The footballing side of things is much more familiar to the Italian legend. Even in his first competitive appearance since his Juventus swan song in May, he oozed with understated quality as he logged his first 60 minutes for LAFC and helped restore their position at the top of the overall league table.
“I mean, you can imagine after two months, the distance – you can train how many times you want, but the game is something different,” said Chiellini, flashing his trademark disarming grin. “The rate, the distance, the contact, it’s everything different. And surely the first 15 minutes, I continue to say in my mind, ‘quiet, go easily, and then step by step, minute by minute, surely you’ll feel better,’ and this is what happened. I have the experience to understand this thing. And for me it’s just a preseason, but it’s not preseason, because it’s very important now, these three points.”
