Giordano, for Maradona “the strongest Italian I ever played with”: “Guns at Lazio? Only Pulici and I without them”

The former Lazio and Napoli striker tells his story

Bruno Giordano, the former striker whose career was closely tied to Lazio and Napoli, has opened up in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport. Here are some of the most interesting passages.

Maradona said: "The strongest Italian footballer I ever played with"

"He was the greatest of all time, while I was his team-mate and his friend. Napoli's first Serie A title, with him, is history that will remain for centuries and centuries."

Lazio and the guns

Maestrelli and Chinaglia's Lazio

"He realised I had qualities that were unknown even to me. I was a forward, of course, today they would call it a false nine. I liked to move around, I imitated Cruijff, but when Chinaglia went to America, he took the No 9 shirt and handed it to me. I scored straight away, in Florence, in the second league match, and from that moment I became a centre-forward. That Lazio side were a group with unbelievable personalities, on the pitch and on the bench, who used to knock lumps out of each other in training and then on Sundays would magically go out and fight together."

The guns

"I think at a certain point only Felice Pulici and I did not own one. One Sunday, we were playing in Ascoli Piceno, we were at a training retreat in Colle San Marco, we set off and in a lay-by there was the wreck of a car dumped there. Some of them got out, had a kind of target practice competition, and then we went to play."

The bets

The betting affair

"Convicted for something I didn't do. The ordinary courts acquitted me, while sporting justice banned me for three and a half years, later reduced to two thanks to Paolino Rossi, who came back in time and helped us win the World Cup, which I instead missed. I would have been a World champion. Never mind, that's how it went: I played with Diego, I can tell that story".