Former Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano has revealed how he was once chastised by Santi Cazorla, for turning up to a game drunk.
Calcio Napoli 24 have comments from the former goalkeeper today. He discussed what was, undeniably, one of the low points of his career.
Viviano is now 40 years old and retired following a player career spanning 21-years. He started out in Fiorentina’s youth set up, before playing for Brescia, Cesena, Inter Milan, Bologna, Palermo and Fiorentina up to 2013.
In September that year, he joined Arsenal on loan. He famously never made a competitive first-team appearance for the Gunners.
They signed him on deadline day in a deal that included an option for a permanent transfer. Arsenal primarily signed him as cover for Wojciech Szczęsny and Lukasz Fabianski.
That bore out as his only appearance in an Arsenal shirt was for the Under 21’s, in a 5-1 defeat against Sunderland. He returned to Italy with Palermo the following summer.
As the established number three, chances were hard to come by. And it seems when one did appear, Viviano was not in any shape to take it. That led to a severe chastising from Santi Cazorla.
“I wasn’t called up for Everton-Arsenal, and I was going out that evening,” he said.
“Around two o’clock, I went out for a cigarette and read a message: ‘Fabianski was ill: a car will pick you up at 6:30.’ I’d drunk half a bottle of vodka, so I went to my friend who owned the nightclub and showed him the message.
“He looked at me and said, ‘What now?’ ‘Now bring me more vodka.’ I got home at dawn, took a shower, and when I got to Liverpool, in the dressing room, the great Santi Cazorla said to me, ‘You smell of alcohol, you’re disgusting.’
“It was the only time in my life I almost had a panic attack. I couldn’t see and kept telling myself, ‘If I have to come on, my career is over.'”