Meet TSB’s new columnist, Gaetano Berardi himself. This season Bera is taking time out from studying for his coaching qualifications to talk us through his memories of playing for Leeds, and in this issue, his childhood heroes and favourite teammates.

It’s difficult for me to pick out someone who influenced me as a footballer. I grew up in a place where it’s almost impossible to think about becoming a professional football player. The south of Switzerland is the worst place in the country to play football. There is not much interest in developing young players. The focus is more on ice hockey, which I like. I’ve been many times to the stadium to watch Lugano hockey, the team of my city, but my dream was to play in Serie A, so I gave everything I could to achieve that dream.

I remember the first AC Milan games I watched on TV with my dad. It was the 1995/96 season, and they were a great team. Since then I’ve supported AC Milan. It’s easy to say Paolo Maldini was one of my favourite players. The same with Franco Baresi — I just didn’t get to enjoy Baresi as much, as he retired a lot earlier than Maldini.

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