“Look at me, look how ugly I am.”
Giorgio Chiellini didn’t need anyone else to say it for him. On the Team Serie A podcast, the Italian defender, a 117-time international for the Azzurra, poked fun at his own looks without mincing words: “I’m not good-looking at all… yeah”. And then he dropped the part that set social media ablaze: “Being a successful footballer has helped me sleep with more women”.
The quote traveled far. The German newspaper Bild ran it, and within hours it was being echoed by media outlets around the world. But what’s curious is that Chiellini had played this game before: in January 2021, on rapper Fedez’s podcast, he had described himself as “uglier than sin”. That time, he also held up former teammate Leonardo Bonucci as an example of someone who would have managed it anyway, because he was much better-looking.
The man speaking this way had just left Juventus after 17 seasons, said goodbye to the national team after losing the Finalissima to Argentina at Wembley, and landed at Los Ángeles FC. A champion who laughs at himself and doesn’t even try to hide the advantage fame gave him. Brutal self-criticism or football’s rarest honesty?
