“Gianluca Lapadula is a player who stands out in the most important matches”, says his former coach at Pescara

About 7 years ago, Gianluca Lapadula wore the shirt of Pescara Calcio 1936, where he scored his most goals ( 30) in 44 matches. That team changed his life and took a 180-degree turn, since being a goalscorer earned him to sign for the powerful AC Milan.

The current striker of the Peruvian national team, Gianluca Lapadula, had in Massimo Oddo, the coach who brought out his scoring side. Ball connecting 'Lapagol' inflated the nets. That performance caused his team to fight the play-offs, in 2016, by winning Trapani, after taking an overall advantage of 3-1.

That is why, within hours of the duel against Paraguay, Infobae called Massimo Oddo, former DT from Pescara, why I talked about Gianluca Lapadula, his son, as he tells us.

What do you remember about Gianluca Lapadula when you directed him to Pescara?

When Gianluca Lapadula arrives at Pescara he comes from series C, then his greatest virtue at that time was the desire to get there, the hunger to play in a higher category that was series B and also to conquer series A as he did.

When you were leading Pescara, Peru coach Ricardo Gareca traveled to Italy to meet Gianluca Lapadula, did you talk to the Peruvian coach?

That's right, I remember Ricardo Gareca coming to Pescara, but I didn't have the chance to talk to him. At that time he would have liked to be called up, but we were in the playoffs and at that time we were playing for Serie A and he preferred to give in to help Pescara climb to Serie A.

You followed Gianluca Lapadula's career, how do you think it went?

For me he is like a son, I have almost grown him up, or maybe I have been one of his parents, so I always like to follow him, although he calls me often. And he has had a race a bit like that, in the sense that if we look at where he was, he has done a great race, he has managed to win the Serie A by goal, Milan, an important team, the Peruvian team, which is therefore an important team. Then he's probably had a great career.

This Tuesday, Peru is playing its last chance to qualify for the World Cup, do you think that Lapadula will be the one to score and give that goal to the Peruvian nation?

What can I tell you about Gianluca Lapadula, as I said first, he exalts himself in important matches. In addition, he has the possibility of bringing his team closer to a world cup and it is a unique occasion, a very important chance and then he must give everything of himself together to his teammates to achieve that goal.

How else does Gianluca Lapadula have?

When Gianluca plays, I think he is a player who excels in the most important matches, and tomorrow's match (today) will be crucial for his team, he is undoubtedly a player who can do well.

One checks the statistics and Gianluca Lapadula, under his command, scored the most goals as a professional footballer, what did he do with him?

He scored 30 goals if I'm not mistaken or 32 goals, something like that, because he was a strong player that year, he had a great conscience and he had behind a young, but very strong team that put him in a position to score many goals.

Any anecdote you remember with Gianluca Lapadula?

A very nice anecdote about Gianluca Lapadula is that before coming to Pescara, he had many teams looking for them. So, he talked to me as he spoke, I imagine with so many other coaches and the most thing I remember is that he wants to know what position he was playing because he was terrified of going to a team where he would find a coach who would put him to play outside, instead, he tells me: “teacher I want to make the first tip”, I told him: “Look for I'm the only big point because we played with two or three midfielders and he was on end. So, he is convinced of this and agrees to go to Pescara.

How do you describe the human side of Gianluca Lapadula?

Gianluca is a very good boy, a leader from a human point of view, a boy who started from the bottom and had great humility, that has allowed him to reach the top.

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