Inter midfielder Nicolo Barella discussed his career so far and experiences with Inter in an interview with Italian broadcaster DAZN today.
“When I was a child, I had dreams that I then understood could become objectives. Becoming a player, making my debut in Serie A with Cagliari, playing 100 games with the Rossoblu and becoming a captain. And then I played in a top team in the world, I got there. I was 11-12 years old. The national team? It was already among the goals but maybe I didn’t think so much about big yet…”.
The 22-year-old Italian revealed his next two dreams.
“To win a league title and a World Cup. One hopefully in the short term, the other a little further ahead.”
Barella touched on how it feels to achieve his dreams of being a professional football player.
“Before being a job, it’s a passion. I’ll explain to my daughters in a few years that it’s difficult, but when your dream comes true it’s the most beautiful thing in the world. The more demanding the dream, the more beautiful it is. The emotion of entering a stadium, in Cagliari or the San Siro, to hear the fans singing your name, is the most beautiful thing about football for me.”
The Nerazzurri midfielder touched on a tackle that felt better than scoring a goal.
“I liked that one against Verona, but when I hear the roar because I recovered the ball, I like it. The slide will remain in my heart. If I had to do a tutorial, I’d say that first you always have to have your arm ready when you slide, to get up. Step two, you need the right evilness, without taking a booking. I always try to tackle with my outside leg to catch the ball, never to catch it with the tip. You always look for the ball, but if you catch the opponent it’s soccer. He’ll understand…”
He touched on the goal he scored against Hellas Verona to gift Inter three points.
“It was a goal I’d been waiting for a long time for because I couldn’t rejoice in the Champions League because it was a difficult match for us. It wasn’t very important, but this was important, and it was a liberation. I wanted to help the team as much as possible.”
Barella revealed what Conte said to him after that game.
“Maybe we had a few words, a few smiles. But I don’t remember, I was saying goodbye to all my team-mates. I said goodbye to Lautaro before the coach, he wanted to give me a jacket because I was without a jersey. It was nice. There’s a lot of instinct in my game, but the coach and his team-mates help me every day. They have a lot of experience. I try to learn certain things from them too. I’m continuing to improve. I played in Cagliari the first time, at my home. Everyone loved me. It was an important step to get away from home, away from everything and everyone. At first it wasn’t difficult, but it was more complicated. I’m in a team with many champions, everyone wanted to earn a place. I’m happy that I’ve gradually shown what I’m worth.”
Finally, Barella opened up about his farewell to Cagliari and Sardinia.
“They said many things after I left Cagliari. I had a good relationship with them. I still have it for some of them. Maybe some were hurt because I didn’t stop it, but this is football, this is the market. Things are always done with clubs and agents. I refused proposals with which I had earned more, maybe people don’t know that. I know who I am and why I came to Inter. Because I wanted to grow, it’s an important squad. There’s one of the strongest coaches in the world, some champions with whom we want to build something important. Now is not the time to look at the standings, we have to continue our roadmap and do even better. We’ll see at the end of the year what the league table will look like.”
