Federico Chiesa opens up about the support from his mum and father Enrico following a knee injury in 2022 and reveals Milan legend Kaka was his idol when he was a child.
The Italy international has been in discussion with Juventus’ media department on Twitch following the release of the Amazon Prime documentary ‘Back on Track’.
The documentary shares exclusive behind-the-scenes access and footage of Chiesa’s recovery from a heart-breaking ACL rupture last season.
Speaking about the initial reaction to his injury, Chiesa said he had the full support of his mum and dad, who know full well about the mental and physical toll of dealing with such a lengthy recovery period.
Chiesa’s father, Enrico, suffered his fair share of injuries during his own professional playing career, in which he earned 17 caps for the national team between 1996-2001.
“My Mum and dad have always been used to seeing me on the pitch, not on crutches and in such a long rehabilitation process,” Chiesa told the Twitch audience.
“My parents have already been there. Dad broke his left and right patellar tendon. As soon as I got hurt they were the first to give me strength, to try to cheer me up.
“I remember a sentence from my mum: what did you expect? In football it happens, it’s contact, it can happen. We have to recover and start again.”
The support demonstrated by the Bianconeri faithful was also a major inspiration for Chiesa to make his eventual return to action.
“I felt the affection,” he said. “It still helps me today, I feel the closeness and support of the Juventus fans a lot. This only makes me happy. I think the affection I earned from my performances and from what I give for the shirt.
“Every step was taken together with all the supporters. For those who love me, it was a goal for everyone.”
Despite his footballing education with Fiorentina‘s youth team and the fact that his dad was also a Serie A footballer, Chiesa revealed his idol growing up was in fact one of Milan’s most famous and successful players of the early 2000s.
“As a child, my idol has always been Kaka,” he said, before revealing who his current favourite player in the world is.
“For me, the player I like the most at the moment is Mbappé. He’s an absolute champion.”
“He’s very strong. He has a quickness of feet that you only see in a few players. He’s an absolute star player in terms of scoring as well. Someone who scores a hat trick in the world final at 23 years old? If he’s not a champion …”
Chiesa was also quizzed about his time with the Bianconeri so far. Despite his 10-month lay-off which has spanned over the last two seasons, Juve’s number seven already ahs an impressive catalogue of memories in Turin.
Asked about his favourite goal he has scored for Juventus, he explained: “I like the one I scored at home against Atalanta in November, 2020. I scored from outside the area past the goalkeeper, it was nice.
“But also the second one against Porto, the header. I don’t score many with my head, so to score one in the Champions League in that match was incredible. But I choose the one against Atalanta, I like it more. Scoring from outside the box is always nice.”
Finally, Chiesa insisted that he, along with the other members of the squad at the Allianz Stadium, are still aiming to have something to celebrate come the end of the season.
“To win something this year, it would be nice to take home a trophy especially after everything that’s happened.”