Everything about Simone Pepe is just as contagious and infectious as when he was a Juventus player. As friendly and warm as ever, he took the time to sit for a chat with us, reflecting on his playing days with the Bianconeri and explaining just what it meant for him to be part of the Juventus family.
Starting with his goals, starting with those against Lazio - against whom Juventus’ next two matches are in Serie A and then the Italian Cup.
THE GOALS AGAINST LAZIO AND THE OVERHEAD MAGIC
“I scored very few goals in my career, and they all came against Lazio! [laughs] They are all incredible memories. When I scored the first at the Olimpico, to go 1-0 up, I was coming from a run of three goals in three games and it was a shot while sliding on the end of an assist from Alessandro Matti. It was a great period, and an important one, for me and for the team. Then I scored an overhead kick in Turin, which was one of the most beautiful days of my career, it remains etched into the memories of the fans and helped us in our pursuit of the Scudetto. It was a matter of instinct, Andrea Pirlo put a great ball in and I took it down with my chest, then instinct kicked in and I hit it on the volley. How can I describe the emotion of it? It was completely unique, impossible to describe because of the strength of those emotions. I have chills just thinking about it now.”
DEBUTING AT THE ALLIANZ STADIUM, AN EMOTIONAL OPENING
“Even before my debut at the [now-Allianz] Stadium, the first big moment of the 2011/12 season was the opening of the stadium. I still have the photos and the videos, it was amazing. It was a real spectacle, we were in the stands as players because we had the game against Notts County, and we were just enchanted watching on. From the phrase “welcome home” to all of the choreography, seeing [Alessandro] Del Piero and [Giampiero] Boniperti on the bench, it was even more exciting than the first game there. The game against Parma was amazing too, we were perfect on the pitch and really pushed on and given strength by having the fans so close to us. It was a new experience for us, we were used to playing in much older stadiums in Italy. But with the fans so close to the side of the pitch it’s different - you feel that push coming from the stands. Everything went right that day, from [Stephan] Lichtsteiner’s opening goal to mine to make it 2-1 and then the 4-1 final result.”
THE FANS’ FAVOURITE, READY TO GIVE HIS ALL ON THE PITCH
“I believe that Juventus fans, when you put your heart and soul into what you give on the pitch, recognise it and love you for it. I am the proof of it, as are [Emanuele] Giaccherini, [Simone] Padoin and others. Of course there are players, champions, like [Zinedine] Zidane, Del Piero and [David] Trezequet who came as big names and are incomparable to us technically, but in Juventus’ history there has always been a place for those players who bring that spirit and desire to support the others. Juventus fans, if you give everything on the pitch, will love you forever. We never left anything behind and I still notice their appreciation when I come to the stadium today. I always say that they appreciated that I always gave everything I had. When you do that, no fan can say anything about you.”
THE SEASON WITH DELNERI, THE 2011/12 TURNING POINT
“When I moved to Juventus I’d just had three years at Udinese. There were a lot of forwards there, I was one of them and scored goals but I had to readapt. The best thing I say about myself is that I’ve always been good at reinventing myself, putting my head down and starting again. After three important years in Udine and making it into the national team, I got to Juventus for what was the opportunity of a lifetime. I told myself that it had taken me so long to get there that I would give my all to make it last as long as I could. The first season with [Luigi] Delneri I didn’t do badly, but the season didn’t go well. The fans took to me because I gave my all.
“Then everything changed with [Antonio] Conte. We experienced an evolution in Italian football, he brought things on tactically and physically, we changed formation every three months. We played 4-2-4, 4-3-3, 3-5-2… As soon as others had studied us, we had a new plan to cause them problems. In December, during the season with Delneri on the bench, we were top of the table before a game against Chievo but then we collapsed, first and foremost physically. We lacked experience then too. We weren’t used to winning, and Juventus need that. The next year a lot changed. Pirlo came in from Milan, he gave us a lot, but so did Lichtsteiner and [Mirko] Vucinic. There were a lot of important players who expressed themselves to their full potential.”
Juventus fans, if you give everything on the pitch, will love you forever. Simone Pepe
THE DRESSING ROOM AND LIFE AFTER FOOTBALL
“I was the funniest in the dressing room, not Pirlo [laughs]. Andrea is funny, from the outside looking in he seems like someone who doesn’t speak much but he makes people laugh a lot. But we recognised him more for his ability than his likability. We were a great group and in the first Scudetto-winning season we all had that hunger for revenge after having suffered together. We had a huge hunger, and the goal was to leave a mark on the history of the club. Juventus has something that is hard to explain to others. When they say that there’s a different mentality, others often wonder what it means. But you breathe it, you live it… it’s something you won’t find anywhere else.
“Once you’ve hung up your boots it’s not so easy to detach yourself from that life. When you’ve had so many good years, full of sacrifice, but in which you fulfilled a childhood dream by playing in Serie A, with Juventus, and with the national team. It’s not easy to start again, to reinvent yourself, because you’ve done nothing else in your life until that point. I’m quite enterprising and I started an agency, I started off as an agent with a lawyer and a couple of others. But we don’t all have the same character. Some of us work on TV, but I took this particular path because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do more than just play football. Now, this is something that gives me a lot of joy because it’s a great source of pride to manage 23 guys.”