Having spent over a decade abroad, Melbourne Heart FC defender Adrian Madaschi is well accustomed to the travails of a life in professional football.
Having spent over a decade abroad, Melbourne Heart FC defender Adrian Madaschi is well accustomed to the travails of a life in professional football.
Across a career which has taken the 29-year-old to Italy and Scotland, spending periods with Atalanta, Dundee, Partick Thistle and Portosummaga, Madaschi has carved a path largely spent out of the spotlight despite being regular in the Australian national team system.
Indeed, Madaschi has featured at all age levels, including most notably, the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, while he has earned four senior caps for the Socceroos.
However, despite possessing such experience under his belt, Madaschi remains composed as he discusses the next stage in his career.
Signing a short-term deal with Melbourne Heart FC, the next step in the Perth-native-s career remains somewhat unknown.
However, this fails to deter Madaschi, who genuinely refuses to look beyond the week to week battle of earning first team selection.
“I-ve never really been one to fix long term goals because a lot of the time, obstacles can come up when you least expect them to. For the moment, I prefer to set short to very medium term goals,” he said.
“To be honest, I-ve been a pro for the best part of 13 years now, so it comes with football. I think having a free approach…..allows you to set short term goals as opposed to projecting into the future, when really; you don-t know what-s going to happen from one day to the next. Things can change.”
While Madaschi was introduced to the Heart squad after the commencement of the Hyundai A-League season, he has made a rather smooth transition into life in red and white, already cementing a spot in the starting eleven.
And he says he is equally comfortable off the park, paying tribute to the Club-s football department and administration.
“Full credit to everyone behind the scenes, and in front of us too. Everything works down to a tee, everyone knows their role, so things work really well,” he said.
Looking ahead to the challenge of the Brisbane Roar, Madaschi expects a difficult test at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
But following Sydney FC-s landmark triumph last weekend, he feels Heart is well and truly capable of causing another upset.
“I think they-re the benchmark for this league. They-re a great team, they have great organisation and I think Ange has done a great job,” he said.
“Full credit to them for the great record they accomplished two weeks ago. But then again, Sydney-s come out on the weekend and showed everyone, they are a great team yes, but they can be played against, and if you have the right structure, then there-s always a chance.
“That-s what we-re working on this week and we-ll try to bring it into our game.”
