«From Inter to cocaine and alcohol to rebirth» – Corriere.it

You can live on two million a year (last football contract), but feel just as well on 1,500 euros a month, chopping wood in Amatrice in the family farmhouse. Especially when you’ve blown a fortune, been addicted to drugs and alcohol, picked out the best sports cars, and had a lot of women. Fabio Macellari, ex Cagliari, Inter and Bologna lived life from above and above all from below. The breakup of the crusader precludes his last chance for the national team (“Fabio Grosso went in my place”), but it is his “bad habits” – cocaine, alcohol – that cut short a career that in his early thirties could have reserved for him more successes (“instead I lost my way, completely”). Macellari, Ronaldo’s Inter left-back is the phenomenon and Vieri, today he is 48: he ended up being a baker, a waiter “and whatever happens to me to earn”. He talks about it today with serenity. He also says he’s tired of reliving certain memories, but then he gives in: «I squandered a fortune, having fun cost me dearly. But then I learned to enjoy the little things, in bad luck I rediscovered the values ​​that my family has always taught me».

Butchers, what are you doing now?

«Up and down between Cagliari and Piacenza. Now I’m in the countryside in the family home, with me is my partner: I cut wood and take care of the vegetable garden. A green landscape that gives me serenity, reconciles me with the good things in life. And it’s useless to always be thinking about what could have been and wasn’t, I’m happy with the career I’ve had anyway. Sure, if I went back I wouldn’t do some stupid things. When you’re young you don’t realize how lucky you are because you earn so much and you only think about having fun. When you stop playing, the money runs out quickly because you are used to a certain lifestyle. The knee injury sent me into depression, I tried to get up but nothing. I started with drugs, then alcohol. I hit rock bottom and was penniless. And from there you either die or start from scratch, I made it».

Football’s fault?

«But no, indeed. From what I saw afterwards, football is among the worlds best. I was the one who had the wrong attitudes: if I had had the head I would have done another 10 years, even with the national team. But you know what I tell you? If I could go back I would do almost everything again. If I had made other decisions I would not have had my child, and that was the goal that changes your life. After Bologna and the physical recovery I returned to my Cagliari, where I had been the protagonist of a historic promotion to Serie A, Cellino loved me, after moving to A he gave me a Mercedes Pagoda. But that return did not go well. I did a lot of things and was put out of the squad».

He tells us?

“I went out with friends one night and came back at 10 the next morning. I called Cellino to report myself, he got very angry because I was like a son to him, he made me kick the squad. A few years later I decided to stop because I understood that it was no longer the case, and there the tunnel, crap one after the other. Slowly I made it, I had to do it. To live. I had nothing, all family property was inaccessible to me, I had to live. Time passed and I had access to my nice pension, now I just enjoy cutting wood, taking care of the garden. Being with my son.”

Does he know about his past?

“Of course, he knows everything. As it should be. I’ve made even serious mistakes but I’ve never lost sight of values: I taught him this. I do not have never stolen, never dealt drugs. Offenders never have money problems. To survive I went from waiter to baker to woodcutter. Now I enjoy my family and retirement, simple well-being. Real life.”

But he’s not old enough to retire…

«No, but that of peace yes. I did what I had to do and I even enjoyed myself, now I enjoy my partner and my son. Soon I’ll go to the Canary Islands where my brother lives.’

Do you watch football on TV?

“Not much, actually. I support all the teams where I’ve played, with an extra sympathy for Inter that has remained in my heart».

But even there it could have been better.

«Inter was a short-lived dream. After Lippi left the scene, the coach who had wanted me, I gradually disappeared. Partly my fault, partly due to the lack of trust of the club and the new coach Tardelli. It’s easy to get burned in Inter. When a team changes too many players every year, someone inevitably gets lost along the way. But I’m still attached to those colors».

But is it true that he was also a singer?

«Yes, I was playing in a rock band. I didn’t miss anything.”