Torino defender Alessandro Buongiorno says staying with the club in the summer was the right choice for him. The 24-year-old is among the most in-demand players in Serie A, having been closely linked with a move to Milan when the summer transfer window opens. Speaking with La Gazzetta dello Sport, the defender explained why he chose to remain in Turin this season, his inspirations on the pitch and what its like to play under Ivan Juric:
“The most beautiful, most intense moment of my experience here at Toro was when, at Superga, Captain Rodriguez told me that I would read the names of the players, the victims of that tragedy. In that moment, I experienced the highest point of a belonging that I feel very deeply. Being from Torino is not like being of any other team, with all due respect. We have been great, we have won a lot, but we have also suffered a lot. Fate has struck us by wiping off the face of the earth the strongest team of that time, the one led by Captain Mazzola, and then the most significant, most symbolic player of the Sixties, Gigi Meroni. We are pain and joy, we are tragedy and celebration. We are Torino. As I read those names, I felt the weight and the honor of this identity.”
Is this why you didn’t want to go to Atalanta this summer and perhaps to another big club in January?
“We talked a lot in those days, President Urbano Cairo and I, and it seemed to us that staying was the right choice. For me, and I hope also for the team. I feel good here, I am happy. We know that we have to rely on the collective, on the sense of team. We are an orchestra, not a group of soloists. It’s Torino, my ‘great’.”
When will you return to the field?
“We’re almost there, I’ll be back soon. Fortunately, the shoulder injury still allowed me to train my legs, to run. But I can’t take it anymore. During therapy, occasionally I kicked a rubber ball. I miss the field, being with my teammates, and playing again.”
Let’s stop on this verb, playing. No one says “the game of boxing” or “the game of motorcycling”. It’s football, the game par excellence…
“For me, it’s the basis of everything, having fun is necessary. Being a footballer is not just a job, it’s a passion that also has to do with your inner child. When I was little, I always had a ball in my hand, I kept it at home, in the garage, everywhere. And whenever I could, I played. I played not with the idea of becoming a champion, but to have fun. I played for myself, I played with my friends. Football has always made me feel good.”
As a child, did you collect stickers like everyone else?
“My parents have always worked, they are both employees. And I will never be grateful enough to them for the way they let me make my choices while also making me responsible. My grandparents used to pick me up from school and take me to the field. But first, we stopped at the newsstand to buy stickers. For years, I wrote to Panini’s competent office to receive the missing ones. That’s how I completed many albums.”
What impression does it make on you, then, to become a sticker yourself?
“I’m proud of it. When I saw it for the first time, I thought back to all the effort I put in: the mud, the kicks, the injuries. But I made it. Because I always tried to improve, I never settled.”
You are part of a new generation of footballers. Those who study, graduate. And they make less noise, like the forest that grows, compared to those who do less commendable things.
“After high school, I went to play in Carpi. I decided to take that time as a gap year. I played PlayStation, went out with friends. But then I realized that I felt like I was wasting life, trivializing the days. So I enrolled in university, graduated, and now I’m studying for a master’s degree in Sports Management. Studying has opened my mind. It also helps me on the field, I understand things better, I see them earlier and more in depth.”
I think Luciano Spalletti likes guys like you, I think he looks for, beyond good feet, also a good head and soul. Will you be at the Euros?
“I’m doing everything to recover, to be ready. I know that in the national team, it’s not enough to be strong. They rightly look at the human quality too, the ability to be part of the group, to feel like a part and not the whole. I really hope to make it, I’m stepping up my pace and struggling not only for the Granata jersey but also for the Azzurri one.”
Who is the most difficult attacker to face?
“For me, Lukaku. He’s very tough. He has great physicality, and he uses it. You have to be very careful not to give him space. With him, it’s necessary to play ahead. Another very strong player, although I haven’t marked him yet, is Osimhen. He has speed, power, and competitive nastiness.”
A defender you admired as a child?
“Two. Nesta and Maldini. I know their matches by heart, I’ve consumed YouTube to see how they defended and participated in the game.”
Unforgettable matches?
“The one in the Coppa Italia against Milan (January 11, 2023). We won with ten men with a goal in the final stages. Then the debut for the national team, during the Nations League (June 18, 2023, in Netherlands-Italy 2-3). I wasn’t among the called-up players and I was on vacation with my friends. The day before the call-up, I joked that I had been contacted to join the Azzurri. When it really happened, they didn’t believe it. But above all, my debut in the Granata jersey against Crotone (April 4, 2018). I came on at the eightieth minute and got injured at the elbow six minutes later. Joy and pain, stuff for Granata.”
How is Juric?
“A tough coach, who rightly demands a lot, who thinks of the group and defends it. When we first met him, we weren’t used to those work rhythms, to that intensity of preparation and play. But now we understand his way of understanding football and we try to apply it. I don’t know where we can go, but certainly as high as possible.”
Once you shared this story, about your surname: “On the first day at Torino, I arrived on the field, in front of everyone, and the coach asked me, ‘What’s your name?’ And I said, ‘Buongiorno.’ And he said, ‘Good morning to you too, what’s your name?’ And I said, ‘No no, Buongiorno.’ Anyway, we went on for a minute… and from there it became a ritual.”
“For my whole life in the morning, I immediately got ‘Good morning, Buongiorno.’ At first, I was a bit upset, now I joke about it. I even invented the celebration with coffee. The Buongiorno coffee.”
I know you have a special interest in children.
“I often go to children, especially to those less fortunate. In the end, it’s always them who give strength to me. I try to suggest to the kids the beauty of being together, not spending life in front of social media. I try to encourage them to socialize, to get to know each other, to escape loneliness. Sports and studying make people better. And it’s not impossible to make them coexist, in our time. It’s what I always try to demonstrate, on the field and in books.”
