EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW..ROK TANESKI (in English and Italian)

Here at Hellas Verona English, we are delighted to announce an exclusive interview with Rok Taneski,  recently signed to the Primavera team from Slovenian club NK Domzale.

Rok is an exciting prospect and was linked in the past with Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Tottenham. Rok (1996) has already played with the youth teams of Slovenia and made his first appearance for Hellas against the first team in a friendly, against such pl


ayers as Luca Toni and Bosko Jankovic.

The interview has been translated into Italian also so that all fans of Hellas Verona can read what Rok had to say. The Italian version is underneath the English version. We offer our sincerest thanks to Rok for agreeing to the interview. You can follow him on twitter at @taneskiR23

Interview by Charles Ducksbury (@cducksbury) and translated into Italian by Alvise Franz (@alvisefranz)

ROK, TELL US ABOUT YOUR EARLY DAYS PLAYING FOOTBALL..WHO WERE YOUR IDOLS?
I started playing football with 5 years in a club named NK Britof, in small village near my hometown Kranj in Slovenia. My father knew the coach there because they used to play together. It was a really small club and people there were pretty nice. I met few friends there and later on my father was the coach of the team and we used to play together for 5 years and after that we were all transfered to bigger local club NK Triglav. Club in Britof was not very serious but I have a lot of good memories there. My childhood idol was Ronaldinho, I was totally in love with him and since he played in Barcelona I am a big fan of Catalan club. I also like Zlatan Ibrahimović very much, because of his attitude and self-confidence. And I like Sergio Aguero's style of playing.

YOU PLAYED FOR DOMZALE..WAS IT TOUGH TO LEAVE THEM?
Yeah, I could say it was quite hard because I had some really good friends there. But I think it was time to move on and take the chance which was given to me - to play for Hellas Verona.

HOW DID YOU FIRST HEAR OF INTEREST FROM HELLAS VERONA, AND WHAT DID YOU KNOW OF THE CLUB?
I first heard about the club interest when my agent called me at the end of previous season. To be honest, I didn't know much about the club, but I knew that they have a lot of loyal fans, who support the club in good and bad times. It's really a honour to be a part of so big club such as Hellas Verona.

NOW YOU'VE ARRIVED..HOW HAVE YOU SETTLED? HOW DO THE CLUB HELP YOU WITH KEY THINGS, ACCOMODATION, LANGUAGE?
I have settled very good here. The city of Verona is very beautiful and people here are very nice. Life here is really good. I have to say that club helps me a lot with key things- accomodation is OK, I live with the other boys from Primavera here in a big house in city center. And three times a week I have lessons of Italian language, so I am learning very fast. All the best about the club, the organisation is on the top level.

YOU MADE YOUR DEBUT AGAINST THE FIRST 11 IN A FRIENDLY, AND PLAYERS SUCH AS JANKOVIC AND TONI..HOW WAS THIS EXPERIENCE?
If I have to describe this experience it would be - amazing. These are really big names of European football and it's a honour to play against them.I am really happy for making this debut and I'm looking forward to play in Campionato Primavera.

HOW ARE YOUR TEAM-MATES? ANY ONE PLAYER IMPRESSED YOU THE MOST?
My team-mates are very nice, they have accepted me immediately. I feel really good in the team. I think that Fabio Alba is an excellent player, he impressed me the most and I have to give my compliments also to Mohamed Fares.

FINALLY, WHAT ARE YOUR AIMS FOR NOW, AND IN THE FUTURE?
My primary goal for now is to gain Mister's Pavanel trust and to play as much as possible. We are currently first in the table and I want to give my 100% to my team in every match to help them stay on top. In the future, it would be very nice to play in Serie A or any other league of 'European top 5' one day, it would be a dream cometrue. I want to enjoy in the beautiful game of football as long as possible.

ITALIAN

Ci racconti dei tuoi inizi nel mondo del calcio.. Chi erano i tuoi idoli?

