Antonio Cassano: The Rebel Who Squandered a World-Class Career

Antonio Cassano was hailed as Italian football's great promise, the "Messi before Messi," yet he only secured two titles. This is part 17 of our Rebel United series.

'cassanata'

Noun, feminine (joking, ironic) a gesture, behavior, or idea (escapade) typical of the footballer Antonio Cassano.

Should the footballer Antonio Cassano ever fade into obscurity, a highly unlikely scenario, he can at least take solace in knowing his name has entered the Italian vocabulary. Since 2008, "cassanata" has been recognized as a neologism in Italy's most important dictionary, Trecani.

And Antonio Cassano has certainly had his share of cassanate throughout his career. Consider the time he thought it a good idea to publicly impersonate his coach, Fabio Capello, when he wasn't being fielded at Real Madrid. Or his croissant-eating contest with Ronaldo Fenomeno to see who could consume the most. Cassano's nickname at Real was 'El Gordito' because Ronaldo was already known as 'El Gordo.' The Italian could certainly out-eat the Brazilian, gaining twelve kilograms in his first seven months at Real Madrid. Even for Cassano, that was too much. He never performed as poorly as he did at Real, with his time at the Bernabéu ending after just 18 months and four goals.

The Strangest Galactico at Real Madrid

Cassano's transfer stands out as the most peculiar during the Galacticos era, even more so than Thomas Gravesen's. While Gravesen lacked the footballing ability to fit into the star-studded lineup, Cassano's personality clashed entirely. To this day, questions linger about Florentino Pérez's thinking behind this final transfer of his first tenure at Real.

Certainly, Cassano was only 23, undeniably one of the greatest talents of his generation, and arrived in Madrid with a respectable record of 52 goals and nine assists in 161 games for AS Roma. However, over the previous four and a half years in the Italian capital, he had managed to alienate everyone with any influence at Roma.

Captain Francesco Totti, who saw a footballing soulmate in the young dribbler, took him in like a younger brother and even let him stay at his home, had stopped speaking to him. Cassano had accused Totti and his parents of stealing a check, creating a massive scene. Totti's argument that he earned significantly more than Cassano and had no logical reason to steal from his friend didn't sway the hothead.

Cassano later found the lost check in his car; it had simply slipped out of his pocket, but by then, it was too late.

'I Didn't Follow Any Rules and Enjoyed It': Antonio Cassano at Real Madrid

During the 2004/2005 season, AS Roma cycled through four coaches after the departure of Fabio Capello, their last Scudetto-winning manager and Cassano's patron. Cassano was responsible for at least one of their resignations: Rudi Völler quit in September 2006 after only 26 days in charge, utterly exasperated by the antics of the temperamental striker. In his first league game against Fiorentina, Cassano got into a fight on the pitch and received a red card. When Völler tried to speak with him, Cassano simply ignored the coach. Cassano publicly complained about the record €100,000 fine, as well as the coach.

Völler left Rome, but things didn't improve much with other coaches. Luciano Spalletti excluded Cassano from the Serie A matchday squad eleven times in his final six months at Roma due to disciplinary reasons. Nevertheless, Rosella Sensi, then the president of Roma, offered Cassano a new contract – with strongly performance-based terms. Cassano publicly insulted Sensi with profanities.

His career seemed over before it had truly begun. No major club in Serie A showed any further interest in Cassano, who, while occasionally looking like Fantantonio, far too often appeared completely unhinged.

Then came Real and Pérez, who paid €5.5 million in transfer fees and nearly doubled his salary. And Antonio Cassano? "I did everything to ruin everything. I didn't follow any rules and enjoyed it," he said in retrospect. Indeed, aside from his eating binges and other excesses (Cassano claims to have slept with 600 women before his wedding, and he attributes most of these encounters to his 18 months in Madrid while carrying twelve extra kilos), the only other memorable aspects of his time at Real are his impossible fur coat, which he sported at the Bernabéu in January 2006.

Why is Antonio Cassano a Rebel?

What distinguishes Cassano from many highly talented but difficult-to-manage footballers who attract scandal, making him a true rebel, is his self-criticism and reflection amidst his antics. He embraces his cassanate with full awareness, knows when he has crossed the line, and can, after some time, apologize to those he has wronged. His ability to not take himself too seriously and laugh at himself also helps. It's easy to despair over him, but it's almost impossible not to find him entertaining and likable.

He and Totti didn't speak for about five years; today, they are friends again. Even Capello, the coach who nurtured him at Roma and then Real, forgiving more than anyone yet constantly disappointed, speaks of him with respect today.

Cassano wasted his talent like few other professionals. He couldn't accept authority and systematically destroyed everything he built. But he did so with an almost admirable consistency. And he still had a significant career.

