Abraham P. Romero Madrid

Madrid

Updated Monday, March 11, 2024-9:55 p.m.

Alessandro Del Piero

(Conegliano, 1974) admits right away that he doesn't like interviews.

Not even now, about to turn

50

, he retired a decade ago, with a

World Cup

, a

Champions League

and five

Italian Leagues

behind him.

The microphone still terrifies him, although his work, having become an ambassador for the

Laureus Awards

, forces him to go through the journalists' round of questions.

With this newspaper he stands for a few minutes before putting on his sunglasses and leaving the Madrid Post Office, headquarters of the Community and home of the presentation of this year's Laureus gala.

Having Del Piero in Madrid forces us to ask him about two names that the Italian midfielder knows well:

Zinedine Zidane and Carlo Ancelotti

.

And on the other,

Jude Bellingham

, the midfielder of the moment.

With the first he shared five seasons at Juventus and many confrontations against Madrid and the French team, and with the second he had two years as coach of the

Vecchia Signora

.

Del Piero spent many of Carletto

's months

in Turin injured, but precisely because of that he got to know the man who is now the white team's coach even better.

More than two decades have passed since then and there are few better than him to reflect on what football has changed.

What differences do you see between the football you played and the one we see today? Well, basically I would tell you that they are two different sports.

Totally different in many, many things. In which ones? Look, we can start with the physical part.

Before, football was much more physical, and I am not referring to the individual physique of a player, but to the contacts, the tackles, the hardness of the blows... Now that is punishable with a yellow card or a red card.

It was not like this in the past.

And then it is a different sport because of what surrounds the footballer and the club, the facilities, the number of people who work in each team... For example, when I started at Juventus, and I'm talking to you about the year 1993, we had a doctor , two physiotherapists and a boy for the shoes and everything else.

Nothing else!

(Laughs).

Now the players have 30 professionals to make their daily lives more comfortable.

It's true that the number of games played each season has increased a little, but let's be honest, they play on better fields.

That has also changed, as have the rules, of which there are many that are different.

And finally technology, such as VAR and all the advances that will surely end up arriving when more technological tools are implemented.

That's why I say they are two different sports.

But the beauty of the game is still there, that doesn't change.

We continue to see spectacular goals, incredible athletes, icons, legends...One of those new icons is Bellingham.

The name will sound familiar to you...I don't know him (laughs). He is compared to Zinedine Zidane.

You, who have played with French, what do you think? Well, I don't think they are that similar.

Really.

I think they are different.

Jude is more physical and more powerful, Zizou was definitely more technical.

And also, it is difficult to compare footballers from different generations and it is not something I particularly like.

As I said before, they are two different sports.

Of course, the things that Bellingham is doing are extraordinary, don't get me wrong.

Is incredible.

Not only because of the goals, but because of the level of personality that he is showing in a team like Real Madrid, the team with the most pressure in the world and the biggest club on the planet, being so young.

That's what impresses me the most.

He is not afraid of anything.

He has an exciting future.

Maybe he ends up being better than Zidane, but who's going to judge that?

Good luck to whoever does it, I'm not going to do it (laughs).

I really enjoyed Zizou, we played together for five years and we had a great time, we won many titles and I wish we could go back and play again.

But we are old now.

Our era has ended and now it is time for the Bellingham era. Another man you know very well is Carlo Ancelotti.

What is it about being able to continue winning and continue improving players 20 years later? It's incredible.

He is a great professional, but for me the most important thing is that he is an extraordinary human being.

He is a good person, which is something very important to me.

Staying in the elite for so many years and that everyone had is very difficult.

And it's not because he always agrees with you, but because of how he tells you things.

Because of how he talks to you, because of how he runs a locker room.

I was with him for two years and I spent many months injured, but it gave me time to get to know him very well.

And there is no bigger secret than this: he is himself, a good person and a good coach.

It's an easy combination.