MILAN - Javier Zanetti gave an interview to RaiSport 1 in which he touched on a whole range of subjects chatting to Thomas Villa. Starting with his career, the highs and the lows, he also spoke about the possibility of him moving upstairs, having Moratti and now Thohir as president, and his relationship with Pope Francis.
"Inter really is a family," the former No.4 began. "I spent 22 very intense years playing the game - only with love and passion for the sport can you achieve certain things. I couldn't have asked for anything more from football."
From the pitch to his possible role as vice president: "Yes, there's talk of that, but what matters is that I do something useful for the club. I've said I'm totally open in that respect. I'd like to share the history of this shirt and explain that behind it all there's a great club fighting to be successful."
The peak? "Madrid, obviously. I'd waited for that moment for so long, like lots of my team-mates."
From Argentina to Italy and Inter. "Italy opened its arms to me from the very start, back when I was a nobody. That's why I'm so grateful to the Moratti family and all the Interisti who have given me so much love and let me become a club symbol. Yes, that's one of the reasons why I feel Italian."
Zanetti also spoke about Erick Thohir, explaining that he's "very competent. He has very clear ideas and I think he's learning what it means to be part of the Inter family. Hopefully we can all be a great success together."
His final comments were on Pope Francis and the inter-religious match due to be played at the Stadio Olimpico: "The Pope is a wonderful person who is sending out a strong message to everyone. He asked me to organise this inter-religious game to spread the message of tolerance and opening towards others. Hopefully we can have a sell-out at the Olimpico."
