INTERVIEW WITH PIERLUIGI COLLINA: Mary Hannigan meets the Italian official and sex symbol who has, um, good relations with Roy Keane.

Pierluigi Collina is in town for a Coca Cola/Euro 2004 promotion. "Would you like anything to drink?", he's asked by the PR people.

"No, no thank you," he says, "you have no Pepsi, so I don't want anything."

They gasp. He grins. And those eyes twinkle, the same unmistakable eyes that have silenced the hardest of football hard men for the eight years the Italian has been an international referee.

Hard men. Like Roy Keane, even.

"I have very, very good relations with Roy Keane," he tells the audience at The Helix in Glasnevin.

They giggle.

"No, you are not to laugh," he smiles. "I am sincere. He is one of the bosses on the field, the referee is also one of the bosses on the field, so it is important for all bosses to have good relations. And we have very, very good relations."

A referee who has "very, very good relations" with Roy Keane is, you might say, as rare a commodity as a referee who is almost as recognisable as the game's most famous players, needs an agent to field his endorsement offers, was once voted his country's "sexiest man", replaced a French model as the new face of Lorenz (the watch company) once they heard he was found to be "erotic" by 41 per cent of the women they surveyed, has appeared on the catwalk in Milan fashion week, featured in a music video (George Michael's Shoot the Dog) and knows the difference between the offside rule and a bunch of bananas.

But then Pierluigi Collina is no ordinary referee. He is one who is respected, one who, earlier this month, was voted best referee in the world for the sixth consecutive year by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics, and has regularly received the award for being the best referee in Italy's Serie A.

Not that he's been without his critics. He's ruffled plenty of feathers in his time and drew criticism for his contract with Adidas, with whom several of the world's leading players also have deals. In 2002, Barcelona questioned UEFA for appointing Collina to take charge of their Champions League meeting with Real Madrid because, like Zinedine Zidane and Raul, he was an Adidas man. But, while lodging his protest, Barcelona vice-president Angel Fernandez still conceded that Collina was "a truly great referee".

Plenty of plaudits, then, but still, why would this 43-year-old Bologna-born financial consultant, with a first class degree in economics, who speaks Italian, English, Spanish and French, want to subject himself to a life of abuse from over-heated players, managers and supporters?

"It's not easy sometimes, you really ask yourself 'why?'," he says. "And that happens a lot. But being in football at this level is so exciting, so exciting that you can forget all that pressure, criticism, abuse. It's about adrenalin, too. Maybe refereeing at this high level is the difference between being a normal surgeon and a brain surgeon. You know that your responsibility is so high that when you manage the situation well it is a great compensation for all that the pressure, a great, great pleasure."

But can he actually enjoy these games? No. Too much work to be done.

"I can enjoy them the day after, but I am concentrating too much during the game, even when I am the fourth official. I was the fourth official at a Turkey v Sweden game and, well, I was kept very busy dealing with the benches," he smiles (in other words: all hell broke loose). "When the game ended I didn't understand why Turkey were celebrating, I thought it had finished 1-1. I was thinking, 'but you haven't qualified!'. But then the referee told me that Turkey had won 2-1. You see? I can only enjoy the moment when the moment is over."

Refereeing the 2002 World Cup final was, he says, "beautiful", but there are no doubts about his favourite footballing moments, even if he viewed the 1999 Champions League final between Manchester United and Bayern Munich from a different angle to most.

"Nobody involved will ever forget it, an unbelievable finish," he says. "From my point of view it was a little different. It was the last couple of minutes, I was very satisfied, there had been no problems, no controversy, I was happy. Then Manchester United scored the equaliser and I thought, 'oh no, another 30 minutes, 30 minutes to make a mistake, the last mistake-free 90 minutes will be forgotten'.

"So, like Munich, I expected extra time, but you know what happened. But those three minutes in Barcelona are the three moments I will never forget. Ever. That's why we love football, yes?"

Next year Collina will turn 45, the age the Association of Italian Referees specifies as that beyond which referees cannot officiate at professional matches - unless they are given a dispensation. He may well yet receive that dispensation.

Until then, though, he must contemplate retirement.

Life without refereeing? Can you imagine it?

"The day I will stop refereeing - and I hope it is far away - will be a shocking day. I have been doing it for so long, my weeks are organised around refereeing. I even feel strange during the summer - two months and no refereeing! I try to relax, but . . ."

But?

". . but, it's hard. I try to relax with my family and forget about it, but . . ."

But? It's hard?

"Yes," he smiles. "I've been a referee since I was 17, it is very difficult to think about a life without it."