Lazio striker Ciro Immobile was proud of his European Golden Boot award and recounted his long career.
Speaking in an interview with Spanish media outlet Marca earlier today, the 31-year-old Italian spoke about his Golden Boot award and how he is the third Italian to win it.
It was nice to wait for the trophy, the most important thing is that I got it! Toni and Totti were extraordinary players and world champions.
I’m proud to follow in their footsteps and see my name among all the great footballers who have won before me.
He touched on how the award is also a response to criticisms that he’s received over the years.
Maybe we could call it a kind of revenge, not against anyone personally. In football, everyone has their moment, and last season I had mine.
The Biancocelesti star touched on any new habits he has picked up whilst in lockdown.
Above all, cooking and gardening at home. And dancing with my wife and children. Cooking, gardening, dancing, that kept me going.
The Italian touched on how it felt to move from near Naples up to Turin at the age of 17 to join Juventus.
It was a difficult transition between two completely different realities. At that time, I was young and full of dreams to reach Serie A. To do so, you have to make sacrifices and have an absolute love for football. I worked hard to get to this Golden Boot.
I know that many young people have these dreams but are going through a difficult time in this period of pandemic. I encourage you to clench your teeth, not to give up, as we all have the opportunity to fulfill our professional dreams.
He revealed that his mother travelled to Turin to try and convince him to return home.
Yes. I think it was my birthday and she said, ‘Hurry up and go home. What are you doing here in Turin? ‘ Luckily, I didn’t listen to my mom for once.
Immobile spoke about his religious beliefs and a recent meeting with Pope Francis.
Definitely, yes. A month ago, I had a private audience with the Pope together with the president of the club, Claudio Lotito. It was a very emotional day for me.
He liked the fact that I had three children. He likes large families and encouraged me to have more. He told me I had plenty of time for that right now. And yes, you better not deny the Pope a wish!
The 31-year-old Italian touched on why he decided to settle in Rome with Lazio.
We are happy in Rome. My family loves it here.
Together with the club and coach Simone Inzaghi, we are building together a project for years that has brought us many successes. And we want to work for more joys.
The Biancocelesti star commented on how it felt to try and follow in Miroslav Klose’s footsteps.
It was incredibly difficult, because Miroslav was an idol here. The situation was somewhat reminiscent of Dortmund, when I replaced Robert Lewandowski.
It is impossible to replace such exceptional players. You can only try to create your own successful path. But I don’t like these comparisons. Also, ‘Miro’ wasn’t here as long as I was.
Immobile spoke about his experiences abroad with Sevilla and Borussia Dortmund.
They were not as bad as they seem. I learned a lot in Germany and Spain. Experiencing other cultures and ways of thinking is always a useful learning process, both on a personal and football level.
Even if things are not going optimally in sporting terms.
The 31-year-old Italian spoke about various coaches he’s worked under.
Klopp stands out for his fighting spirit. He instilled in you the will to fight for every ball when he spoke to you. That was impressive.
I didn’t work with Tuchel that long, but he seemed meticulously detailed. An Italian-style coach, so to speak.
With Zeman, a fast-paced and tireless ‘attack, attack and attack’ coach. That gave me my first title as top scorer, in Serie B 2011-12 with Pescara.
By the way, I was on that team with Lorenzo Insigne and Marco Verratti.
Immobile touched on how it felt to miss the 2018 World Cup.
It was one of the darkest and most disappointing moments of my career. As often happens, we learned our lessons from that so that such disappointment doesn’t happen again in my career.
With Mancini, we have been doing a fantastic job since 2018 and the results speak for themselves. You can feel that the fans are excited about Italy again.
He discussed the strengths of this Italy team.
Really, we have a very strong team, with many young people who are ready for the national team. This team has great prospects.
We are very optimistic and the group stage will take place here in Rome, which gives us additional motivation.
He spoke about his difficulties in scoring with the Italian national team.
Apparently, I scored so many in my club that I ran out of gunpowder with the National Team! It is true that I have to work on my goalscoring success rate with the national team.
Finally, Immobile revealed his next personal goal.
It is clear to me and I hope to fulfill it one day, win another Golden Boot, whenever possible.
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