A championship left on the stomach, for how it matured but above all for how it ended. Alfio Torrisi returns to talk about his experience on the Reggina bench and does so with non-trivial words, as in his style.
The coach, now among the main candidates to lead Messina next season, claims the work done in Amaranth: «When I arrived – he recalls – Reggina were in the playout zone, they were conceding two and a half goals per game. From that moment we became the second best defense in Italy in Serie D, we averaged 2.24 points per game and in the second round we were first in the table. These are numbers, not opinions.”
Statistics that certify the path taken by the team during the season, clarifications that almost serve to correct the aim with respect to a few too many rumors that Torrisi didn’t like. For the Sicilian coach, a job also built through a new vision: «We have created an important mentality. In the previous two years Reggina had never won a direct away match. We went on to win on difficult pitches like Caltanissetta, Barcelona and Palermo without even conceding a goal. An obvious change. I’ve always been consistent, I didn’t look anyone in the face and let players from 2008 play who had never debuted in the first team, even removing people like Di Grazia from the field because, after twenty minutes of the match at the “Granillo”, he wasn’t running as he should. There was an important change in the group there.”
But the regret remains enormous and Torrisi identifies the reasons for the lack of success in some parts of the season, starting from the winter transfer market: «In December I made some requests. I wasn’t satisfied and this, in the long run, prevented us from winning the championship. Very little was enough. Unfortunately, however, I think that not everyone wanted to go to Serie C. Maybe it wasn’t everyone’s will, because someone, when they had to lend a hand, didn’t. Yet we managed to compete for the championship until the last day, as the third team for “Giovani di valore”: numbers that no one can erase.”
A bitter photograph that seems to definitively archive the amaranth chapter. With the future that could be, as mentioned, on the Messina side of the Strait. Contacts with ACR sporting director Maurizio Pellegrino have been confirmed: «We met, there were talks and there still are. We’re talking about it. Being linked to Messina is a source of great pride. It is an important place and a club that deserves to quickly return to its relevant categories. Of course, it is impressive to see Messina in Eccellenza’s squad today, but this club has all it takes to be a protagonist in Serie D and build a capable, long-lasting project. I also had two offers from Group A of Serie C, but I’m looking for places that will give me incentives.”