Ho iniziato giocando 5 anni in un piccolo club che si chiamava NK Britof, in un paesino vicino alla mia città, Kranj, in Slovenia. Mio padre conosceva l’allenatore della squadra perchè erano stati compagni di squadra. La squadra era molto piccola e la gente era disponibile e simpatica. Mi sono fatto buoni amici in quell’esperienza e successivamente mio padre è diventato allenatore quindi abbiamo avuto l’occasione di stare nella stessa squadra per 5 anni. Dopo quel periodo ci hanno trasferiti tutti in una squadra locale più importante che si chiamava NK Trigla, sempre a Britof. Il mio idolo da piccolo era Ronaldinho per il quale provavo una vera adorazione che mi ha portato a diventare tifoso del Barcellona; mi piace Ibrahimović per il suo modo di fare e per la sicurezza di se stesso. E Sergio Aguero per lo stile di gioco.

Hai giocato nel Domzale.. è stato difficile lasciare la squadra?

Sì assolutamente, mi ero fatto dei grandi amici al Domzale. Ma ho pensato fosse arrivato il momento di guardare avanti e cogliere al volo l’opportunità di giocare nell’Hellas Verona.

Come sei venuto a conoscenza la prima volta dell’Hellas e cosa sapevi della squadra?

Ne ho sentito parlare la prima volta alla fine della scorsa stagione. Per essere onesti non conoscevo bene la squadra ma avevo sentito parlare della tifoseria: appassionata e sempre  al seguito dei giocatori sia nelle vittorie che nelle sconfitte. É un onore per me essere parte di una Società importante come l’Hellas.

Ora sei qui: come ti sei sistemato? Come ti aiuta la società con l’alloggio e l’italiano per esempio?

Mi sono sistemato molto bene. La città è splendida, le persone sono gentili e la vita di ogni giorno è molto piacevole. La società mi ha dato una mano con le cose importanti: vivo con gli altri giocatori della Primavera in una casa in centro a Verona e tre volte a settimana ho lezione di italiano, quindi sto imparando velocemente. L’organizzazione della società è veramente di altissimo livello.

Hai fatto il tuo debutto contro la prima squadra in amichevole, giocatori come Jankovic e Toni... Come stata l’esperienza?

É stata veramente incredibile. Questi sono grandi nomi del calcio Europeo ed è stato un onore giocare contro di loro. Sono molto felice di aver iniziato contro di loro e non vedo l’ora di giocare nel Campionato Primavera.

Come sono i tuoi compagni di squadra? Qualcuno ti ha impressionato in maniera particolare?

I compagni di squadra sono stati molto gentili e mi hanno accettato dal primo momento. Mi trovo molto bene con loro. Credo che Fabio Alba sia un grande giocatore, è quello che mi ha impressionato di più insieme a Mohamed Fares.

Infine, quali sono i tuoi obiettivi oggi e nel futuro?

Il mio obiettivo primario ora è guadagnarmi la fiducia del mister Pavanel in modo da giocare il più possibile. Adesso siamo primi e voglio dare il mio contributo al 100% per aiutare la squadra a rimanere in cima alla classifica. Nel futuro sarebbe fantastico giocare in Serie A o in una delle prime divisioni Europee, realizzerei la mia prima ambizione, ma soprattutto voglio continuare a divertirmi a giocare a calcio per il maggior tempo possibile.

Bologna 1-4 Hellas Verona..reaction

Hellas win again and deservedly so.

THE GAME

Considering the first few fixtures, this was the first test against a side expected to finish in the middle of the table, despite Bologna finding themselves in the relegation places. Verona fans travelled in large numbers and arrived in the town early due to the lack of trains running between the two towns today.

Upon arriving in Bologna, Hellas fans were marched to the stadium. but others walked away from the main group. It was one of these groups that was attacked by Bologna fans armed with knives and bottles, leaving two fans hospitalised after being stabbed. This caused tension and clashes between the two sets of fans. Because of this, the main road towards the stadium was closed, meaning the team coach had to be diverted to some B roads, meaning kick-off was delayed by 20 minutes due to the team bus not arriving in time.

