Christian Chivu, former Inter Milan defender and youth team coach, has opened up about his challenging time at AS Roma between 2003 and 2007, sharing previously undisclosed details about his struggle with pressure. The 2010 Treble winner, in an interview with Cronache di Spogliatoio, delved into the psychological difficulties he faced during his time under Luciano Spalletti’s management at Roma.
Chivu candidly admitted, “I had created a shell around myself, it was me against myself against the world. The challenge was always to find solutions despite difficulties without ever asking for help. Then I needed help because I couldn’t get out of that situation alone, at that point I asked for help from a psychologist. There was a situation in Rome that made me waver, partly because of the injustice that I knew had been done to me.”
The Romanian defender revealed the intense stress he experienced, saying, “It all started after an interview done after Capello had gone to Juventus. They asked me if I would like to work with him in the future, as he had brought me to Italy. I said he was a great coach and that I would have liked it. The headline the next day was ‘Chivu wants Juventus’. I would go on the field and be booed by 80,000 people.”
Chivu recounted a particularly difficult period: “I dislocated a toe in Genoa against Sampdoria, I was out on crutches. We were playing the last game before the Christmas break against Chievo. Spalletti asked me if I could play because he had no more defenders, I told him I would do it for him but that I needed injections. And there I was booed, I cried for the injustice.”
The former defender described the toll this took on his mental health: “During that period, we had eleven consecutive victories culminating in the derby, at which point they forgot everything. But during that time, I was going to the psychologist, at the end of the match I would vomit from stress and anxiety, I couldn’t get out of it and I asked for help.”
