Antonio Cassano: the Italian genius who lost himself at Real Madrid

Antonio Cassano’s name is unlikely to disappear from football history. It has even entered the Italian language: since 2008, cassanata has appeared in the Treccani dictionary, describing a gesture, behaviour or idea typical of the former Italy forward.

Cassano produced plenty of them. At Real Madrid, he once publicly imitated Fabio Capello after being left out again. He also challenged Ronaldo Nazario to see who could eat the most croissants. Ronaldo was already known as “El Gordo”, so Cassano became “El Gordito” – particularly appropriate after he gained 12kg during his first seven months in Madrid.

He made only four goals in 18 months at the club before his spell ended. His time there was so poor that he became one of the strangest signings of the Galacticos era, even before Thomas Gravesen.

Florentino Perez paid 5.5m euros for the 23-year-old and almost doubled his wages. Cassano arrived with an impressive record of 52 goals and nine assists in 161 appearances for Roma, and was regarded as one of the finest talents of his generation.

But he had already damaged his relationship with almost everyone in authority at Roma. Francesco Totti, who had treated him like a younger brother and allowed him to stay at his home, stopped speaking to him after Cassano accused the captain and his parents of stealing a cheque. Cassano later discovered it had slipped from his trouser pocket and was in his car.

Roma went through four managers in 2004-05 after Capello’s departure. Rudi Voller resigned in September 2006 after only 26 days, exasperated by Cassano’s behaviour. The striker had been sent off against Fiorentina in his first league match and then walked away when Voller tried to speak to him. Cassano also complained publicly about a record 100,000-euro fine.

Luciano Spalletti left him out of the Roma squad 11 times in Serie A during the final six months of his spell for disciplinary reasons. When club president Rosella Sensi offered Cassano a new, heavily performance-related contract, he responded with a public stream of abuse.

No major Italian club wanted him. Then came Real Madrid.

“I did everything to destroy everything,” Cassano later said. “I followed no rules and enjoyed it.”

His excesses included food, parties and a fur coat he wore at the Santiago Bernabeu in January 2006. Cassano has also claimed he slept with 600 women before marriage, most of them during his 18 months in Madrid.

What separated him from many gifted but difficult footballers was his self-awareness. He knowingly embraced his cassanate, recognised when he had gone too far and could eventually apologise. He also knew how to laugh at himself.

He and Totti did not speak for five years but are now friends. Capello, who backed him at both Roma and Real Madrid and repeatedly forgave him, still speaks about him with respect.

Cassano grew up in Bari Vecchia, one of southern Italy’s poorest districts during the 1980s and early 1990s. The area has since been renovated, but at the time it was regarded as a place to avoid. He played football in its narrow streets and is said not to have played on grass until he was 13.

His father showed little interest in him, while his older half-brother spent more time in prison than outside it. Cassano says he failed six times at school before eventually stopping altogether.

He believes his life might have followed the same path had 18 December 1999 unfolded differently. Against Inter Milan, the 17-year-old received a pass from Perrotta, controlled it with his heel, beat Laurent Blanc and Cristian Panucci, and scored from 11 metres in the 88th minute to give Bari a remarkable 2-1 victory.

“Perrotta passes, 50 perfect metres, I control with my heel, get past Blanc, play it between him and Panucci, and send both straight to the bar,” Cassano wrote in his autobiography with journalist Pierluigi Pardo. “A shot into the near corner, then I see the stand getting closer and closer. Celebration. I was born.”

One Serie A start was enough for him to be mentioned alongside Diego Maradona, Roberto Baggio and Alessandro Del Piero. Cassano called himself “Messi before Messi” and said: “At my peak I was better than Roberto Baggio, Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero!”

He has also insisted: “I never reached my peak, either in my career or in my life.” On Viva El Futbol, he said: “I was better! I liked myself too much. I could shoot, I had the final pass that almost nobody else had, I was physically strong. I was a genius. And I performed at big clubs, despite never training and always being five or six kilos overweight.”

Cassano won La Liga from the stands with Real Madrid and a Scudetto with Milan. He also played important spells for Bari, Roma, Sampdoria, Milan and Parma, while making his mark with Italy, including his celebration in only his underwear after the Euro 2012 semi-final.

Totti, Ronaldo Nazario, Ronaldinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic never questioned his extraordinary talent. Only Jose Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo, whom Cassano considers greatly overrated, directly challenged him. Ronaldo reportedly sent him a list of his trophies, while Mourinho joked that Cassano had not even won the “Coppa della Lombardia” with Inter.

Cassano’s response remains: “Football is not only about winning trophies. It is about the beauty of the game.”

For nearly two decades, he was one of Italy’s most influential and popular footballers. He wasted his talent, repeatedly fought authority and destroyed what he had built – but he also made the players around him better and helped Sampdoria reach another level.

And his name is in the dictionary. That, Cassano likes to joke, is one thing he has over CR7.