26th May 2013. The referee signals the end of the Italian Cup final between Lazio and Roma. The Biancocelesti won 1-0 to win the derby Capitolino most important in history. Roma’s Curva Sud empties in less than two minutes, Lazio’s is ready to party all summer long. A few minutes later, the eternal captain of Lazio, Alessandro Nesta, raised the trophy in the sky of Rome, in front of his best enemy, Francesco Totti. For Nesta, this is the peak of his career, and for good reason: the defender was playing his last game there, the 624^e all competitions combined, with the sky blue jersey, the one and only he then wore. This epilogue, the tifosi of Lazio would have dreamed of it. However, if they won this Italian Cup on May 26, 2013, it was not Nesta who triggered the Cup, but Stefano Mauri. Because the romance between Alessandro Nesta and Lazio came to a sad end on August 31, 2002. A look back at a transfer which, at the time, will rarely have made a player so sad, by his own admission.

“I don’t even know how many families lived in there. But only one was from Lazio: ours. All the others were from Roma. » Alessandro Nesta

From ball boy to captain

Between Alessandro Nesta and Lazio, it’s love at first sight. “You should know that my whole family was lazialhe was telling So walk few years ago. We lived in Cinecittà, a very popular area of ​​Rome, in a huge block of buildings. Maybe 500 meters of apartments next to each other. I don’t even know how many families lived in there. But only one was from Lazio: ours. All the others were from Roma. Inevitably, when you are in this case, you become an even more fervent supporter. Then, from being a supporter, I became a ball boy, and finally a player. » However, little Alessandro had been spotted by Roma scout Francesco Rocca. But for his dad, it’s out of the question for the fist to join the enemy. It will be Lazio or nothing. And the choice pays off: Nesta makes his first team debut a few days before celebrating his 18th birthday. Elegant, strong, handsome: he soon became one of the pillars of the club just bought by Sergio Cragnotti.

The ambitious president buys stars in all positions, but in central defense, no need: it will be the local kid. The rest of the story is incredible: on April 29, 1998, it was Nesta who scored the winner in the Italian Cup final, against AC Milan, putting an end to 24 years without a trophy for Lazio. “That night, I was 22, I was a real supporter. After the game, I was high” , he confided. A click since, in the two years that followed, the Biancocelesti won the Scudetto (2000), the Cup again (2000), the Italian Super Cup (1998, 2000), the Cup Winners’ Cup (1999) and the European Super Cup (1999). Each trophy is Nesta who brandishes it, captain’s armband around his biceps. It is finally here bandage which the tifosi had dreamed of. The rivalry with Totti, captain of Roma and also born in Rome, makes the story even more beautiful. One is a defender, the other a striker, both are children of the Eternal City, and their rivalry seems set to last until the end of their careers.

“I’m at San Siro, and there, I see Crespo with the Inter jersey, while the same morning, we were doing a toro together with the Lazio jersey! He said to me: “They sold me too.” I wondered if there was anyone left at Lazio. It was a real mess, the club had no more money. » Alessandro Nesta

In Rome in the morning, in Milan in the evening

Yes, but now, everything did not really go as planned. By dint of spending millions and millions, President Cragnotti finds himself in the red. From the summer of 2001, he was forced to sell his nuggets to save the club from a looming bankruptcy. Pavel Nedvěd and Juan Sebastián Verón are the first two to pay the price: the Czech and the Argentinian are respectively applied to Juve and Manchester United. The 2001-2002 season was very complicated for Lazio with, among other things, this stinging 1-5 defeat in the derby, probably the worst match of Nesta’s career, replaced at half-time. At the end of the season, the Laziali hang in sixth place in extremis, but the accounts are more than ever in the red. To survive, you have to sell. Throughout the summer, rumors spread Nesta everywhere. At Juve, at Inter, at Milan, at Real Madrid, at Manchester United. The days pass, and yet the captain is still there. But on the last day of the transfer window, August 31, 2002, everything changed. Sergio Cragnotti decides to sell him to AC Milan for 31 million euros, while Hernán Crespo signs at Inter for 36 million. A double blow that Nesta had told us himself, with an emotion still palpable in his voice.

“It was unrealhe remembered. I was quietly doing a toro in Formello (the Lazio training center, editor’s note) with my teammates. There Cragnotti’s son arrives and says to me: “Ale’, you’re going to AC Milan.” I look at him, I laugh and I answer him: “How so? Me? Oh no, not at all.” Except it wasn’t a joke. They had really sold me in Milan…” The player barely had time to greet his teammates before he had to pack his bags and go to Milan. He is expected for the official presentation at San Siro, on the occasion of a friendly charity match between Inter and Milan. “A few hours later, I find myself propelled to San Siro, for the official presentation. I’m on the lawn, I turn around, and there, I see Crespo with the Inter jersey, while the same morning, we were doing a toro together with the Lazio jersey! He told me : “They sold me too.” I wondered if there was anyone left at Lazio. It was a real mess, the club had no more money. »

“AC Milan had just spent more than 30 million on me, and I was sad. Galliani noticed it, he came to see me just before the start of the interview and made me understand that it was better for me to smile a little, at least in front of the cameras. » Alessandro Nesta

Love and bottles on the face

The funniest scene takes place just after the meeting. Journalists want to produce his first impressions as rossonéroexcept that the player is still in shock at his departure. “It was dramatic… After the charity match, I had to do a live interview for Italian TV. AC Milan had just spent more than 30 million on me, and I was sad. Galliani noticed it, he came to see me just before the start of the interview and made me understand that it was better for me to smile a little, at least in front of the cameras… But the first few days, that was really difficult. » Especially since the tifosi of Lazio find it difficult to understand this departure, they who thought that their captain would end his career at Lazio. Barely a month later, on September 28, Nesta returned to Rome for a Lazio-Milan. He who expected to receive the love of his tifosi will finally receive a rather dry message on a banner (“18 years of Lazio: you gave a lot, you received a lot, and yet, from you, no goodbye. We do it for you: ciaooo”)whistles and… bottles on the face. “Everyone said it was me who wanted to go to Milan, when the truth is that I was forced to gohe assures. It was obvious that Lazio was going bankrupt, people knew that. So why do they want me? They could have blamed the president, but not me. »
Time and countless successes with the Milanese club will obviously heal the wounds. With Milan, Nesta will win two Scudetti (2004, 2011), a Cup (2003), two Super Cups (2004, 2011) and above all two Champions Leagues (2003, 2007), in addition to two European Super Cups (2003, 2007 ) and a Club World Cup (2007). “Now that my career is over, I can say that signing for Milan was obviously the chance of my life.he would rewind. But when you have to suddenly leave your city, your family and your club of hearts, you find it difficult to take such a step back. »

By Eric Maggiori
Words by Alessandro Nesta collected by EM, for an interview with So Foot.