Soccer is more than a national sport. It's a national narrative.

So much (of soccer) is linked with cities and towns. We don't see franchises, as you do, that go from one place to another.

If you are the owner of a factory employing 500 people, on Monday you talk to any of them about soccer, and that's completely unifying. Italy doesn't have very much in terms of national culture like that. ... You have Hollywood and all the stars, we don't have anything remotely (like that). Soccer compensates.

Political passions have become as irrational as those of football fans.

Right now he's in ideal condition, just like at the start of the season. He can face the race with all of his resources at hand - physical, technical, mental.

Who seems most hideous when adorned the most.