Spending a long time in a region or country can leave quite a mark on a person, a mark so big that sometimes you feel drawn to return to that region later in your life. And once you do, you actually might start doing things you never thought of doing before, or things which at least, remained hobbies. Until now.
Such is the case of ex-Cesena and recent retiree goalkeeper Luigi Turci. Having just quit the world of soccer, the 37 year-old Turci decided to return to Friuli, the Italian region in which he spent 6 years from 1996 to 2002, playing goalkeeper for Udinese. Those were good times back then: the 3-4-3 formations, the UEFA Cups, Alberto Zaccheroni (hey, whatever happened to him?)… I guess good man Turci must have felt a bit of nostalgia, because he just settled into his house of Grado, in the province of Gorizia. Besides, his family seems to have taken root already: his oldest son Matteo, is already following his father’s steps and is playing for the Gradese youth team (as a goalkeeper of course). Dad drops by the training sessions sometimes, to give his son and the other “baby” keepers a few pointers.
However, Turci’s life hasn’t been 100% soccer. “In fact” he says, “I’m rejecting it, almost“. Especially because since earlier this season, he’s been hired by the local basketball team, which is competing in the “Campionato Promozione” (in case you’re wondering, that’s the 7th level of competition, starting with Serie A at the top): in other words his opponents don’t have belong to teams like Milan, Inter, or Juventus anymore, but rather “Cormons”, “Edera”, “Villesse” and “Mossa”.
So far, Turci’s team has won 5 games out of 6: “I was asked if I wanted to play with them, and I accepted, since I don’t like being inactive. I have practice once a week, and play league matches on the week-ends. On average I remain on the court 20 minutes, playing as a pivot, the only role that suits me best since I’m the tallest guy in the roster“. But all of you are wondering… how good is Turci playing basket-ball? “Well… my shooting technique needs some improvement, but under the basket I’m doing okay. My record so far is 4 points, 7 rebounds, and 1 block“. Not bad for a beginner…
Turci’s passion for basket-ball was born while he was still with Udinese: “Me and the other keepers used to play a lot in the gym while we were training. I remember I used to have challenges with Morgan De Sanctis and Zampa (the fitness trainer), which by the way could have made a career in basket-ball in my opinion. Unfortunately, after I was transferred to Sampdoria and then to Cesena, I couldn’t play anymore because they didn’t have courts“. And what number is Turci wearing now? “Number 12“, the number usually given to the back-up keeper? “Ah yes, that’s true. But it wasn’t a romantic choice, it was really the only choice: it was the only shirt my size they had in stock“.
Well, good luck with your new career Luigi. After all, even Kobe Bryant started playing professional basket-ball in Italy. Yup, that last fact is 100% true. 
Hat Tip to Gazzetta dello Sport for publishing this story.
Roberto Mancini started his team with a 4-4-2 diamond formation. Having to deal with the absence of Olivier Dacourt, the Inter coach opted for a Cristian Chivu-led defensive midfield and Dejan Stankovic (finally back from injury) operating as playmaker behind Zlatan and Cruz. However all the match needed were the first few minutes, to make everyone understand that on the other end, Zico’s Fenerbahce was a team which could potentially go well beyond the Round of 16: placed very close together on the field, with Aurelio and Sahin (chosen over Stephan Appiah) on task to disrup Inter’s game, and ready to create dangerous situations with Semih Senturk or Roberto Carlos on the wings. A dangerous opponent therefore, which coincidentally had already beaten the Nerazzurri on matchday 1.
10 minutes later, cue goal nº2 for the Nerazzurri, with some delightful technical play: low cross by Chivu, dummy by Cruz, controlled touch by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and ensuing land-air missile towards the top corner. 2-0 Inter, and Zlatan’s 5th goal in Europe this season..gif)
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For the first half, it was a superhero tale for the Giallorossi: Super-Roma, and in particular Super-Panucci. The aging right-back is having quite the magical moment in his career: he scored the vital qualification goal vs. Scotland with the Azzurri (in the 90th), scored the winning Roma goal vs. Genoa this week-end (also in the 90th), and scored against Dynamo Kiev today… in the 4th? Huh? Going against the run of play here Panucci… No matter though because this goal, at the cost of not being vital, was equally beautiful and spearheaded the way to the Giallorossi victory today: on the right wing, a first cross by Christian Panucci was deflected by Goran Gavrancic, and gave the right-back another stab at it. His left-footed cross towards the far post actually turned into a direct shot in goal, with Vucinic fooling the keeper with what seemed to be a slight touch (replays showed no one actually hit the ball). 1-0 Roma.
The 2nd half was a boring but necessary chore for the Giallorossi, who at this point thought the match had already said all it had to say. Not so. 60 minutes into the game, Daniele De Rossi was forced off the field with a knock (colliding with his own teammate David Pizarro), earning Ahmed Barusso his first Champions League apperance. Also, Dynamo Kiev found a way back into the game (or at least, a goal): the entrance of Maksim Shatskikh revitalized the Ukrainians, and in minute 64 it was 3-1: through on the left wing, the forward found the foot of Ismaël Bangoura (helped, it must be said, by a terrible clearance of Juan) who slammed into Doni’s net..gif)
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