Papu Gomez: I didn’t dare to watch football during the lockdown. I cried every day in the first few months

Former Argentina international and Atlanta veteran Papu Gomez accepted an interview with Italian Sky and talked about his two-year suspension due to a positive drug test.

He said: "I stopped watching football during that time because it was too painful for me. In the first few months, I tried to train on my own, but I cried every day because I couldn't do it. I said, 'I'm going to start studying, do a coaching or sports director's course,' but I couldn't do that."

"All the doors were closed. Where are my friends? ? Real friends are always there. Some people, when you are a world champion, you lose some friends when you go through difficult times. Family, parents, brothers, children... are very important to me. "

"In addition to them, there is Herman Denis, who lives in Bergamo and has been very supportive of me. The world has helped me a lot. "

About playing for Padua now

"I'm fine, I'm very excited to see the fans. This gave me a lot of motivation and I didn’t expect to receive so much support. I can only thank the people of Padua. ”

“Physically I felt great and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t stop’. After a year of suspension I started to see hope and thought 'I have to find a team'. The initial anger turned into a desire to perform well. "

"How did Mirabelli convince me? We negotiated for three or four days. I had offers from Argentina and Arab countries, but we wanted to stay in Europe, especially Italy, because it feels like home. "