Football is his life

A conversation with Sven-Göran Eriksson

‘Mancini has always been really, really important to me. He was the first player I wanted to take to Lazio with me. Sergio Cragnotti thought he was a bit too old for that, but in the end we took him anyway. And what good luck that was! Mancini turned out to be fundamental for the White-and-Blues. He brought a winning attitude with him, just like Mihajlovic and Verón did – the other two players we got from Sampdoria. He found himself in a good team, and always did his best. In three years together, we won seven trophies. The happiest moment? Without doubt, the championship we won in 2000. We could have won it the previous year, but we missed it by just one point. The Lazio people had been waiting for that for a very long time.’

The Swedish ‘professor’ has not forgotten how to speak Italian. He speaks it like he always did, with the same inflection, dropping in the odd word in Spanish or Portuguese here and there. He has 30-odd years as a manager behind him. He has travelled the world, from Portugal to England, from Italy to Mexico, from the Ivory Coast to Sweden. And, who knows, maybe one of these days he will pack his suitcase again and go and sit in yet another dugout. The former England manager (2001–2006), who also coached Manchester City (2007–2008) and Leicester City (2010–2011), is the only person to achieve domestic doubles – winning the championship and the national cup in the same year – in three different countries: Sweden, Portugal and Italy. In these three countries, he totalled five championships and ten other cups and super cups.

His Italian adventure began in 1984, when he was coach of Roma. Straight away, he noticed a young guy called Mancini, playing with Sampdoria. Brazilian Paulo Roberto Falcao, the Red-and-Yellows midfielder, told him he should buy him. And he did try, but Paolo Mantovani wouldn’t let his darling go. So the meeting between Sven-Göran Eriksson and Roberto Mancini was put off until the 1992/93 season, when the Swede replaced Vujadin Boskov as the new Sampdoria manager.

‘We won the Coppa Italia, we finished third in the championship and we did quite well in the Cup-Winners’ Cup,’ remembers Eriksson from his home in Sweden. He also remembers how much Paolo Mantovani, the president, used to love Mancio. ‘When we played an away match, he used to call me and ask whether Roberto would play. Only if I confirmed that he would, he came and watched his team.’

What was Mancini like, as a footballer?

‘He was phenomenal, fantastic, a great player. He was fast, he could make that final pass, he could score … he was very intelligent as a player. He had an incredible vision for the game. He saw things before everybody else did – almost before they happened.’

And he was a nightmare for his teammates.

Eriksson laughs. ‘He was a really peculiar guy. On the football pitch, he had quite a strong temper. If he saw that his teammates weren’t doing things right, if they messed things up or simply weren’t doing their best, he would go mad, he went berserk, because he thought that they could do better, that they could do more. He never took it out on the opponents­, only on his teammates. Nevertheless, he never did it for himself – he was doing it for the sake of the team. He always wanted to put on a show, and he always wanted to win. Roberto is a perfectionist, in everything he does.’

And he often lost his temper with the referees as well …

‘Yes, that’s right, that was awful. When he thought he had suffered some injustice, he couldn’t control himself. That also happened when he believed a referee had something against him.’

30 March 2000. Mancini becomes your assistant at Lazio.

‘That was only for a short period of time. However, knowing him for a long time as I did, I had no doubts he would become a great manager.’

What made you feel so sure?

‘Because Roberto loves football, he lives for football, football is his life. He had always shown an interest in coaching, since he was a player. He was interested in the preparatory skills, the training, the team layout, the patterns of play, the defence and attack patterns …’

Mancini always points to you as his mentor. What did you teach him?

‘I am not sure about that. As a player, Roberto had many managers: Sacchi, Boskov, Vicini, Burgnich … I suppose he learned a little bit from each one of them, he probably took something from one, something else from another.’

What about his being calm and cool during a match, something that the English admire about him: did he get that from you?

‘Well, perhaps he did learn that from me after all. He took that from a Swedish model.’

Apart from being a role model for Mancini, you were also his patron, promoting his cause on English soil: first, when you wanted to take him with you to Blackburn; then putting his name forward for Leicester City; and finally, suggesting he should go to Notts County.

‘That’s right. I spoke about it with Peter Taylor, and he really liked the thought of Roberto going to play in Leicester. I did it because Roberto was always talking about England, about English football. I thought that must have been his dream, playing in England.’

How was that dream born?

‘I believe he must have always liked English football, I don’t know why, but he was always discussing it with his teammates. And when Lazio were not playing, or in any case as often as he had the chance, he watched all the Premier League matches that he could catch on TV.’

You coached Manchester City yourself. What was the atmosphere like in that club?

‘Manchester City has almost always been United’s little brother. Then the new owners decided that it was not going to be the case any more. They wanted the situation to end. They now want City to become the older brother, and they are doing well at that. When I used to be the manager, the club didn’t have all this money; it is all different now. In other words, it is a completely different story: they have the resources to purchase, more or less, anything and anyone they want.’

How has Mancini worked at City, in the past years?

‘Really well. The successes he has achieved so far prove that: FA Cup, Premier League, Community Shield. To be quite honest, I don’t see any other team in the Premier League that can measure up to City. Without doubt, they are the strongest football team in the English Premiership.’

And in Europe? What chance do City have in Europe?

‘I am persuaded they can put up a good challenge to Real Madrid and Barcelona, which are undoubtedly the best teams – at least on paper, that is.’

What are the best skills of Mancini the manager, in your opinion?

‘Roberto fully knows football, he thinks football. And he can handle a group. I reckon he must have learned that in Italy, especially at Inter Milan – a team with many great champions, many nationalities and strong personalities. That’s right, I believe the Milan stage to have been fundamental to him.’

Do you think he handled the Tévez and Balotelli affairs well?

‘Men like that are not easy to handle, but they are great players, and results are what count in the end. They won the Premier League, and that’s the end of it.’

Roberto Mancini – a friend?

‘I don’t speak to him every day, but we do talk a couple of times a month. He is very respectful, he still calls me “Mister”. I have told him many times to address me less formally, like I do with him, but he won’t have it.’

What are his qualities, as a person?

‘Roberto has always been very generous to everyone. I still remember, when he was the Sampdoria captain, he used to buy dinner for the whole team once a week, at Piedigrotta, a restaurant in Genoa. He is a very strong man, and deep down, a simple man, too. I know his mum and dad, they raised him well. Roberto has a deep affection for his family. Besides football, that’s his greatest passion.’