The story of the Italian goalkeeper considered “better than Buffon” and ended up in prison for drug dealing

Gianluigi Buffon He is one of the most outstanding and recognized goalkeepers in football history. But at the beginning he knew that there was someone the coaches saw better and he too ended up getting a place in the national team, where he would become a real emblem. Mark Catheriniformer Roma youth goalkeeper, he was able to score goals in the Italian youth academies, scoring Gigi was sent to the bank. However, that football promise failed to debut and his lifestyle changed completely. It is that since June 2, 2022 he has been detained for drug trafficking and has been sentenced to a year and a half in prison.

30 years ago, Caterini shared the team with Roma’s greatest idol, Francesco Totti, in the lower end of Loba and was also the holder of the goal in the cadet division of the Italian national team, ahead of Buffon. It is clear that fate has led them on different paths: Buffon has put on the shirt sky blue a total of 176 times, he was world champion and became a legend Juventus and Parma.

Caterini is currently 46 but he was European runner-up with Italy under 16 in 1993. Despite his potential, his career ended up being interrupted due to various injuries suffered and for not having accepted a loan from Roma to Tricase from Puglia in Serie D (4th division).

After stepping away from football, he ended up working as an adjuster and insurance adjuster until he lost that job and everything got darker: Caterini started selling drugs to pay off his addiction.

“My life moved to the drug dealing districts of Rome, such as San Basilio, Tor Bella Monaca, Quarticciolo, and as a regular consumer I ended up selling it. I trafficked with the minimum doses necessary to be able to pay for mine” commented Catherine.

The former goalkeeper ended up being arrested after a scuffle with the police. “At that moment I was in a state of alteration… instinctively I had the reaction to run away. In running away I tripped several times until I found myself on the ground, at that moment they grabbed me but I struggled, pulling, being able to let go and I escaped, then I realized that they weren’t chasing me anymore and that I had lost my wallet with my documents, so that was probably enough to identify me”, explained the promise that could not be there.