Former AS Roma striker Antonio Cassano called time on his playing career last week and has now insisted that football was a better game in the 90’s.
The Italian forward had been training with Virtus Entella in Serie A in recent weeks, but at 36-years-old he has decided to retire, rather than have one last crack at the big time.
Cassano played for 7 different teams in Serie A over the last two decades, most notably Roma between 2001 and 2006, where he produced his best football as an up and coming talent.
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An ill-fated move to Real Madrid followed, where he struggled to hold down a regular place in the starting 11 before being loaned back to Italy with Sampdoria and eventually joining the club permanently in 2008.
At international level Cassano won 39 caps in total for Italy, scoring 10 goals and once again failed to stand out as a first team regular amid inconsistent displays and an arrogant approach to training.
According to Gazzetta Dello Sport, the former Madrid star has tried to justify his retirement decision by ranting about the state of the modern game, shockingly insisting that there is a lack of ‘champions’ in Serie A nowadays.
“Football was better in 1999,” Cassano told reporters at the weekend, as per Gazzetta Dello Sport.
“All players suck nowadays. They’re a bunch of losers. Remove Juventus in Serie A and Higuain playing in Milan, find me a champion.”
The former Roma attacker is the perfect example of a player failing to reach his immense potential, as he often let his mouth do his talking rather than his feet, much to the fury of his many employers in Italy.
Cassano always courted controversy, but his latest comments might ring true with some supporters who look back at Serie A’s golden era back in the 90’s fondly.
As Gazzetta Dello Sport reports, when asked who he felt was the best player in Italian history, the former Sampdoria striker named his former teammate Francesco Totti, stating: “[He was] The strongest Italian footballer in history together with Baggio and Maldini.”