MILAN – There are times in all of our lives when it feels like destiny has moved the goalposts. When your sacrifices just aren’t enough anymore, and all you can do is resolve to redouble your efforts and hope that someday your lucky break will come along.
It’s a quandary that Antonio Candreva knows well. Up until 2007, his career seemed to be going from strength to strength with few to none obstacles – just reward for a talented, humble lad. Yet there were dark clouds ahead.
Let’s start from the beginning. Born in the Tor de' Cenci area of Rome, Candreva started out in the youth ranks at the local team before joining Lodigiani in 1996. Back then, Candreva was a shy young man, but quickly earned a reputation as an animated player on the pitch, such was his hatred of losing. It is this same determination that shines through in Candreva’s expansive, positive playing style today.
Candreva is always keen to get the ball on his feet, whether in training or at San Siro. He understands that professionalism is just as important as endeavour on field of play – and sure enough, the Italian is always among the first to arrive at the training ground and the last to complain about the sacrifices he routinely makes.
In 2003, Candreva joined the youth set-up at Ternana. It was his first experience living away from home, but he stayed in digs with his new team-mates, who became something of a second family. The young Candreva began to mature as a player – and to impress his coaches, making the step up to the first team in 2004. He would remain with the club until 2007, turning out in both Serie C1 and Serie B.
The year 2007 brought with it a move to Udinese. Yet the move proved to be the start of the toughest period in the 20-year-old Candreva’s career. He was farmed out to Livorno, before serving loan spells at Juevntus, Parma and Cesena over the next four years. On the pitch, Candreva was pushed up into attacking midfield, where he could display the technical skill he had spent years honing to perfection on the five-a-side pitches of Rome. Yet his career was stuck in second gear – and risked stalling altogether.
In January 2012, however, Candreva sealed a move to Lazio in the dying embers of the transfer window. The chance to head back to Rome – and indeed the last-minute nature of the deal – had the ring of destiny to it: it was a chance that Candreva was determined to take.
Fast forward a few months to 7 April. Lazio were hosting Napoli. With just a few minutes on the clock, Candreva received the ball on the right-hand side of the box, set himself and thundered a shot into the back of the net. It would prove to be the turning point – in the match, and in his career. He hurdled the advertising hoarding and ran towards the Curva Nord, whose fans responded with adulation. At the age of 25, Candreva had finally found his home. He would stay with the club for four years, learning from Edoardo Reja and Stefano Pioli and winning a Coppa Italia in the process. To the Lazio faithful, Candreva became Sant’Antonio.
Inter came calling in the summer of 2016. The Nerazzurri – determined to build a squad capable of winning the league – were looking for a player that had served his time, battled hard and achieved his aims. Candreva fit the bill.
And though Candreva’s initial impact at Inter was perhaps less spectacular than that thunderbolt for Lazio against Napoli, the Italian’s first goal in the Nerazzurri shirt couldn’t have come in a more important match: the derby.
Inter were a goal down to AC Milan, a situation that would have been too much for many – but not Candreva, a player who knows what it means to overcome obstacles, to leave home at a tender age, to follow his dreams. Instead, the winger lashed a scintillating strike past the outstretched fingertips of Gianluigi Donnarumma and into the back of the net. He took off in joyful celebration, his arms stretched wide, the fans cheering their new hero.
Candreva had spent his whole life preparing for a goal like that. Because destiny has a way of rewarding those that have never stopped fighting.
Alessandro Bai
