The legend of Italian football appealed to his compatriots to unite in this difficult time.

Everyone who is at home.

What is happening in our country causes me anxiety and pain. I can’t describe how terrible it is to see such suffering in Italy, to see so many lost lives every day. My heart is longing for all the people it has touched, and especially those who have lost someone close.

I also want to welcome the medical workers who work to save as many lives as possible. You are the true heroes our country needs.

Unfortunately, none of us are Superman.. None of us are virus protected. And when the epidemic erupted in China, it seemed to me that the Italians thought that it would not affect them. I underestimated her. Thought it was just flu. How we all were wrong.

See also: Serie A stopped for a month. How can I finish this season

At least we closed the country and made people sit at home. Here in China, where I work at the head of Guangzhou Evergrand, I went to quarantine a few weeks ago. People here have already encountered the SARS virus, they knew what to do. In Italy, we have never encountered such emergencies..

But now we are at the epicenter of this struggle, we must fight together. That means we have to show the best version of ourselves..

Of course, we know that Italy is a wonderful country.. We have incredible sea beaches and beautiful landscapes.. Our climate allows us to spend most of the year on the street.. We have our own fashion and food.. Life in Italy is so good that sometimes we just rest on our laurels. Sometimes we are only busy with our own affairs, not thinking about the common good. In this case, we are wasting all our potential.

Fortunately, there are times when we decide to show our pride, and this happens in the most difficult moments. When something important is at stake.

I have experienced such moments many times, and the best example will be the performances of Italy at the world championships. Perhaps this will seem like a strange decision to remember such things at a time when sport seems so insignificant. But, as we know, football for Italy is not just a sport. When a national team plays, everyone feels part of it. All come together. And when the Italians unite, they succeed.

We are at the epicenter of this struggle, we must fight together. This means that we must show the best version of ourselves. I still remember how Italy won the 1982 World Cup. I was an eight-year-old boy in my native Naples, I watched matches in a big company at home with relatives or friends. I remember when Italy scored, we screamed and hugged, even with strangers.

When I was the captain of the national team at the 2006 World Cup, I saw how something like this happened to the players. A corruption scandal erupted just before the start of the tournament, so when we got together to prepare, we were all on the verge. Many thought the scandal would distract us..

But the mood in our camp was always good, and that was our key.. At this critical moment, we were not only thinking about ourselves. We worried about everyone. We also had a great leader in the person of Marcello Lippi, who maintained harmony and motivation in the team.. When we landed in Germany, we almost immediately forgot about the scandal and looked forward to the matches.

People often ask me how we managed to win the World Cup.. We won not because we were lucky. We won because we had the best team and we believed in victory.