Armando Sadiku returned to Switzerland in the summer after six years abroad. The 34-year-old striker spoke to blue Sport about his adventures abroad.
Armando Sadiku signed for AC Bellinzona at the end of July after two seasons in India. "Ticino has always been like a second home to me. I played in Lugano and Locarno, so I know a lot of people here," said the 34-year-old in an interview with blue Sport.
From 2012 to 2019, the former Albanian international played for FC Zurich and Vaduz. "It was very pleasant for me to return to Switzerland, also because I played here for seven years - I know the country well and it suited both me and my family," says Sadiku.
However, the striker is currently in the bottom of the table with his new club. Bellinzona went winless in their first twelve league games: "We had a tough start with a lot of difficulties. We were unlucky that many players were injured. We were never able to play with our best eleven, which clearly put us at a disadvantage," explains Sadiku.
Since the end of October, ACB has had a new coach on the sidelines in Giuseppe Sannino, with whom the team is also "very happy", as Sadiku emphasizes: "Sannino has a lot of experience and has put us back on the right track," he enthuses about the Italian.
Sadiku continues: "Last week we won against Aarau and the mood in the team is excellent. I hope we continue like this and get as far up the table as possible."
The cousin of Granit and Taulant Xhaka has often shown courage in his career: "For example, I went to South America, played in the Copa Libertadores, the Copa Sudamericana and in the local championship in Bolivia. I was with Club Bolívar, the best team in the country, where we won the championship."
Getting to know football anew in South America
"We had a training camp in Brazil. I experienced real South American football there. How they live, how they train, how they play. If I hadn't gone there, I would never have been able to understand what football means there. It's a completely different feeling. The people and players live for football, even if they don't earn very much. For them, football is pure love," says Sadiku, impressed.
"In Bolivia, I had big problems with acclimatization. You play at 4200 meters above sea level up there - every time I got back into shape, some injury would set me back again. Then I had to start all over again because you just couldn't breathe properly," he explains.
The home advantage in Bolivia was exceptional: "When Brazilian teams came to us, for example, they had real oxygen cylinders on the bench. While the Brazilians only ran four or five kilometers per game, we flew across the pitch and had nine or ten each time. That's why we often scored easy wins."
It won't be that easy for AC Bellinzona in their home game against Vaduz on Friday evening. You can watch the game live on blue Sport from 8.15pm.
