Pierluigi Casiraghi reveals Paul Gascoigne’s prank on Zdenek Zeman with a goose, Gianluca Vialli’s coaching career and seeing himself in Andrea Belotti.
The former Lazio, Juventus and Chelsea forward looked back over his career with Sky Sport Italia, including an inevitable Gazza anecdote.
“Zeman always had this whistle that he really liked to use in training. One day, it disappeared after a session. After a while, a goose waddled past with the whistle around its neck, as Gascoigne had put it there.
Pierluigi Casiraghi reveals Paul Gascoigne’s prank on Zdenek Zeman with a goose, Gianluca Vialli’s coaching career and seeing himself in Andrea Belotti.
The former Lazio, Juventus and Chelsea forward looked back over his career with Sky Sport Italia, including an inevitable Gazza anecdote.
“Zeman always had this whistle that he really liked to use in training. One day, it disappeared after a session. After a while, a goose waddled past with the whistle around its neck, as Gascoigne had put it there.
“Gazza was a great player, but unlucky with his many injuries. He also had some weaknesses that he struggled with, such as his dependence on alcohol. We tried to help him, but when an issue is that personal, you need the strength to get out of it yourself too.”
Another of Casiraghi’s former teammates, Vialli, announced this week that he has no signs of cancer after 18 months of chemotherapy.
“He was a wonderful forward, I worked with him as both a teammate and a coach. I think he had the characteristics to have an even longer managerial career, as he is precise and focused. I’m very happy to hear he is doing better now.”
Of the current crop of Serie A centre-forwards, Casiraghi sees himself in Torino hitman Andrea Belotti.
“Belotti has the characteristics of a real centre-forward, like Roberto Boninsegna or Christian Vieri. Like me, he has courage and fights for every ball.”