Icardi: "An honour to captain Inter"

MILAN – Mauro Icardi has given a long interview retracing his career path for Mediaset's Nove - Storie di bomber programme on Premium Sport.

The Argentine striker began by revealing that there was once a time when he needed persuading to play the game.

“My first team was a small club in Rosario no one's heard of. It was my local team and I scored loads of goals there, but at the start I didn't want to play. In my first game I just stopped in the middle of the pitch. My father came over and said: 'Look, you have to run. You have to score.' 'No, I don't want to play,' I replied. In the end he convinced me by promising to buy me a Coke and a sandwich. That's when I started playing and that's where my passion for the game began.”

It wasn't long before he moved from Argentina to Europe and Gran Canaria in Spain.

“I left my homeland in 2002 with my family, who moved for work. It was a really bad time in my country. There was an economic crisis and my dad decided to seek better fortunes in Europe in the hope of offering me and my brothers a better future.

“I started playing for the local team and one day some scouts from Barcelona and Real Madrid came along to watch me at this tournament. No one knew my club and there were other much bigger teams taking part but we won it thanks to my goals. That's why I ended up joining Barcelona.”

Icaridi was then asked about the rumoured phone call from Leo Messi to persuade him to join the Catalan outfit.

“They spoke to my mum and dad about joining Barcelona and there were other clubs interested: Real and Atletico Madrid, Sevilla... So Barcelona decided to send someone over to the Canaries, together with a pennant, a photo and a Barca football – all signed by Messi, dedicated to me and my family.

“One day when the first team trained at the stadium I went to the car park and waited for him. It was really cold but it was my dream to meet Messi. I knocked on his car window and said, 'It's me, Mauro Icardi, the boy you sent a pennant to.' I got the chance to meet him, he took me out for a meal and then I ate with the team. It was a special day for me.”

After three years in the Barca academy he decided to leave the club and give Italian football a try.

“I saw what happened to [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic and it resonated with me. I thought I was a similar sort of player to him – a centre-forward, not someone who moves around the whole pitch as all the Barcelona players do. So when the offer came in from Sampdoria, my agent and I decided that Italian football would be better suited to my skills.”

After a year and a half cutting his teeth with Sampdoria U19s, he made a dream first-team debut in a crucial Serie B fixture at the end of the 2011/12 season.

“We were playing in Castellammare [Naples] against Juve Stabia, a really tricky game. They scored in the first minute, we managed to equalise but then had a man sent off so we were down to 10 men. The gaffer turned to me and said, 'You have to go on for the last 15 minutes.' A cross came into the box and I was all alone because the whole team was back defending. I scored to make it 2-1 and we qualified for the play-offs. That was my debut – definitely the most important 15 minutes of my career.”

Another big moment came in Serie A the following season, against Genoa on 18 November 2012.

“We went into that match with all our strikers injured. There was just me. In the week leading up to the game, the coach didn't know who to play up front. When it came to Sunday, he said to me, 'You have to play.' 'Fine,' I told him. 'I'm here to play.' I think that derby was my best game everl. It was incredible: we won, I played a part in the first and second goals and scored the third to make it 3-1. I didn't stop running all match long. I remember at the end my whole body was cramped up. That was the turning point for me in Serie A because I'd hardly played up till then.”

It was at Sampdoria that Icardi's predilection for scoring against Juventus first came to the fore.

“That time we beat them 2-1 at Juventus Stadium in January [2013] was another amazing match. Juve went 1-0 up in the first half from a penalty and then we had a player sent off. In the second half I had two chances and scored both. We won despite playing a man light. That's when I first made a name for myself.”

He scored another goal against the Bianconeri in the reverse fixture on the last day of the season before making the switch to Inter that summer. And who should he find himself up against in the third match of the season? Juventus.

“When we played them at San Siro the stadium was packed to the rafters – it was the first time I'd seen the Meazza with 80,000 people in it. I started on the bench and scored two minutes after coming on. As I was celebrating with the fans, I could feel the pitch shaking. I could feel how much joy was running through all those fans.

"In my second year I scored 22 goals in Serie A plus five in the Europa League but it wasn't a good season for the team. We qualified for the Europa League but felt we could have finished much higher. On a personal level though, I was very pleased with my contribution – nearly 30 goals in a year.”

At the start of the 2015/16 campaign Icardi was made club captain.

“Taking over the captaincy at a club like Inter after someone like [Javier] Zanetti is a huge honour for me. I see the captain not just as the player who wears the armband but the leader of a group, a squad of 20-25 players. I think I take things seriously, I'm very professional and I do everything I can to help us be successful.”

The Nerazzurri skipper ended with a message for all children who love football.

“I think the most important thing at the start is to enjoy yourself. I was never put under pressure. I started playing for fun. Then when you get older, if you've got the ability, you realise you can make a career out of it.”