Players need more challenges

Perceptions versus reality is a constant theme with today's footballers.

On television and newspapers, we often see and read about players travelling in flashy cars, accompanied by top models and with fans chasing behind for an autograph.

That's the way to go, most of us might think. Everyone relishes such life. By today's standards, a top-drawer player can retire at a relatively young age with several millions of dollars under his belt and with a guaranteed future for himself and his immediate family to say the least.

Indeed, life seems to be very kind with footballers - the consummate entertainers of the game. Ironically enough, in most cases, they get paid more than their coaches, thus making life more difficult for the latter.

Over the past 15 years or so, football in Europe's top leagues has steadily become a game played by mega rich players.

With all this going on, the true spirit of the game diminished significantly. Focus has now shifted in favour of purely commercial interests. Football is a money-making machine as some top players also venture into TV promotions to 'supplement' their already-inflated salaries from their clubs with money from sponsorships.

In a recent survey carried out in Italian colleges, it resulted that students are more inclined these days to choose the career of a professional footballer at the expense of reading a University degree and become a medical doctor, a lawyer or an accountant to mention three renowned and financially rewarding professions.

And that says a lot.

One might ask why did I delve so long with these thoughts at a time when the World Cup final is looming large on the horizon?

All the facts referring to footballers' cushy life become merely an irony when one hears about Gianluca Pessotto's tragic story.

Pessotto, 35, was one of the most down-to-earth players still in circulation until last May. Unlike others, he was approachable and very modest... as if he had never forgotten about his humble start from Fourth Division side Varese.

At the end of the 2005/06 season, the midfielder-cum-defender, who also played for Torino, hung up his boots and was appointed Juve's new team manager after having played for the Bianconeri since 1995.

That was a clear indication of the huge respect the club has in Pessotto. With Juventus, he won practically everything there was to win.

Perhaps, from a purely tactical point-of-view, Pessotto's best performance ever for the national team came against France on July 3, 1998.

Then Italy coach Cesare Maldini had deployed Pessotto in such a way as to shadow his team-mate at Juventus, Zinedine Zidane, for the entire game.

Only last year, when Juventus hosted mighty Real Madrid in a crunching Champions League encounter in Turin, Juve coach Fabio Capello emulated Maldini in that he utilised a veteran, though still reliable, Pessotto as a direct marker of the 1998 Golden Ball winner.

On both occasions, Zidane was left with little, if any, space where to manoeuvre.

Highly-regarded person

From outside, Pessotto was seen as having everything one could aspire for in life. He was settled, had a family and a distinguished career behind his back. No financial constraints. He was highly regarded by his bosses and respected immensely by his team-mates.

"But that's not all in life," stressed Lazio coach Delio Rossi when I had the opportunity to have a chat with him while on a visit here last week.

"It is also important to have challenges ahead of you all the time. Without challenges, life becomes boring. Money is not everything.

"There are people out there who have everything but, at the same time, they are not at peace with themselves. I keep hearing of wealthy people who resort to such an extreme act because of problems associated with low self-esteem and lack of motivation."

Nowadays, we are living in a society that has made an art form of disguising vulnerability and camouflaging emotion at all costs.

In this regard, players have to be very careful not to enter a vicious circle of becoming robots or resort to alcohol or drugs for instance. We see players who suppress all their feelings because they are fearful of the press and they do not show any emotions.

In the not so distant past, we heard of top-notch players, like Tony Adams, Paul Merson and Diego Armando Maradona, who kept pressing the self-destructive button for years and nowadays, thanks to intensive rehabilitation, they are leading a normal life.

One augurs that Pessotto will be strong enough to overcome this difficult moment and gets back to normal life because he merits a second chance.

One of the joys of seeing Pessotto getting his life back into focus would be to have the opportunity to pause and reflect on the sport he used to play until two months ago with such dexterity.

I am convinced that Pessotto's inner values would help him replace the blur with clarity in his life.

Let us hope for the better.