Andrea Conti, born in 1994, formerly of Atalanta and AC Milan, has opened up on his football journey and the ordeal that brought it to an end: a botched cruciate ligament operation, a second knee injury and, finally, retirement at just 30. Below are the key excerpts from the interview with the Corriere della Sera.It all started with Gasperini’s Atalanta.”The best coach I ever had. I remember pre-season with him: he had run us into the ground. Or when, the day before an Inter-Atalanta match, he had us doing strength work in the gym. We couldn’t believe it. But on the pitch, you were flying.”Then came AC Milan a year later.”AC Milan and Chelsea wanted me. I had just landed in Ibiza for my holiday when I got a call from my agent: ‘You need to come to Milan for your medical’.”
