“Roberto Mancini? He spent his time breaking lamps.” This is the comment that sparked the most discussion among those made by Artem Dzyuba about the fresh (and recently returned) head coach of the National Team. The former striker of Zenit Saint Petersburg, now 37 and a legend of Russian football, recalled without beating around the bush the season spent under the orders of the Marche coach, just as Mancini was being presented as the new head coach of the Italian National Team alongside Claudio Ranieri.
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Dzyuba, the top scorer in the history of Russia, did not hold back criticism of his former coach: “Mancini could leave halfway through training — he said — he didn’t know the names of half the players, he didn’t know who was right-footed and who was left-footed.”
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To explain what he meant, the striker recalled an episode involving Yohan Mollo, former midfielder of Zenit: “During a training session he was taking free kicks and Mancini started yelling at him: ‘But kick normally! Why do you kick with your right foot and not your left?’. Mollo asked: ‘What do you mean?’. And Mancini: ‘But you’re left-footed!’. ‘Coach, I’m right-footed’. And Mancini: ‘Oh yeah? And you kick so badly with your right foot?’. I mean, he didn’t even know who was right-footed or left-footed.”
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But the passage that made the most noise concerns a habit of the Jesi coach off the field: “Mancini spent his time at the sports center breaking lamps. Coming back from training he would roll up his shorts, he was already yellow. Carrot color. He just needed to go around with cucumber slices on his eyes.” The story continues with another scene that remained impressed in Dzyuba’s memory: “We were still there struggling on the field, he looked at the clock and said: ‘But go away’ — Dzyuba concludes in his story — He would turn around and leave. Then we would come back and find him on the exercise bike, pedaling calmly. He was quite a character, really funny.”
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