Juventus team manager plants tree in Mellieha
Dressed casually in a crisp shirt, jeans and blazer, Gianluca Pessotto, Juventus team manager, limped across the field with Environment Minister George Pullicino to plant a tree, as part of the 34U campaign.
He mingled so well that, with the exception of a few diehard fans, hardly anybody knew of his planned visit to Mellieha, where hundreds of people gathered near the Red Tower to plant a record 15,000 trees over the weekend.
"I'm here to plant a tree... just to plant a tree," he said with a big smile, when asked what brought him to Malta.
However, the real news of his visit has already spread like wildfire and many Juventus fans are looking forward to January when the Serie A heavyweights will come to Malta for a four-day training camp.
Sources said the visit will be announced during an official press conference in Turin next week. A top football player, Mr Pessotto's gentle nature shone through when he happily posed for photos and signed T-shirts and scraps of papers for the fans who drove all the way up to Mellieha and then followed him back to the supporters' club in Fleur De Lys, where he paid a quick visit.
Looking relaxed, Mr Pessotto seemed to be putting last year's bad news behind him and relishing a second chance at life. In June 2006, the 37-year-old had fallen 15 metres from a second-storey window of the club headquarters, clutching a set of rosary beads.
His fall, which led to multiple fractures, had coincided with the investigations into match fixing among Italy's top clubs, including Juventus. Though not implicated in the scandal, Mr Pessotto was said to be feeling depressed and unhappy with his role at the club.
"We are looking ahead and we feel the need to show that all that was said and written about the team is not true. We are working to show the players' technical superiority and take Juventus to new heights in football," he said.
Things are looking up for both Mr Pessotto, who has now put away his crutches, and his team, which is faring well in Serie A, despite two controversial penalties in Napoli's favour during Saturday's match.
"We were very disappointed. The erroneous decision was quite evident. However, we don't have any suspicions that this move was done to hinder us, even though it ruined the game," he said.
As he focused his attention on planting a Sandarac gum tree in a secluded area, Mr Pullicino, an avid Lazio fan, remarked with a smile that the tree symbolised Juventus's regeneration.
Mr Pessotto, who leaves Malta this afternoon, appealed to the Maltese to care for the environment and promote initiatives such as the 34U national tree-planting campaign. Trees were the country's lungs, he said.
The 34U campaign proved to be a tremendous success and the response by the public had been overwhelming. A ministry spokesman said the trees were sold out by 4 p.m. yesterday and they had to register people's names and accept their booking to plant trees elsewhere.
A shuttle mini-van service from Ghadira to the Red Tower could not cope with the crowds and the promoters had to double the number of mini-vans to six.
"This event has been a qualified success. We never anticipated such an enormous response," the spokesman said.
Times of Malta