Mancini’s former teammate reveals: ‘He was unbearable at first, I locked him in a room’

VARESE, ITALY - OCTOBER 20: AC Spezia manager Michele Serena looks on before the Serie B match between AS Varese and AC Spezia at Stadio Franco Ossola on October 20, 2012 in Varese, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Italy coach Roberto Mancini was “unbearable” when they first played together, according to Michele Serena, who says he once locked the Sampdoria star in a room until they sorted out their differences.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, via CalcioMercato, the former full-back looked back on a career that took him from Venezia to Juventus, Sampdoria, Fiorentina, Atlético Madrid, Parma and finally Inter, the club he supported as a boy. He joined Sampdoria from Juventus as part of the deal that took Gianluca Vialli to Turin.

“Roberto Mancini? Very good, but unbearable,” Serena said. “I argued with him in my first year, and Mantovani fined him and took my side. Vierchowod told me to apologise to Mancini, so after one training session I locked him in a small room with me until we finally sorted things out. After that, we built a good relationship, and we still speak today.”

Serena on Mancini, Mihajlović and Batistuta

Sinisa Mihajlović was another Sampdoria teammate, and he used to make Serena go in goal.

“After training, Mihajlović would put me in goal and take free-kicks. It would finish 20-0 or 20-1 to him.”

At Fiorentina, Serena played alongside Gabriel Batistuta and Rui Costa.

“Bati was the most complete No 9 I’ve ever seen. With Rui, we always wondered how he could smoke so many cigarettes and then run like that on the pitch.

“Edmundo? I’ll never forgive him for not coming back from the Rio Carnival. We had Batistuta out, and we were fighting for the Scudetto.”

Serena finished his career at Inter in 2003, but he’s still haunted by 5 May 2002. On the final day of that season, Héctor Cúper’s side lost 4-2 at Lazio, and Juventus took the title.

“I wanted to retire by winning the Scudetto with Inter, the team I’ve supported since I was a child. Instead, on that 5 May, I don’t know what happened… It’s a wound that’s still open, and it still hurts too much today.

“I was supposed to play that day instead of Gresko. I’d done everything to recover from an injury, but Cúper changed his mind at the last minute. I confronted him about it, because not playing that day really hurt me.”