The game itself was perhaps the perfect away performance and showed Mandorlini for what he is, a brave coach and one who can work out teams weaknesses and expose them. Playing a 4-3-3 with Iturbe and Gomez each side of Toni, the pace of Hellas' attacks caught Bologna napping and the goals by Cacciatore and Iturbe were of no surprise. Despite Bologna then attacking after the break and scoring via a Diamanti penalty, Verona soon dominated again and scored via Toni and right at the end Jorginho. Verona had many more clear chances, the worst culprits being Jorginho and Toni. The player of the match was Iturbe, showing creativity, pace and scored a wonderful goal from 25 yards for 2-0. Upon being substituted, he even was applauded off by some Bologna fans who appreciated his excellent performance.  The win lifts us to 5th, an incredible feat. Although the season is young, it puts more points between us and the relegation spots, with important games against Parma and Inter coming up.

QUOTES

MANDORLINI- "We are back in Serie A after a very long time, we wanted to feed that enthusiasm and we are succeeding and we hope this can continue. We are very, very happy with the league position." Speaking about Iturbe "He's a boy of great prospect and Verona is the perfect stage for him to show his talents."

ITURBE- "We wanted to win and we achieved our goal. It was harder than it seemed because Bologna are a team fighting at the bottom. We live in a magical moment, but lets take things game by game."

TONI- "We're in a great period but lets not forget the target, which remains salvation. Iturbe? Playing with him is very good, he can have an important future."

PIOLI (COACH BOLOGNA)- "It was the worst performance of my time here at Bologna. I take full responsibility but I remain convinced we will succeed. Credit to Verona, they attacked well and closed down the spaces."

SIDENOTES
After missing a few games with injury, Mimmo Maietta returned to the team for todays game, but exited with another injury, straining his right calf muscle. The next few days will evaluate his recovery time.

November 21st 2010...September 29th 2013

The start of an incredible journey.

Looking back it was the beginning of the modern Hellas Verona. Yet at the time not even the most optimistic Scaligeri supporter couldn't have predicted where we'd be less than three years later. November 21st was our game away to SPAL, the team of Ferrara. We were 17th out of 18 teams in Serie C1. We'd lost to rivals Salernitana 2-1 and coach Beppe Giannini had been sacked. The fans were angry, the team poor. Yet another season in the lower divisions seemed likely. Even a repeat of the relegation battle to avoid C2 of 2007-08 wasn't so unrealistic.

President Martinelli

President Martinelli needed a new coach. After his poor choices in Remondina (just saying his name sends shivers down my spine, a coach who played for the draw in EVERY.SINGLE.GAME and made his first substitution in the 87th minute) and Giannini, (who after a strong pre-season was clearly out of his depth even in the third division) the pressure was on to deliver with this decision. Luckily for him, Andrea Mandorlini was available after his sacking at CFR Cluj of Romania, despite leading them to the league title the season before. He was just what we needed. A coach who wouldn't take any bullshit and never ever allow anything less than full commitment. He was quickly signed up and got to work.

Mandorlini in his first press-conferance

There was a two week break after the pathetic defeat in Salerno, so tactics were quickly drawn up. Journalists and fans were impressed of Mandorlini's demeanour in training, constantly harassing his players to improve and stopping sessions to discuss tactical points. Martinelli spoke of a new 'professionalism' within the squad, whilst the players themselves spoke of the hard work (Andy Selva "I've never ran so much!")

As mentioned above, Mandorlini's first game in charge of Hellas saw us one place above bottom. The first game of the Mandorlini era was played in terrible conditions on a pitch with more mud than grass. Giuseppe Meloni gave SPAL the lead before Beppe Le Noci equalised with a low header before half-time. That's how it finished in a game where the ball spent much more time in the air than on the floor.

After promotion in Salerno

It's incredible to think that it took the Ravenna born coach six games to get his first win after drawing his first five (SPAL, Pavia, Sorrento, Lumezzane and Pergocrema.) Victory came at home to Paganese, the team who beat us on the first game of the season. 4-0 was unexpected but welcome and helped move us away from the relegation play-out places.