It's easy to attribute Cassano's lack of discipline, his inability to deal with authority, or his distrust of friends to his difficult childhood. Antonio Cassano grew up in Bari Vecchia, the poorest district of the southern Italian city in the 1980s and early 1990s. Bari Vecchia has since been revitalized; the old town's streets are clean, and the narrow houses and cellars have been renovated.

Where tourists now wander through narrow alleys, watching grandmothers shape orecchiette, the port city's signature pasta, it was once a no-go area, with every guidebook warning of pickpockets. This is where Antonio Cassano grew up, playing football in these streets; he reportedly only played on grass for the first time at 13. Whether you believe that or not, he always remained a child of the streets. His father showed no interest in him; his older half-brother broke into cigarette machines, cars, and houses, and to this day, he spends more time in prison than outside. Antonio claims to have failed his grade six times before he simply stopped going to school.

Antonio Cassano Was the Lionel Messi Before Messi

Cassano is convinced he too would have become a criminal if December 18, 1999, had unfolded differently. In an instant, Antonio Cassano, the unknown boy from Bari Vecchia, became Fantantonio, El Pibe de Bari, a nod to El Pibe de Oro, Diego Armando Maradona, the Golden Boy. People – including Cassano himself – didn't settle for less after that goal against Inter.

He himself describes that wonder goal, that solo run where he received the ball with his heel, flicked it with his head, made World Cup winner Laurent Blanc and Christian Panucci miss with a small feint, and then scored from eleven meters, in his autobiography written with journalist Pierluigi Pardo: "Perotta passes, 50 perfect meters, I receive it with my heel, overtake Blanc who is sprinting back, pass the ball between him and the crossing Panucci, sending them both wide. A shot into the near corner, then I see the curve getting closer. The celebrations. I was born."

And indeed: anyone who witnessed that moment, either in the stadium or on television, must have felt that something more than just an improbable and beautiful 2-1 winning goal for the underdog AS Bari against Inter Milan in the 88th minute by a 17-year-old had occurred. Even today, watching the footage on YouTube gives you goosebumps.

The solo run. The goal. The utter ecstasy of the curva. The fans. The small blonde boy in their midst, no longer wanting to return to the field.

Antonio Cassano needed only one Serie A start to be mentioned in the same breath as Maradona, Baggio, and Del Piero. Cassano was considered the Messi before Messi. "I was better than Roberto Baggio, Francesco Totti, and Alessandro del Piero in my prime!" However, he claimed he "never reached my prime, neither in my career nor in my life," recently stated on his popular YouTube show, Viva El Futbol.

Cassano Better Than Totti, del Piero, Baggio – and Cristiano Ronaldo?

"I was better!" Not: "I could have been better." He still has a somewhat strained relationship with the Italian language, still preferring to speak the dialect of his hometown. This often makes his words sound more amusing, but certainly no less megalomaniacal. For example, when he stubbornly asserts that very few players in general have been more brilliant than him and that very few players possessed a more complete skillset:

• Lionel Messi, of course, his absolute GOAT.
• Andres Iniesta and Zinedine Zidane, the midfield magicians.
• Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Neymar.

But then follows: "Cassano. I enjoyed myself so much! I could shoot, I had a final pass that almost no one else had. I was physically strong. I was brilliant. I also performed well at big clubs. And this, despite never training and always being five, six kilos overweight."

This is said by someone who, in an 18-year career, experienced a Spanish championship with Real and a Scudetto as a protagonist with Milan, and who was primarily noticed in the Squadra Azzurra when he celebrated again in his underwear, as he did after the Euro 2012 semi-final.

"Football isn't just about winning titles. It's about the beauty of the game."

But it's not just about titles. In fact, a surprising number of great players who played with him don't disagree. Francesco Totti, Ronaldo Fenomeno, Ronaldinho, Zlatan Ibrahimović: none of them ever questioned Cassano's immense talent and class.

Only José Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo, whom Cassano considers massively overrated, countered. Ronaldo allegedly, and annoyed, sent him a list of his trophies. Mourinho quipped at a press conference that Cassano "wouldn't have even won the 'Coppa della Lombardia'" at Inter. Cassano can only laugh at such remarks.

"Football isn't just about winning titles. It's about the beauty of the game," is his mantra.

And it's not as if he hasn't contributed much to the beautiful game. At Bari, Roma, and later at Sampdoria Genoa, AC Milan, and FC Parma, he had more than just a few good months. In his good spells, he made his teammates better; Samp notably improved significantly thanks to him and declined back into mediocrity after he left. Even if his constant disputes and breakups ultimately took center stage, Cassano was one of Italy's most influential and beloved footballers for nearly two decades. And he is in a dictionary. That's something he actually has over CR7.