“It is very difficult to stop thinking as a player.” This is what Diego Milito told Ole’, following his retirement from at the end of May: “Today I’m able to do things I couldn’t do before: having coffee with my dad in his garage, visit cousins, friends, taking and picking up my kids from school … At the same time, it is as if I’m on holiday like the rest of the team. In the last six months I knew all this would end. But you’re never that ready for this … I will feel this emptiness on June 21 when the lads return to training. Today I’m enjoying it though, I don’t feel the need to play. Even though I cannot spend to much time doing nothing.”
The Argentine also spoke of a time when he went against Inter’s orders: “One day, following surgery, I went to Mexico to visit a doctor. Inter didn’t want me to do nothing. There were 40 degrees and I was in the gym. A real shitty place.”
He finished reminiscing about his final game: “When I think of it I cry. It was something really great … seeing the stadium like that … I will take respect and love. This is much more precious than any other titl. To receive those messages from Zaragoza, Inter and Genoa, going there and knowing that you’re at home. These are the values my mum and dad gave me when I was young. I don’t know if I deserve all this. I lose part of my life, my home … I’m not joking, after the game I went back on the pitch, I looked at the stands, at the pitch and I said ‘I will not run anymore here’. It was a very hard feeling, but my body couldn’t do it anymore. But at 36 years of age, you might lose something physically but you gain mentally, you’re more calm. I managed to realize my dream: to retire with this club. Not every player can have this chance: I used to tell my wife: ‘This was my dream and now …’.
Source: Ole
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