Mandorlini actually only lost three out of 22 league matches, not including the successful play-off campaign that eventually saw us promoted to Serie B after beating Salernitana in the play-off final.
We're in the spotlight at the minute and the world seems to be finding out exactly who we are. But those that have been there through the hard times will never forget those days in Serie C. As I write we currently sit in 7th place, level on points with fifth. I know it's early days but to look back where we were less than three years ago makes you proud to be a Verona fan and proud of Mandorlini after what he's achieved. After the players and Curva had finished applauding each other after the Livorno game there was a quiet for around five seconds, but then a song started..MANDORLINI ALE MANDORLINI ALE MANDORLINI ALE ALE ALE!!!!

Opinion..Charles' thoughts

Charles Ducksbury talks about the season as a whole thus far.

Cacciatore gives Verona the lead

The season was never going to be defined by the Juventus game, defeat was expected and anything gained from the match, even learning from mistakes made during the game, was a positive. To take the lead and to keep Juve to within one goal pleased both the fans and management, even if defeat is never easy to accept. All it took was a set-piece or lucky deflection and we could have left with a draw. But like all small margins in football, many of Juve's 35 efforts could have gone in and it may have finished 6-1. It's important to take what we've learned from the Juve game and move onto more important games like the next two, Torino and at home to Livorno.

Moras defends against Llorente

So what did we learn? For me the most important lesson is that we can defend relatively well against the best team in the league. Last season we dominated games and played at an incredible tempo at times, so to know that we can sit deep but press quickly in the right areas was nice to see. 35 shots do seem a lot, but many were from long range and either went wide or were comfortably saved by Rafael. Moras (much like Rafael when he went from Serie C to B) seems to be more suited to a higher division, playing a very composed game against two giants of world football in Tevez and Llorente. After initially being looked at as a substitute, Moras has become a key defender so far this season.

Six points from the first four games is very acceptable given the high standard of the opponents. Milan, Roma, Sassuolo and Juventus are all tough games at any point in the season for various reasons, never mind them being the first games of the season, four points would have been pleasing, so to win two games is very positive. In my mind the Milan game was a one-off game played with heart and adrenaline, the following three games gave me more of an indication of Verona's capabilities. In many ways, the Roma and Juventus games were similar, we lost concentration after the first goal and within ten minutes were we beaten. This is something Mandorlini will look to address, particularly against the stronger teams in the division.

Looking forward, the next games are Torino (A) Livorno (H) Bologna (A) Parma (H). After playing three sides predicted to finish top 5, now we'll play four teams who are predicted to finish mid-table and below. It's a great opportunity to see where Verona fit into this Serie A table, and although its a cliche, the season starts now for Verona.

Pope Francis is a Hellas fan..evidence!

The archbishop of Rome receives a present from Verona..

The famous renault 4 (photo via hellaslive)

Don Renzo Zocca has been pastor of Verona for 25 years. He has seen it all. The Scudetto, European adventures, Bagnoli, Elkjaer..but also the yo-yo years of the 90's and the fall into Serie C..abd the rise back up again.

This week Don Zocca gave the Pope a present..a Renault 4. He even drove the car to Rome himself. However the car also has a surprise (well, two surprises..) on the back window are two Hellas Verona stickers..the mighty Hellas forever now linked with higher powers.

Pre-match news..Hellas-Sassuolo

News ahead of the third game of the season

INJURIES- Hellas held a closed training session on Thursday, with two major injury doubts. Defender Albertazzi will 99% miss the game, whilst forward Luca Toni is a major doubt after picking up a muscle strain early in the week.

