aguero etc. What was it like?

“It was a wonderful experience. I had been playing in Serie A for a year, it was really nice. The two of them were underage, they were the youngest. In fact, Aguero then played in another U20 World Cup and won that too.

“It was nice, all the rules you followed in the national team, in terms of training and matches, it was a wonderful thing. It was different from what I did at club level.”

What was Messi like?

“He was a little shy. He was smaller than all the others. He didn’t talk much, he played a lot on the PlayStation, he was always paired with Aguero. But he was very strong, you could see it. The coach didn’t put him in the starting line-up in the first match.”

Did everyone know he was a phenomenon or were you just starting to discover it?

“No no, everyone knew. Argentina, before the U20 World Cup, called him to make him Argentine, there was also Spain who wanted to call him up for the national team. But he wanted to play for Argentina.

“Before this World Cup, the president of the federation had purposely arranged a friendly to get him called up. And so in the first half he was on the bench, if I’m not mistaken we lost against the United States. But from the second half he started to be a starter and from there he played every game.”

Have you heard from him again?

“I’ve met him a few times: in some charity matches, in Liverpool against Barcelona. Last year I went to see him in Paris because my son wanted to see him, but there was chaos with the fans and we didn’t manage to meet. Now I haven’t seen him for a while.”

One of the most interesting things in your career was your time at Liverpool…

“After the World Cup there was this possibility, Liverpool were watching me. I was a bit hesitant, going from Argentina to England… It’s not that I wasn’t convinced but I was a bit scared. River also wanted me, in Argentina. In the end, with the agent I had at the time, we chose Liverpool.

“It was an incredible change for me. That Liverpool was a spectacular team, with Rafa Benitez. That year was very useful for me to understand the rules within a group. There were great people who told you what you had to do.

“It was also useful on a tactical level, because in Argentina you don’t work that much. That year, even though I played very few games, made me grow.”

Is there a particular memory from that year?

“The first game I played, I scored under the Kop. Very nice. Then a memory that wasn’t very nice, but I remember the Champions League final in Athens against Milan… I was in the stands, I wasn’t on the bench but I was at the stadium.”

Do you remember anything about the preparation for that match?

“Nothing special. We certainly prepared it like a final, but I don’t remember it being any different from other games.”

And what happens next?

“Sad, definitely. But many had already won it. They were certainly disappointed, but those who had already won it didn’t seem very sad. But it was definitely a revenge for Milan.”

Then the year after, the Intercontinental final against Milan. Do you remember it?

“Dr. Galliani, who I had in Monza, told me that I couldn’t win against Milan. That year was a bit of a mess. Riquelme had returned to Boca, they had won the Copa Libertadores. I arrived in the summer, afterwards.

“He had a problem with Villarreal who wouldn’t give him permission to return, and they didn’t let him play in the final. He accompanied us and everything but he couldn’t play. He was a very important player for us, he was devastating.

“I remember 15 days before the match and we saw Milan play against a Japanese team. We saw the match and we said to ourselves that Milan were a really strong team. But we also had a good team, even if it was a different kind of football. And then, well, the strength of Milan…”

In the final, were you man-to-man on Inzaghi?

“Not man-to-man, we were marking by zone. But yes, I lost him a few times… At Milanello there was a picture with a photo of Inzaghi scoring a goal and I was in front of him with him passing behind me (laughs). I think it was the second goal. I was there with long hair, another era (laughs).”

You arrive in Italy. You were supposed to go to Palermo but instead you go to Parma…

“I was all set to go to Palermo, I went there to do the medical. They did all the tests, I told them that in 2008 I hurt my knee in Argentina and I had an operation with a very good doctor, who usually operates on all the players who hurt their knee, his name is Batista.

“When I got here they told me that I had been badly operated on and that I had to have another operation. It seemed strange to me, I was playing normally. So I don’t know if there was a problem between the club and some agent and I went back to Boca.”

What memories do you have of Parma?

“Very beautiful, a 10 out of 10 city, spectacular people and teammates too. I was lucky to have Crespo in the squad, he gave me a big hand because I didn’t speak Italian. The first thing he did on the retreat was to tell the team manager not to put us in the room together because I had to learn Italian.

“So I stayed with a Portuguese guy, who had also just arrived. Crespo told me that his room was always open and I could go whenever I wanted, I had to bring a piece of paper and a pen so I could start learning the language. He gave me a big hand. I remember that retreat because he was very kind to me.”

