Bruno Pizzul: “I envy Adani’s enthusiasm, I couldn’t wait for the game to end” – Football

The warm and dear voice of Bruno Pizzul it returned for a few minutes on Raidue, in the early afternoon, after the crackling Ghana-South Korea. During “BellaMà”, the program hosted by Pierluigi Diaco, the 84-year-old ex commentator from Friuli, for 26 years in thick and thin combined with the events of the Azzurri national team (in 2002 his last World Cup), returned to talk about the his career, of Maradona, football and today’s commentary. “I have no nostalgia for the moments or for my commentary. Before we often chatted with the players, today the journalist-athlete relationship is different also due to the media and social networks that do not allow for an interpersonal relationship similar to the one before. Today, with this large volume of data out there, we fall into the temptation to give really useless statistical information”. Asked about the verve of Daniele Adani, at the highest levels during the Argentina-Mexico commentary, Pizzul commented as follows: “Adani he is someone who enraptures you with the way he tells things, with his enthusiasm, with his pleasure in describing football and good plays. To some it will seem too emphatic. I have a little envy. I’ve never been able to take myself so seriously. But that’s not a criticism.”

“Maradona unique, he had extraordinary human qualities”

And then, again, Pizzul spoke of the greatest footballer of his era as a commentator, Diego Armando Maradona: “There is only one way to define him. The only adjective I would use for him is “unique”: both on the pitch, where he did things that no one could even think of being able to do, but especially off it. Despite having had a life marked by pain and disappointment, there has never been a teammate who has ever said a word against him. He was extraordinary in his support not only in terms of football but also human quality. He had the singularity of putting everyone who knew him at ease. I wasn’t very familiar with him, but whenever I met him he treated me with enormous respect and friendship. If we happened to take the elevator together, he would insist that I go in first. He had extraordinary human qualities and is infinitely missed today, in Naples but I would say in the whole world of football ”.

“Winning the World Cup wouldn’t be enough for Messi to be matched with Diego”

On the comparison between Maradona and Messi, Pizzul finally added: “I think that as much as one can wish Messi the best, it would not be enough to win the World Cup to be compared to Maradona. I honestly believe that even Messi has never had such an aspiration. Those who have known Maradona’s football and Messi’s football cannot accept comparisons of this type. And I say this with all possible admiration for Messi”.