Judging by the effect Bernardo Corradi has already had on female followers of Manchester City, just as on Italian women before them, it’s modesty that makes him blush. From the moment he greets me with a handshake and begins talking in well-mannered, if still slightly halting, English, it is plain Corradi is a gentleman. But gentle? Let’s just say City’s new striker is a civil warrior.
Standing 6ft 2in and muscled, good in the air and a team player, Corradi looks made for English football — and believes English football is made for him. “I always play, not rough, but . . . well, it’s a man’s game, in the sense you have to play hard, but at the end of the game you must give your hand to your opponent,” he said. “That was me in Italy. For two or three years I was the player who received the most fouls in Serie A and who made the most fouls. So I feel comfortable here.”
Corradi grinned. He wouldn’t want you to think the red card on his City debut at Chelsea, for two challenges on Michael Essien, was typical. “It was only the second time in 12 or 13 years I’ve been sent off. I’m not so bad! I’m not a tough player. I just try to do my best. Sometimes you can hurt somebody, but the most important thing is you give him the hand afterwards. Afterwards we can go out together, it is no problem. It’s just a game.”
He feels he “learnt from the experience” at Chelsea (there was provocation and Essien was booked for pulling Corradi’s hair). What bothered him were questions of etiquette. “I was so sorry because when you leave your teammates playing 10 against 11, it’s not nice. It was also a shame because it was my first match and my friends were at the stadium and after 60 minutes I was off.”
Corradi’s home debut, in City’s surprise 1-0 victory over Arsenal, went considerably better, and providing he recovers from a sore back sustained at Friday training, he should renew his classic little-and-large partnership with Paul Dickov at Reading. Tomorrow is a big day because, having been back to Italy to finalise arrangements during the international break, it is also when his furniture and personal effects get delivered to his new home in the classy outh Manchester suburb of Bowden.
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“I went for a very English- style house. I’m English now,” he said. “I made finding a home quickly my priority. When you arrive in a new club you must have a house, because when you stay at a hotel you have no privacy. Work is important, but it is also important to find your space and relax.”
He speaks from experience. City are his seventh club in seven years, including a strange episode when he moved from Chievo to Inter Milan in the summer of 2002, only to move on again before the new season started, without ever playing for Inter. After his arrival the Milanese transferred Ronaldo to Real Madrid and targeted Hernan Crespo, whom Lazio would sell only if they got Corradi as part of the deal. It worked out well.
Corradi came to prominence as a key part of the “Miracle of Chievo”, when the little Veronese club topped Serie A four months into their first season there and ultimately qualified for Europe, but Lazio was where he established himself as a serious contender, scoring 21 goals in two seasons and breaking into the Italian national team. He was part of the Azzuri squad that went to Euro 2004 and could have gone to City in 2005. Instead he went on loan to Parma in an attempt to force his way into his country’s World Cup 23.
He lost his international place because of an ill-starred stay at Valencia. He had joined in a double transfer with Stefano Fiore after Euro 2004 which involved Valencia writing off £13m that Lazio still owed them for Gaizka Mendieta and valuing Corradi at close to £10m. Claudio Ranieri had just succeeded Rafa Benitez at the Mestalla. Yet Valencia floundered and their new Italian contingent, which also included Marco Di Vaio, were blamed. By January, Ranieri was sacked. Corradi, Di Vaio and Fiore were out of the team.
Yet there are no regrets. “It was a good experience. I came back to Italy to try to get to the World Cup, but when you haven’t played for six months, it’s hard to restart. I didn’t play well for the first three months with Parma. Then I started to score again, but Marcelo Lippi had already chosen the players he wanted to take to the World Cup.” Corradi smiled. “You have to say he was right.” He must surely have felt a few pangs when Italy lifted the World Cup. “No. I was happy because a lot of players who went to Euro 2004 with me were in the squad, as were my old friends from Chievo, Simone Perrotta and Simone Barone.
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“I watched the final in my house. I had a ticket, but my sister-in-law was pregnant and had my nephew on July 6, and my family all stayed in Florence with the new baby. I’ve already bought him a Man City shirt with my name and my number. He’s called Ginerva.”
Corradi grew up in beautiful Siena, where his father, Gabriele, and mother, Sandra, worked for a bank. He stayed at school until he was 19 at the behest of his parents, before going to Siena University, one of Italy’s top institutions. He read politics and economics. “I had started as a footballer with Siena, who were professional, but I couldn’t play and study, it was too hard, so I gave up football to study. I didn’t think I would have a football career. I only realised I could be a good player when I was 22 or 23. But the biggest reason I went to university was it was the normal thing to do at my school. I also did not want to do national service.”
His father was a good player, but remained in Italy’s lower and amateur divisions throughout a 16-year career in order to pursue banking. “He made the right decision,” said Corradi. “He made a good career at the bank. Now if you’re a good player you can make a lot of money, but when my father was young, only maybe 10 players had a lot of money. The rest just played, and when they finished they had to do another job, sitting behind a desk, perhaps, and it wasn’t easy for them after 20 years of running about and joking in the dressing room.
“Maybe when I finish playing I will open a soccer school, somewhere kids learn football and also study. They could make exchanges with kids abroad and maybe I can get Man City and Valencia involved.”
Corradi’s age (30) and maturity in part reflect how he started in football late, but there is still a boyishness about him. “I love films,” he said. “Yesterday I watched Hostel (a horror film). Don’t watch! I was in my bed with the sheets pulled up.” Corradi may be hard but he’s no tough guy — a gentleman, rather.