From the stage of the Festival dello Sport in Trento, Miralem Pjanić delivered the most entertaining and most personally revealing public appearance of his retirement so far. The former midfielder of Roma, Juventus, and the Bosnian national team moved between genuine regret, warm affection, and sharp comic timing — the full range of a footballer who experienced Italian football at its highest level and is ready, at this comfortable distance, to tell the stories he could not tell at the time.
“I’m Sorry I Won Never Won With Roma — We Had an Incredible Juventus in Front of Us”
On his Roma years and the transition to Juventus: “I’m sorry I never won anything with Roma — we had an incredible Juventus in front of us. Then I moved to black and white and I have to say — we were very strong. Allegri transformed me. I owe him a great deal.”
“Cardiff Is a Wound That Stays Open — the 4-1 Didn’t Reflect the Match”
The 2017 Champions League final in Cardiff — Juventus’s defeat to Real Madrid — was addressed with the emotion of a footballer who has clearly replayed it more times than he has acknowledged publicly before. “Sometimes I still have nightmares about my shot that Keylor Navas saved in the final. The 4-1 doesn’t reflect the match — it shouldn’t have ended that way. The 3-1 hurt us badly, but it’s a source of great regret because we believed in it. I wasn’t afraid of facing them — we felt strong and certain we could compete. That wasn’t the strongest Juventus though. Two years later we had an incredible squad. We had two teams who could both have won the Scudetto.”
“Messi or Ronaldo? Leo — His Class Is a Gift from God”
On the unavoidable question of his career’s two most extraordinary teammates: “In my career I played alongside so many phenomenal players — Messi and CR7 above all. Who do I choose between the two Martians? I say Leo. His class is something that cannot be explained. He is a man with a gift from God. He made difficult things easy — extraordinary. Cristiano is special too, don’t get me wrong — with him you always started 1-0. He is obsessed with scoring. He has a mental strength that should be taught in schools — his story is an ode to never giving up and always wanting more.”
“With Ronaldo on the Pitch It Was Really Difficult to Take the Free Kicks — Allegri Had a Scheme”
The anecdote that will be quoted and retold for years — a small, perfect window into the human dynamics of a dressing room containing two of the most competitive players Italian football has ever hosted. “With Ronaldo it was really difficult to take the free kicks. When he had fixed his sights on one there was no way of stopping him. You had to get him off the pitch to be able to take it. Allegri had a scheme. When Ronaldo won a foul, he would immediately send the physiotherapists onto the pitch — so Ronaldo was forced to leave the field and I could take the kick. I remember it happening in a match against Napoli — I took it and scored. So thank you, Max!”
