Tuttosport 05/12/00
FABIAN CARINI, YOU COULD HAVE CHOSEN TO GO TO MANCHESTER UNITED AND LAZIO. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE JUVENTUS?
"Because it's the best team in the world, because I've been a bianconero fan since I was eight years old, and because there are three other Uruguayans. Maybe four, with Pacheco. A family."
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM ITALY?
"The question should be asked to who bought me: what do they expect from me? I can say that I hope to repay the expectations and to adapt quickly. I forgot: to play too."
DID YOU GIVE YOURSELF A DEADLINE? IN SIX MONTHS VAN DER SAR COULD LEAVE YOU A SPOT, IT'S A REASONABLE WAITING PERIOD...
"Two months. I gave myself two months to learn the language, though I already speak a couple of words thanks to my friend 'Pitongo' Delgado, and to learn how the system works."
CONGRATULATIONS. YOU SEEM BOLD THOUGH ONLY 21 YEARS OLD...
"It's not boldness. On the contrary, I don't want to step on somebody else's shoes, I don't want to destabilize Juventus' balance. But, if I'm allowed, I'm coming to Italy to give my contribution. And you can do little from the bench."
YOU AND VAN DER SAR, A STRANGE SITUATION...
"A special one, rather. Van der Sar is experiencing an unlucky period, but he's redeeming himself and he should be understood. For a goalkeeper, inner peace is essential. Together we'll talk about soccer, I will accept his advice. But then it will be the field and the daily training sessions that will decide who will play. In any event, the last word will be the coach's."
YOU ARE OFF TO A GOOD START...
"Meaning?"
THAT YOU HAVE A CLEAR MIND...
"Let me join Juventus at least with the ambition of playing. To delude oneself hasn't hurt anyone. And I delude myself in thinking I will play every single game."
ARE YOU SCARED?
"With the help of God, I don't fear anything. Not even when I went to Maracan� with the National squad, and I assure you it's a frightening stadium, not even in my first game with the Celeste. I have a peaceful nature, fear breeds from insecurity."
CARINI, TELL US. JUVENTUS FANS ARE ANXIOUS TO HEAR NEWS ABOUT YOU.
"I began at eight years of age, in the juniors of Danubio. And I continued with Danubio, my major league debut came at 17, then the various National squads. My former team is a great soccer school. I'll give you a couple of names that everybody in Italy knows: Recoba and Ruben Sosa. Let me add Chevanton, he's 19 and is a terrific striker, in the penalty box he will kill you. You will start hearing of him soon."
DO YOU HAVE ITALIAN ORIGINS?
"Yes, my great-grandfather was from Piacenza. My father is called Hector, my mother Elena, and I have two brothers, Damian, 15, and Fiorela, 10. We are a united family."
WE WERE TOLD THAT GIRLS GO CRAZY FOR YOU...
"And who says it? I have a fianc�e, Vichy, she's 22. She will come with me to Turin. My parents want to move too, but to Spain, since my mother is from Logro�o."
WHEN WILL YOU MOVE?
"I think that I'll join Montero, O'Neill, and Fonseca in January. But if Juve wants it, I'll come sooner and pass New Year's with the warehouseman."
YOUR HOBBIES?
"Listen to music and watch television. I like to read even though I left school after the 11th grade."
YOUR CAR?
"A Peugeot 106 registered in 1994. I bought it used with 105,000 km."
CARINI, WHO WERE YOUR IDOLS?
"Fernando Alves and Ladislav Mazurkiewicz. Then I admire Farid Mondragon, a Colombian."
YOUR BEST SKILL?
"It might sound absurd, but my feet."
YOUR WEAK POINT?
"Even more absurd, my left foot."
PARDON, BUT DO YOU PLAY IN GOAL OR NOT?
"Yes, but I also score goals. I scored a goal this year on a penalty kick."
WHAT KIND OF GOALKEEPER DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF?
"Calm first of all and straight to the point. I have a quality: I don't let anything go to my head."
FOR HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU SIGNED?
"Five. And let me underline this immediately: for me money doesn't have any value. First it comes the prestige of playing for Juventus."
WHAT IMPRESSION DID GIRAUDO, MOGGI, AND BETTEGA GIVE YOU?
"I met them in Turin when I signed the contract. I said hello to the team, the coach, and my future teammates. My impression is that of prepared people. Paco Casal and Daniel Delgado, the people to whom I owe everything, told me that Juventus give you a lot but it will ask me for even more. The challenge interests me."
WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND?
"Paolo Montero. But I get along with O'Neill too."
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
"The league title this year, next year the Champions League too."
DO YOU WATCH JUVE ON TV?
"Via cable. I like Ferrara, Del Piero, and Inzaghi."
WHO IS RECOBA?
"A friend that I will meet as an opponent. He's a phenom as a human being and as a player."
AND PACHECO?
"An excellent forward, with good technical skills and quickness."
ATHIRSON WILL ARRIVE TOO...
"We played against each other many times. I always won."
WHO IS THE STRIKER THAT WORRIES YOU THE MOST?
"Worry? Never. It's better who will give me the hardest job: Ronaldo and Batistuta."
CARINI, DO YOU FEEL READY FOR ITALY AND JUVE?
"I'm ready to play."
(La Stampa 05/12/00)
Interview by Vittorio Oreggia
