Enzo Maresca said a former Colón man got him into mate | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca, manager of Manchester City, spoke about his love of mate, his connection with the Argentinians who introduced him to this passion, and how his family made it part of their routine.

The romance between the Italian coach and the most typical infusion of Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay is not something recent, but a deeply rooted habit that transcends borders and squads. His bond with the drink began at the dawn of his professional career in elite football, when he crossed paths with South American figures who passed on a custom he would keep for life.

“In 2000, when I was playing at Juventus, I had a few South American teammates: Paolo Montero, Uruguayan; then there was Mauro Camoranesi, who also drank it... and well, I started there, in 2000. It’s been 26 years and I still drink mate,” he recalled about that first encounter in the Turin dressing room.

Over more than two decades in the football world, that initial affinity was reinforced by sharing squads with numerous Río de la Plata stars, which cemented his daily routine both in training and on preseason trips. “In recent years I’ve had many: Mudo Vázquez —who is now at Belgrano—, Paulo Dybala... I’ve shared with many. Well, I prepare it too, but here Willy Caballero is with me; then I also shared a dressing room for many years with Micho, with Martín Demichelis, so it’s a good habit,” he explained about the ties he built with different Argentine figures along the way.

Far from being a solitary hobby, his taste for mate crossed the threshold of his home and ended up becoming a daily ritual embraced by his entire family. What began as a curiosity between Serie A training sessions became a shared hallmark under his own roof: “My wife drinks mate and my four children drink mate,” the manager revealed about the collective adoption of the infusion in their everyday life.

However, despite having spent more than a quarter of a century with a thermos under his arm, Maresca humbly admits that the technique of preparing mate is still his great unfinished task, and he prefers to leave it to the specialists. “I’ve been drinking mate for 26 years and I’m not able to prepare it as well as you do; I think that’s normal,” he concluded with a laugh, surrendering to the skill of South American footballers and staff when it comes to making the perfect mate.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.