FLORENCE (ITALPRESS) – Gigio Donnarumma No. 1, then deputy Vicario and now, between Meret, Provedel, Carnesecchi and so on, the Azzurri group also welcomes Michele Di Gregorio. The Juventus goalkeeper has been called up by Luciano Spalletti for the Nations League matches against Belgium and Israel. The right reward after a long apprenticeship, but it will be difficult to make room for himself among so many number 1s. “I’ve always said that the Italian goalkeeping group is crazy, I’m really happy for this first convocation, I can’t wait to be of help, to put myself at the disposal of the coach and the team,” Di Gregorio told the microphones of RaiSport from the Coverciano retreat. “I started in C when I was 19, did two years in this category, then three in B, had wonderful years in Monza with promotion to A, then came Juventus. Someone believed in me more than I did, I would say mine has been a continuous path of growth, always wanting to prove that I can go to the next step,” explained Di Gregorio who has now arrived at the top of national and international soccer. “I’m happy to be at Juventus, to have found the coach, the staff and a club like this, but now I’m in the national team and I want to enjoy this week to the fullest, because I wanted so much to be here,” stressed the former Monza man who on working in Juventus with Thiago Motta said, “The coach wants a group that follows him, regardless of age and we follow him. He demands a certain mentality and this pushes us to always go hard and never lower our focus, I think it’s right this way.” He is one of the few coaches who often alternates goalkeepers, he did it at Bologna, he did it at Juve where Perin took the field as a starter in several matches. “I always work and make myself available to the coach, then it is he who makes his choices, Mattia is a goalkeeper of great quality, a great person, it is right that he also finds his space, we push each other day by day, to improve,” says Di Gregorio proud of “the small goals and dreams that are being realized. I am happy to have found a beautiful group in both the bianconero and the azzurro.” At Coverciano he re-embraced Daniel Maldini, they were teammates at Monza, they are at their first call-up to the National A team. “I am very happy for Daniel, he has important qualities, he is a serious guy who is committed, I am happy and I hope that for him it is the first of many calls,” says Di Gregorio who obviously hopes the same for himself. “I hope that there will be a repeat of a week like this and then I will get to the World Cup,” he says. “I am happy, because I was here 10 years ago in the Under-17s, now I find myself here, knowing that in all these years I have had fundamental help from my family, that’s why every good thing that happens to me I dedicate to them and to my dad. In me there is so much happiness and so much pride, I live something that I have wanted for a long time, the convocation was an immense joy.” A thought also for the Inter world where he grew up: “I went all the way in the youth sector, I found beautiful people, they were close to me when my dad left me, I still feel them, on a human level I am very close to the people I met there.” He closes with one of his specialties: penalty shots. “An aspect that I have always taken care of since I started, already in C we studied the opponents. You work on videos, then on the field, you try to understand the characteristics of those who kick, then you act accordingly, sometimes standing still, sometimes moving one knee or the other.”- Photo Ipa Agency -(ITALPRESS).
