Translation of Boateng’s interview with “Forza Milan!” (January 2012)
BOATENG - The numbers of a champion
27 reasons to describe himself in this mould-breaker interview, Kevin Prince reveals all to “Forza Milan!” readers talking everything about love, family, friendship, cuisine, cars, books, music, holidays and much more.
Do you know what it feels like going on a roller coaster? You go up, up, up and upper; and then pum! Stop. A second wait and down going full blast, with air opening your mouth. Just after a twinkling of an eye you are in the loop and then everyone to the right and to the left and a loop more before reaching slowly the finish. Here’s in short the first year passed here by our siebenundzwanzig, twenty-seven, or rather Kevin Prince Boateng. A year started in August 2010 a bit on the quiet, because surely our playmaker were barely known, but well-appreciated by the football experts who were right about this Ghanian-German with an unbridled body and unquestioned technical qualities. Prince’s life changed deeply since then: he arrived in Italy as a semi-unknown football player, married and with a son, today is a firm first string player in Allegri’s line-up, he keeps scoring goals and making assists and is happily engaged with Melissa Satta, after the ending of his marriage last summer. Not bad for a lap on roller coaster. But that isn’t all. Kevin chose for his jersey the number 27: there are many curiosities about this number. 27 is the perfect cube because it’s exactly the result of 3 cubed and, to remain in a mathematical area, it’s the sum of the digits of his own cube (273=19683, 1+9+6+8+3=27). Twenty-seven is the atomic number of cobalt, a silver-white element whose etymology probably comes from the Greek kobalos, sprite, and maybe Boateng resembles a little to a sprite, especially on the pitch when he runs from a side to the other with the agility of an African gazelle. So we decided to introduce him with 27 curiosities which reveal personality, dreams, merits and faults.
