Former Deportivo Municipal defender makes a path in the Italian League

The Italian commune of Biancavilla in the metropolitan city of Catania, Sicily, is witness to the effort that Peruvian Gianluca Di Laura makes to make a journey away from his country.

The defender former Deportivo Municipal, with whom he won promotion to the First Division in 2014, now defends the ASD Calcio Biancavilla Serie D jersey and as a defender tries to improve every day for the interests of his team.

Di Laura, aged 31, has worn in Peru in the colors of Deportivo Llacuabamba, Atlético Minero and Deportivo Municipal, where he won the Second Division title.

Infobae contacted Gianluca Di Laura, ASD player Calcio Biancavilla, to give details about his experience in Italian football.

“I was contacted last year by a businessman, also because of references from a player who is now my teammate, but at that time, I faced him in the Dominican Republic against the Italian and that's how he got here,” Di Laura told Infobae exclusively.

Then, he gave details about the tactical work he does on his ASD Calcio Biancavilla team. “I am learning, in fact, I know how much the tactical part works,. out of the stopped ball. I am working with a second coach, since a week ago they changed the coach we had and each one has new proposals, a stopped ball. The way I play, as a defender with the previous coach, wanted me to cover the outside line and take the attacker inside. The presing was very high. On the other hand, with the new coach he wants to become strong in the area, the sides against the ends are always played hand in hand and the central defender goes towards the goal,” said Gianluca Di Laura.

Obviously, the goal is to move up the category like C because the budget is different, the competition is different and that is to make a small leap in quality. There is a television channel that plays Serie C, it's a different world. In fact, in Serie D there are players who have gone through Serie A, B and C. There is a lot of team turnover, because teams go up and down,” he added.

At the same time, we asked him if he had seen information on television about Gianluca Lapadula's performance with the Peruvian shirt. “I haven't seen anything, obviously, they do know who Lapadula is because he is a well-known player here. He arrived at AC Milan and everyone knows the importance of that team and had a step in the Italian national team. There was more talk about what it means for them not to go to the World Cup,” he added.

However, we asked him about the infrastructure that exists in Series D. “There is a lot of synthetic gras, because of the climate it helps. The winter is quite strong and keeping the fields in good condition is difficult. I have played in natural gras and courts in good condition. In fact, where I play is picturesque because you can see the Etna volcano, which is already losing snow because the weather is starting to change”, he said.

Finally, Gianluca Di Laura was asked about what the game is like in his division in Italy, “In terms of play, Serie D is well fought, it is quite pressed, football is very physical, but above all very tactical. Here they care a lot about tactics, since in two days we watch video analysis and we see the rival's attacks and how we can hurt them. This is how the week of play is prepared. My contract with ASD Calcio Biancavilla is until the fortnight of May and as an experience, because of my age, I not only see it from the football part, but as part of life, learning the language and networking. All jobs in the world are due to contacts and here I am winning that,” said the former defender of Deportivo Municipal.

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