OPPONENTS- Sassuolo will miss two key players, Marrone and Berardi. This significantly makes the neroverde weaker as they look for their first win of the season (losing to Torino 0-2 and Livorno at 'home' 1-4) Defender Marcello Gazzola said "The season has started, but our campaign begins in Verona. Their fans always make a difference, but on the field it's 11 vs 11"

REFEREE- Massimiliano Irrati of Pistoia (Tuscany) will take charge of the Bentegodi game. He ironically took charge of last seasons 1-1 draw between the clubs in Modena, giving Hellas a penalty (which Gomez missed). His overall record when taking charge of Verona games is..Games 11..Verona wins 6..draws 4..lost 1.

Mandorlini Pre-Sassuolo

The coach prepares for a six-pointer against fellow promoted team.

"We're expecting a tough game..we don't need to tell the players how important this will be". The Ravenna native continued, "Roma? For 60 minutes we did very well and defended as a strong unit. The first goal killed morale, we could have handled the situation better."

Speaking about the new signing Iturbe, Mandorlini said "We know of his obvious quality, but he must demonstrate this on the field to become a regular."

Preparing for Sassuolo

News and views in the run-up to next weekends game at Bentegodi..

Mandorlini- "The break has been useful in allowing us to rest after intense pre-season and first two games. The market has been great, Iturbe gives us some pace that Martinho aside we were missing.
Sassuolo attack well, they haven't had a great start to the season but it's only two games, they won't panic."

Injury news- Bomber Luca Toni missed the friendly game against the Primavera side, he has been working in the swimming pool after a small muscle injury. The medical team will evaluate him in the run up to the Sassuolo match.

Icelandic midfielder Emil Hallfredsson returned back early from international duty after problems with his knee and will continue the recovery this week. Jorginho is also on a differing training routine as he battles to be fit for next weekend. Albertazzi and Agostini continue their recovery from injury, whilst the only certainty to miss the game is Cirigliano who has had dental work.

Laner- "A win against Sassuolo will be worth double in our fight for safety. The results have been good so far, beating Milan was great, losing to Roma is no disgrace."

Friendly match..Verona 4-1 Primavera

Victory for Hellas at the training ground.

Hellas played a friendly match on Saturday against the Primavera side, fielding most players not away on international duty. The first team won the game 4-1 against Pavanera's young boys, gaining valuable match practice during the prolonged break.

Scorers- Romulo (12) Cacia (21) Gatto (36) Laner (66) Jankovic (76)

Teams-HELLAS VERONA (4-3-3): Rafael (dal 1' st Nicolas); Sala (dal 1' st Moras), Gonzalez, Maietta (dal 1' st Cacciatore), Rubin (dal 25' st Ragatzu); Romulo (dal 1' st Laner), Donati (dal 1' st Donadel), Hallfredsson (dal 1' st Martinho); Iturbe (dal 18' st Sala), Cacia (dal 1' st Jankovic), Gomez. 
All.: Mandorlini.

PRIMAVERA (4-2-3-1): Borra (dal 1' st Nervo; dal 29' st Seck); Ballarini (dal 18' st Rizzitelli; dal 37' st Speri)),Varricchio (dal 1' st Boateng), Boni (dal 1' st Rossi), Manolache (dal 18'st Crisci); Zaccagni (dal 1' st Sall), Salifu (dal 1' st Menolli; dal 29' st Ronconi); Mazzocchi (dal 5' st Miketic), Alba (dal 18' st Taneski), Gatto (dal 1' st Formigoni); Fares (dal 27' st Birlea). 

All.: Pavanel.

Iturbe and his agent..'Verona are perfect'

Juan Manuel Iturbe and agent Gustavo Moscardi speak..

"My player (Iturbe) chose Hellas Verona because he wants to gain experience and grow in one of the worlds hardest championships, Serie A" Moscardi told tuttomercatoweb.com

He continued "Iturbe is also ideal for Verona, because Mandorlini's squad lacks an explosive player like him".

Iturbe himself was delighted to join gialloblu, telling the official website "I joined Hellas because they are a great team, and Italian football has always fascinated me. I must thank Sean Sogliano for signing me to such a big club."

The Argentine added "The negotiaions took a while, but I'm finally here. I'll play on the left or right, wherever the coach wants me to play".