How did you get to Milan?

“Parma already had a few problems. I had Donadoni as coach, in January I was about to go to Samp. It was almost all done, it was January 2015. Donadoni said to me: ‘You’re going to Samp, don’t you want to go to Milan?’. Yes, of course.

“In Argentina, a while ago, you only watched 2-3 Serie A games on the weekend, I always watched Milan and I had always liked them. So I told him that if there had been the possibility, I would have gladly gone.

“He told me that he would have made a few phone calls, spoken to someone. After a while, we were playing against Milan at San Siro, Milan-Parma. I was on retreat, on Saturday after dinner the coach came to me and said ‘I don’t think you can play tomorrow’.

“From there I spoke to my agent, he told me that Galliani had called him and that they wanted me. So the next day I was on the bench. I stayed in Milan and had my medical the next day. I had nothing, I only had my Parma tracksuit.

“I remember that night I went to the hotel with my agent, we went to dinner with Galliani. He joked that I shouldn’t eat too much because the next day there were medical tests. I stayed in the hotel and the next morning, they brought me a change of clothes that were Milan, I went for the medical tests.”

What is the best memory of your years at Milan?

“I had a great time at Milan. You come in at Milanello and everyone pampers you. You feel good, you feel like you’re playing in a very important club. I felt good straight away, I was happy to go to training, I was very happy to be here.

“The best memory is definitely the Italian Supercoppa that we won against Juventus. It’s a beautiful memory.”

Who were you closest to?

“The first thing they taught me at home was to be a good person. I had a very good relationship with everyone. I already knew Luca Antonelli from Parma, I had a very good relationship with him.

“Then there were a few Argentines, Spaniards… Maybe I was a little closer to them but I got along with everyone.”

What was it like to win that Supercoppa against a very strong Juventus?

“It was great. Nobody expected it, we weren’t the favourites. It was a hard-fought match. We got to the penalties, which went our way. I remember that we played that match as if it were a real final, we played really well.

“We suffered a little but you could feel that we were doing something great. Galliani always remembers that it was the last cup of the Berlusconi era, I remind him that it was trophy number 29, like my shirt number. It was destiny (smiles).

“I always tell him that I won the last trophy of their era at Milan and the first at Monza [Serie B]. He believes a little in these things, he always tells me when he sees me. It was really great to win the Supercoppa, also because it wasn’t a great period.”

If you had to take a penalty, would you have taken it?

“Yeah, if it had been my turn… I would have shot with my full power, a hit in the middle (laughs). Gigio was very good in the penalty shootout.”

Any curiosities about the penalties that night?

“The coach had chosen the penalty takers a bit, but we had prepared them in training anyway.”

Donnarumma was a very young talent at the time…

“You could see it in training. It was coach Sinisa who brought him in, he was the one who made him debut so young. You could see that there was still something he could improve on, in fact he has improved a lot with his feet since he started. He was very young, it was very brave to let him debut.”

The 4-3 win over Sassuolo, you scored the winner. What memories do you have of that comeback?

“In that period we lost almost all the games to Sassuolo, both at home and away. I remember it, it was a great comeback. I was happy that I scored. Even this goal, like the one in Genoa, every now and then people send it to me and I’m happy about it.”

What memories do you have of Sinisa Mihajlovic?

“I went to the retreat with him and then I went on loan to Atalanta because we had six central defenders. He was very clear with me, right from the start. He told me that he had already chosen his central defenders, I was the only one who had a market for me.

“He told me that I was behind in the hierarchy and he would have been happy for me if I had gone to play and then come back. He was a very direct coach, I really liked him for who he was. Also because he got along with everyone and didn’t look anyone in the face. Those who trained well, played.”

The most difficult striker you’ve marked?

“Ibra, Cavani, Lavezzi. One who always drove me crazy was Di Natale. He moved a lot, he was very strong. Cavani and Ibra are more of penalty area players. I remember a Milan-Parma match, I played left centre-back with a young boy who was playing his first games, Rolf Feltscher.

“The two of us played in pairs against Ibra. Feltscher had fouled him, so Ibra called the referee and said: ‘Ref, do you want me to kill them both?’. I heard him and I remember that this phrase stuck in my mind after that rather ugly foul.”