Is it possible for you to play to the maximum of your ability in a situation like this?
Yes, it's not easy but it's been a while now that I realise people have been talking about non-football matters. Unfortunately that's happened and I can't do anything about it. I try to keep going and not to think about it. Occasionally I can't sleep at nights thinking about what might happen to me. I know that football is my work and my life.

What was the most difficult point of this season for you?
The worst was a time when we kept notching up defeats a couple of months ago. That was a critical time, then my problem came up. I personally had the passport affair too, it was like everything was going wrong for me. But as I said earlier a footballer can put up with this. A man in another profession would have gone mad, but we can run and distract ourselves, think of other things. Before I signed the new contract there was so much talk about it. I thought that after it was sealed there would be no more discussions, but it just kept going. It's been a difficult year.

In these four years you've scored some spectacular goals. Could you give us a top 5 of your personal favourites?
The two against Brescia in Week 1 were good. Then the one against Empoli. From 60 metres out. Yeah, I really hit that one. And there was a great goal against Lecce in Milan, but we won that game 5-0 or 6-0, I think. There was an impressive strike at Perugia. Clary Seedorf scored first and I doubled our lead. But I wouldn't know what order to put them in.

It seems that the UEFA Cup exit against Alaves was the turning point. Now Inter have recovered but what was it that changed?
It looks like a good time for us now. After Alaves, as you said, we hadn't realised what was happening. We actually risked dropping into Serie B. The pressure wasn't just on the pitch because your family suffers with you, the fans share the team's pain. I think we realised that it was a very difficult situation.