OFFICIAL..ITURBE SIGNS FOR VERONA

The Porto man has signed a season-loan with an option to buy.

A player Sogliano has managed to sneak under the radar, (in terms of signing for Verona) Juan Manuel Iturbe signed for Hellas tonight, a deal announced by Gianluca Di Marzio of SkyItalia.

Iturbe is one of a number of players dubbed 'the new Messi' due to his similar characteristics of being a dribbler, goalscorer and small stature. Born in Buenos Aires (1993) the forward started his career with Cerro Porteno in the Paraguayan Premier Division scoring three goals in 22 games.
This allowed him to make a big money move to FC Porto, a club famous for signing South Americans and then selling them on for big money.

Sadly it didn't work out and after only five games for the first team, he was loaned to River Plate in Argentina, scoring three goals in 17 games for the giants. He started his international career in Paraguay's youth teams but after falling out with management, declared for Argentina, playing ten u20 games, scoring five goals.

The player attracted interest from both Inter and Genoa, but Hellas won the deal, loaning him and having an option to buy for an estimated £7.5M, a similar deal to another Argentinan player signed in the summer, Ezequiel Cirigliano.

The player will wear the number 15 shirt.

Luca Toni..'We want salvation as soon as possible'

The World Cup winner speaks after the Milan win...

"Surviving this season would be the equivalent of winning a title, such as the title I won with Bayern Munich. Our aim is to survive as soon as possible and finish as high in the table as we could."

He then went on to say "It will be tough, as with all promoted clubs. The technical gap between Serie A and B in my opinion has widened in recent seasons, but I think with the right signings and the spirit that clearly exists in the squad, we are on the right track. However, we must take each game as it comes."

Transfer news..potential arrivals and departures

Although the season has kicked off, Sean Sogliano is still busy in the transfer market.

IN

Rafael Marques

The sporting director has been busy looking for value in the South American market all summer, and has once again been making offers for players, this time in defence. Atletico Mineiro defender Rafael Marques has been the name mentioned by Sky Italia and more specifically Gianluca Di Marzio. SS is hoping to sign the player before the Roma game, but it's a possibility the defender will leave on loan to a Serie B club. He will sign a two year contract after having his release clause at Mineiro activated.

Elderson

Matteo Rubin is another name being chased by Gialloblu. The Siena defender is keen on the move, but the Tuscan club want Daniel Ragatzu to sign with them, but Verona will only allow this in a loan move.

A new name being linked is Braga defender Elderson. The Nigerian is a mainstay in the national team and impressed for the Portuguese side last season. He plays as a left back but can push forward should the need arise.

OUT

Despite the hatred that exists between the supporters, Hellas have struck a deal with Salernitana (owned by Lazio president Lotito) for the midfielder Gennaro Esposito. Returning close to his home city of Napoli, the midfielder played 74 games for Verona in Serie C, scoring four goals after signing in 2009. He spent last season in Umbria with Perugia.

Manuel Mancini

Leaving Hellas for certain is Manuel Mancini. The midfielder played his role in helping Verona to promotion from Serie C in 2010-11, particularly earlier in the season under Beppe Giannini and then Mandorlini. He spent last season at Salernitana, where he made some controversial comments about the club, and criticised Mandorlini saying the Ravenna native is too tough on his players. The Roman will now be free to sign for a new club.

Francesco Cangi

One player who will be missed is Francesco Cangi. He is in talks to join arch-rivals Vicenza, although the deal has yet to be reached. The full-back is said to be less than convinced by the magnagati's project. For now he will remain a Mastini player.

Preparing for Roma..

Hellas prepare for our first away game of the season.

After the emotion of the Milan game has died down, thoughts turned to a big trip to the capital to face rivals Roma. As Verona ultras are 'twinned' with Lazio, this is a hostile game and one we should approach in a professional manner.

Coach Andrea Mandorlini is considering continuing with the 4-3-3 that worked against Milan, or to revert to a more defensive 4-4-2. The counter-attacking against the Rossoneri was possibly the biggest positive of the win, especially with Martinho's pace down the left, so keeping the trident but with a more defensive and less-buckonering approach against Roma could be the most sensible solution.

