Rafa interview on Italian Sky tonight

[Guest robsmart]

longtime lurker, strange observation this evening...

 

moved to italy a few months ago, and now have the regular joy of watching all my lfc games courtesy of Sky Italy... normally this is a painful experience associated by 2 yr old arguments around zonal marking; over-internationalisation of the premiership belittling any achievement vs. italian clubs full of world cup winning italians etc... (including inter, obviously).

 

anyway, one great element of this on CL nights is Rafa being interviewed in Italian by the Sky panel of Marcello Lippi, Vialli and Paolo Rossi - not even a month ago vs. Inter this was great watching Rafa get by in very dodgy Italian (as isn't impossible for an intelligent Spaniard) but making a manful effort in pretty ebullient mood after a great result... tonight same story started and I perked up from usual post-game nonsense to pay attention and... Rafa turned in a near perfect interview with hardly a grammatical error in sight (not easy, believe me!)... difference so pronounced vs. a month ago can only be the result of some concerted effort on rafa's part.

 

May be totally innocent or unrelated decision to learn a language (esp given recent comments about signings for next year), but given the ownership fiasco and vacancies looking likely at both Milan clubs next year it wouldn't be out of the question for something to be lined up - I just hope its just an insurance policy!!

 

Almost ruined a good evening and a thoroughly commendable performance from all concerned, ref. included!

[Coyler]

Love it.

[Guest Si]

So Rafa has learned Italian in a month to prepare for his move to Milan and/or Inter.

 

Brilliant end to to a brilliant night

[WillG]

longtime lurker,

 

Shame you broke the habit

[Guest robsmart]

Shame you broke the habit

 

well f*** u all then!

i don't really think he's liable to be off any more than you all do, just though it was interesting, not something you lot'd have access to, not to mention quite impressive on Rafa's part...

[Guest GrandpaSimpson]

longtime lurker, strange observation this evening...

 

moved to italy a few months ago, and now have the regular joy of watching all my lfc games courtesy of Sky Italy... normally this is a painful experience associated by 2 yr old arguments around zonal marking; over-internationalisation of the premiership belittling any achievement vs. italian clubs full of world cup winning italians etc... (including inter, obviously).

 

anyway, one great element of this on CL nights is Rafa being interviewed in Italian by the Sky panel of Marcello Lippi, Vialli and Paolo Rossi - not even a month ago vs. Inter this was great watching Rafa get by in very dodgy Italian (as isn't impossible for an intelligent Spaniard) but making a manful effort in pretty ebullient mood after a great result... tonight same story started and I perked up from usual post-game nonsense to pay attention and... Rafa turned in a near perfect interview with hardly a grammatical error in sight (not easy, believe me!)... difference so pronounced vs. a month ago can only be the result of some concerted effort on rafa's part.

 

May be totally innocent or unrelated decision to learn a language (esp given recent comments about signings for next year), but given the ownership fiasco and vacancies looking likely at both Milan clubs next year it wouldn't be out of the question for something to be lined up - I just hope its just an insurance policy!!

 

Almost ruined a good evening and a thoroughly commendable performance from all concerned, ref. included!

 

They anti-Liverpool too or is that just the UK Sky?

[Guest robsmart]

They anti-Liverpool too or is that just the UK Sky?

 

haha, no without hairy hands and andy gray that's not the same... horrifically fond of the mancs though could barely watch yesterday for all the rio & rooney loving...

[Spike]

longtime lurker, strange observation this evening...

 

moved to italy a few months ago, and now have the regular joy of watching all my lfc games courtesy of Sky Italy... normally this is a painful experience associated by 2 yr old arguments around zonal marking; over-internationalisation of the premiership belittling any achievement vs. italian clubs full of world cup winning italians etc... (including inter, obviously).

