‘I view things differently now': The Socceroos' next big thing is back, and even better than before

The Age

3 days ago

'I don't take things for granted. Even a single training session, I grab it with both hands. I have worked on many muscle groups which I didn't really think were so important. I worked on and understood how my body works even better than before. I made new friends, and I started watching basketball twice a week, watching the EuroLeague. So it was actually good fun.
'If I had to decide, I would not get injured, but getting injured, at least I made it worthwhile. You've got to take it on the chin, focus on yourself, become a better athlete – which I think I've become.'
When Circati began on his road to recovery, the staff at the rehab centre he attended in Bologna asked him: what's your goal? His answer was twofold: make it back onto the pitch before the end of the Serie A season, and be fit for the Socceroos' crucial June window to help them clinch World Cup qualification.
That was doubly important because Thursday night's clash with Japan – in which a win would seal a spot at the 2026 World Cup for Australia – is at Optus Stadium in Perth, his hometown. Though he wasn't born there, that's where he grew up; his father Gianfranco moved to Perth in 1998 to play for the Glory in the old National Soccer League, and while he only spent a season with them, he loved it so much he migrated permanently eight years later.
Circati has ticked both boxes.
At club level, his return was initially being handled with caution, with the 22-year-old an unused substitute for six games once he was deemed fit enough to make a match-day squad – until a string of results below them on the Serie A table put Parma at heightened relegation risk, forcing them to break glass in case of emergency for their final two fixtures, and bring in a player who has been dubbed 'the wall of Parma' by Italian media.
'My dream was to play in Serie A, but I don't feel like I've done it yet.'
Alessandro Circati
'That's when things started to change,' Circati said.
'The coach came up to me, and he goes, 'How much are you able to play?''
Both games were pivotal, and Circati was pivotal in them. Against Napoli, he drew a foul deep in stoppage time from Giovanni Simeone which saw a penalty awarded against Parma in the same passage of play overturned. It finished 0-0, meaning the eventual Italian champions had to wait to be crowned.
'It's also worse when they celebrate in your home stadium, so that's what we didn't want,' Circati said. 'It felt good to deny them.'
In Parma's final game, away to Atalanta, was more 'hectic', in his words. Stung by two counter-attacking goals despite largely controlling the game, Parma were 2-0 down at half-time, and needed a draw from the match to confirm their safety in the top league.
'We went into the change rooms at half-time … we looked at ourselves in the eyes, and we said we're gonna come back,' he said.
'Two goals, very doable. We went out, we took it goal by goal. We weren't too worked up. The first one led to the second, and then the second led to the third, and then there you go. It's probably the best comeback I've actually been a part of in my life in football. I've never come back from 2-0 down and won 3-2. Big satisfaction.'
His deployment was a vote of major confidence from manager Cristian Chivu, who replaced Fabio Pecchia – the coach who oversaw Circati's first-team integration as they won Serie B last season – in February.
'When the coach changed, obviously, it gives you a bit of self-doubt,' Circati said. 'He doesn't know who you are, I'm out until the back end of the season … but hats off to Chivu because he knew who I was, he watched previous games, and he welcomed me with two arms open.'
Pecchia had handed Circati a start in Parma's first four games of the season, before he went down with the ACL – the highlight of which was a 2-1 win at home over another Italian giant, AC Milan. That's the team his family supports.
'I had my uncle in the grandstand with an AC Milan scarf on,' he said. 'I flipped him off. When the final whistle blew, it was one of my happiest moments to this day. Huge sense of relief, where we can belong – we belong in that league.'
The Socceroos also changed coach during Circati's injury lay-off, but to one he was familiar with: Tony Popovic (and his assistant Hayden Foxe) was at Perth Glory when he was a youth player before he departed for Italy.
Popovic's initial plan was to leave him out for this squad – Circati would have checked into camp anyway and watched the Japan game from the stands on his off-season trip home – but given how good he looked for Parma, it was a no-brainer to bring him in and stiffen up his back three, which is weakened in the absence of Harry Souttar and Hayden Matthews through injury.
There is huge transfer interest in Circati from Juventus and Napoli, as well as clubs in the English Premier League, but he is happy at Parma, and happier still that he is such a big part of their plans.
'It's better to be wanted than unwanted,' he said.
'Obviously, it's great hearing big clubs want you, and that Parma aren't really willing to sell you, the president doesn't want to sell. It's a good situation, you feel like you're wanted. This season coming, I can almost say I'll be 100 per cent playing at Parma because I just think that's the right decision to do at this point, just to be able to play a whole season.
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'My dream was to play in Serie A, but I don't feel like I've done it yet. I want to play a whole season, lots of games, enjoy it. For me, it was even a bigger motivator to stay up.'
But that's for next season. Top of his footballing bucket list right now is to help the Socceroos get to the 2026 World Cup, and then play a big role in it.
'It's that simple,' he said. 'It's a big ambition, a big dream, but that is my goal.'
Circati watched every game of the last World Cup in Qatar and was blown away by not only Australia's campaign, but what it did for the country.
'You breathe a different air, watching the World Cup,' he said.
'Wherever you are, it's a different environment, an event that brings everyone together – a whole nation, many nations together. It's amazing vibes. And I'm very proud of them, what they did. It's the best a Socceroos team has done to this day.'