After tactical training for much of the week, Bosko Jankovic, creator of Luca Toni's winning goal, had this to say "We are facing a team with momentum Milan didn't have, a different approach and a more difficult game. Against Roma I am motivated, I scored twice at Marassi against them. Their approach? They are one of the most complete teams in Italy".

Opinion..Charles' thoughts

Charles Ducksbury gives his thoughts after the victory over Milan.

In many ways I agreed with President Setti before the game. It's better to face a big club first rather than a fellow provincial side..if you should lose then it's no real panic, whereas a victory can even set up the entire season with the confidence and momentum gained.

All of that is a long way ahead though, for now it's better to savour the moment of a famous victory before plans begin for next Sunday's game against Roma. Pre-game the attention seemed to be entirely on Mario Balotelli, the attention seeking striker ignoring pleas to focus on the game by tweeting 'People of Verona, meet a man of BRESCIA'. Knowing the rivalry between Verona and Brescia this was something aimed at provoking reaction from the butei, but what he got instead was calm and measured applause and the fans cheering his name every time he attempted a shot or pass. The mind games worked, Balo was terrible and took his frustrations out on the corner flag before sulking on the pitch at full-time.

The game itself went almost perfectly. The Bentegodi was rocking but we started slowly. Milan seemed confident, shown with their excellent goal scored by Poli, although my Gialloblu eyes saw only very disappointing marking from Moras that allowed the midfielder to amble through and finish. In fairness this is the only negative. The reaction was excellent and although the equaliser came through a set-play (Toni hammering home a header from a corner) our play merited the goal, a few chances had been missed and the pace of particularly Martinho on the left causing the Rossoneri all sorts of problems. Milan didn't seem to react to falling behind and the momentum was with us.

Second half was more of a counter attacking game from Verona. We defended relatively deep without giving any chances away, whilst the pace when countering was almost frightening. The second goal arrived from a beautiful, outside of the right boot cross from Jankovic onto Toni's head, who beat Abbiatti down to his right. Gialloblu orgasm, the Bentegodi lifted from the ground.

Even after the goal, Milan didn't have a plan and we could have made it 3-1 on two occasions. First, Martinho ran 60 yards with the ball at a speed that would have left Usain Bolt in his dust, before hitting a thunder shot that Abbiatti palmed over. Then from a corner, Maietta headed straight at the keeper when either side would have seen another goal.

Milan eventually reacted but nothing of any major danger, a cross across the 6 yard box was missed by all, before Rafael flapped at a cross in injury time but that ball was cleared. The full-time whistle brought Balotelli slumping in the penalty area whilst the fans celebrated. It was a famous victory, the first time since 1988 that we have won on the first day of a Serie A season.

Will the win define the season? Far too early to say. But beating the team that finished 2nd last season can do no harm. In many ways Roma next weekend is a tougher exercise and may give us a clearer indication about these players capabilities. But after years of seeing games such as Potenza-Verona, Verona-Paganese, Pro Sesto-Verona, it was strange to see us once again line up against a club like Milan. Hopefully it won't be another 11 years before we 'welcome' them (and Mario ) back to Bentegodi.

President Setti..'A great occasion'

The presidents thoughts after the famous win.


"A wonderful game and wonderful support from the fans. Hellas fans made it clear throughout the game their passion." He then continued "The whole team was excellent, but special mention to three players. Romulo, who surprised me. Albertazzi, who is a young man with an old head. And of course the big man up front who will be around forever! (Toni)".

Mandorlini..'We showed our values'

Coach Mandorlini reacts after the win against Milan.

"We started slowly, I think we paid the price for the emotion of the occasion". The coach continued "After their goal, we responded very well and started to show our strengths, and we've shown that this team has important values".

Mandorlini then summarised "A dream? Maybe, but this is reality, we're already thinking of Roma next weekend. Toni? I wonder sometimes how he's always in the right place. He is a decisive player".