 

anyway, one great element of this on CL nights is Rafa being interviewed in Italian by the Sky panel of Marcello Lippi, Vialli and Paolo Rossi - not even a month ago vs. Inter this was great watching Rafa get by in very dodgy Italian (as isn't impossible for an intelligent Spaniard) but making a manful effort in pretty ebullient mood after a great result... tonight same story started and I perked up from usual post-game nonsense to pay attention and... Rafa turned in a near perfect interview with hardly a grammatical error in sight (not easy, believe me!)... difference so pronounced vs. a month ago can only be the result of some concerted effort on rafa's part.

 

May be totally innocent or unrelated decision to learn a language (esp given recent comments about signings for next year), but given the ownership fiasco and vacancies looking likely at both Milan clubs next year it wouldn't be out of the question for something to be lined up - I just hope its just an insurance policy!!

 

Almost ruined a good evening and a thoroughly commendable performance from all concerned, ref. included!

 

Cheers for this and welcome. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Rafa had the feelers out.

[Guz]

In the pre match conference before both finals against Milan didn't he give answers/interviews in Spanish, English and Italian? Thought that was impressive too.

[Spike]

that rings a bell Guz but the op is talking about a notacible difference in his ablity betwixt now and then

[Guest GrandpaSimpson]

AC vs Inter would be great to watch next season

 

Rafa vs Jose: The Italian Job

 

[Jimi Rojo]

Here half way down they've got an offer on the table from Napoli for him, he's apparently leaving for italian football regardless because it appeals to him and language isn't a problem.

 

http://tifosoazzurro.blogspot.com/

[Romario]

Rafa learning Italian is known as " doing a Klinsman"

Edited April 3, 2008 by Romario

[drdooom]

His spanish is perfect, he's obviously going to Barca.

[Rich Gobey]

.

Edited April 3, 2008 by Gobez

[Andy Mac]

Shame you broke the habit

 

Oh, you've got an acid tongue sometimes !!

[Bologna]

I saw the interview too, having seen the post-Inter stuff, and IMHO his Italian was the same level as usual.

As for verbal masturbation over Manure, my take on Sky Italia's approach to English teams is that they love them all just as they love the English game. If anything they cream themselves over Chelsea, mainly due to the Italian connections over the last 10 years I reckon

Where are you, robsmart?

[Extraordinary Swindle]

His spanish is perfect, he's obviously going to Barca.

But can he speak Catalan?

[Benitez]

Rafa won't want to take a step down, and Serie A is a huge step down these days

 

He's always done press conferences / interviews in Italian when we play Italian teams in Europe, so hardly anything unusual.

[yuriska]

Didn't Rafa spend a year or something in Italy, studying the Italian game after the Extremadura Job and before the Tenerife job? That would explain where he learnt his Italian - and maybe after the Inter game he decided to practice a bit more since it wasn't too good. Just a theory like...

[Guest budew]

No Need to worry mate. I've been listening to his Italian interviews from 2005 and his Italian is way much better than his english and he talks it almost perfectly. He didn't learn it in the last month that's for sure. Also I need to point out that Spanish and Italian language have a lot in common so it's not so difficult for him to master!

 

No need to worry guys

Edited April 4, 2008 by budew

[Nerik]

Rafa's post match comments after the Inter game were not up to his usual standard of Italian so him speaking better this time around is being interpreted as him studying etc. It is not the case. Back in 2005 when we played Juventus and got through in Turin he was on Italian TV for a 5-10min interview and spoke Italian very well.

[Guest robsmart]

Rafa's post match comments after the Inter game were not up to his usual standard of Italian so him speaking better this time around is being interpreted as him studying etc. It is not the case. Back in 2005 when we played Juventus and got through in Turin he was on Italian TV for a 5-10min interview and spoke Italian very well.

 

That could be it, I was only going on a straight comparison of the 2 recent games (and my italian girlfriend actually pointed it out, so not down to my dodgy language skills!) the Inter game could've been out of practice/ caught up in the euphoria/ god knows it doesn't take a lot of distraction to make me unable to communicate... anyway, if he was good back in 2005 there's probably nothin to it!

 

Bolognared - I'm based down near Camerino, properly in the middle of nowhere!