Walter Samuel spoke on his retirement in an interview with El Grafico: “My retirement? It has been very very exciting. Basel prepared a surprise for me and invited three friends that suddenly sprung up on the field: Nicolas Burdisso, Emerson and Lucho Bergonzi, a lifelong friend. I knew nothing, my wife acted as an accomplice, as suddenly I saw them and I ran away with a few tears. I also felt a relief in having done my best to the end, I hurt all over. Did I think I’d retire in Argentina? We had some informal discussion. Diego Milito had insisted that I went to Racing, he gave me a contact. Newell’s is the club where I started and Boca was one in which I won. I was a champion twice there, I had the obsession to return to Boca. As a child I was a fan, I still have magazines and newspapers around the house. Why didn’t I return to Argentina? The league is very physical and quick, with a lot of contact and excessive pressure, I do not know if I could have tolerated it. If I came back I wanted to do well because at Boca it is unforgiving and the truth is that I had doubts. It would not have been the same and I did not know what impact I could make.“
Source: FCInter1908.it
