Paolo Maldini and Superpippo Inzaghi: Lessons of Success between Disappointments and Victories

"You all think I'm a born winner? You're wrong. I've lost more trophies than I've won titles." These words were uttered by Paolo Maldini, not just anyone: one of the living legends of the tricolour football he doesn't count the successes, but he keeps in mind the falls. The reason is very simple: the difference between a career full of satisfactions and one as an "honest" football professional is made by the stimuli. And the latter can be found right in the disappointments: every slap received, in Maldini's career but also in that of Super Goofy Inzaghi – who has shared a large part of his career with the Milan flag – has acted as fuel for the engine. The Pisa coach also underlined this after the victory against Cosenza: "8 points of advantage with seven rounds to go are nothing: anything can still happen". Scrolling through the slips and satisfactions collected on the green rectangle, we can understand how much the former centre forward was able to cultivate the desire to win starting precisely from disappointments. In 1998, after dragging Juventus to the Champions League final, he saw Real Madrid celebrate. But a few days later, with a hat-trick, he sealed the victory over Bologna that gave the Scudetto to the Bianconeri. Between 1999 and 2000, the disappointments for Superpippo were numerous and serious.

Still in the Champions League, in the semi-final, the brace scored against Manchester United was not enough to take Juve to the final. Then the comeback suffered by Lazio: the "old lady" had also accumulated a 9-point advantage over the Capitoline team in Serie A. In the last round, against a Perugia already safe, Inzaghi and Juventus suffered an unexpected defeat: the concomitant victory of Lazio brought the championship to the shadow of the seven hills. Bad luck over? Not at all: at the European Championships, at the end of a fantastic journey to which he contributed as a protagonist, Superpippo and Italy were mocked in the final by France with the golden goal. The move to Milan was born under an unlucky star: in 2001 Inzaghi missed a large part of the season due to a ruptured collateral ligament in his knee.

But with patience and tenacity Superpippo got back on track and in 2003, with 30 seasonal goals, he brought the Rossoneri the Coppa Italia and the Champions League. But bad luck was still around the corner: between 2003 and 2005 Inzaghi suffered a series of problems with his elbow, knee, back and ankle: all setbacks that fueled his desire to make an impact again. And so in 2006 he dragged Milan to the Champions League semi-final and as a supporting actor he became world champion with Italy.

The credit accumulated with bad luck and slip-ups was completely extinguished with the extraordinary journey in Europe in 2007, closed with a brace in the final won against Liverpool. For the Nerazzurri there could be no better teacher from whom to learn how to transform the anger and disappointment of a defeat into determination to get back to running.

MA