09/13/2021 11:24 AM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 09/13/2021 11:24 AM
For
Arrigo Sacchi
, coach of the mythical Milan who was twice European champion (1989, 1990), Italian clubs will not regain glory in continental competitions until they offer a good game and "dominated football", following the example of the Azzurra team directed by
Roberto Mancini
.
With
Stefano Pioli
in Milan and
Gian Piero Gasperini
in Atalanta, "today we have coaches who have put good play at the center of the project" and who move away from the traditional Italian defensive tactic, celebrates the
Mago de Fusignano
, who these days presents an exhibition in his hometown that reviews his career.
-Milan returns to the Champions League after seven years of absence. What options do you have?
-Milan have a difficult group (Liverpool, Atlético de Madrid, Porto) (...) But it is important to do well in that competition.
I have known his coach (Stefano Pioli) for years.
He was already an excellent coach on a tactical level, but he did not transmit identity to his teams.
Now he's gotten over that, his team does have a style.
Sacchi and the two Intercontinental Cup trophies he won with Milan.
Photo: AFP
-Italian clubs have not won a European competition since 2010. Is the victory in the European Championship in Italy this year a sign for a possible reaction?
-What Mancini does is very encouraging.
So many things have changed!
He appears to be the brother of the player he was, as if he were someone else.
We have won the Euro after years without victories.
Between 1989 and 1999, we won fifteen European Cups (four European Cups / Champions League, 8 UEFA Cups -currently Europa League- and 3 European Cup Winners' Cups).
It was a positive moment because we had a positive example, with Milan.
Today we have Atalanta, Milan, Lazio with (Maurizio) Sarri or a young coach like Vincenzo Italiano with Fiorentina ... Many others are very good with tactics, but with teams that do not put on a show.
- Do you think even more about defending a lot than attacking in Italy?
-When I was little, I was a fan of Brazil, Real Madrid and then Ajax, with their fantastic football.
Italian football gave me few emotions and I had even less fun.
It was a football child of fear and deception.
I tried to understand it: football is the reflection of the history and culture of a country.
We enlightened the world until the 16th century, but since then we have not renewed ourselves.
And in that case, the others take advantage of you.
I wrote once in a newspaper chronicle that the last time we went on an attack was in Roman times.
A ball signed by Diego Maradona, jewel of the Sacchi museum in Italy.
Photo: AFP
-But things seem to change, also in Italy, is that right?
-Today we have coaches, six or seven, who put good play at the center of the project.
The others continue in the tactic ... How can someone who does not expect more than the mistakes of others be optimistic?
I wanted an optimistic team that would continue to attack.
(Massimiliano) Allegri (Juventus coach) is a great tactician, but he plays our football (typically Italian), which unfortunately has won very little internationally.
To prevail internationally we have to offer domination football ".
-Is your advice to AC Milan, first think about giving a show before thinking about winning?
-With Milan, I was sure that if we played well, it would be easier to win.
In Italy we are not yet on that.
Most coaches say they want to win first.
But I also wanted to win!
In three seasons in the European Cup (current Champions League), we won two of them.
Not bad, right?
I have always believed that merit, beauty, emotion, spectacle and harmony were indispensable ingredients.
A country that has not yet understood that is behind schedule.
-And how to achieve that?
-For me, football has always been a philosophy, not a game system.
He never looked at the feet of the footballers, but at their heads, their personality.
I wanted mature, intelligent people.
I would propose things to them and they would return them to me with improvements.
It was like a ping pong match, in which we all made progress.
Clubs are needed with patience, I was never fired.
From Fusignano to Fusignano
The Sacchi Museum, a place for fans of good football.
Photo: AFP
In Fusignano (Emilia-Romagna), where he learned his trade as a coach in amateur football, Arrigo Sacchi exposes the memories of a rich career, between shirts signed by Paolo Maldini and Diego Maradona and the two Champions League won with Milan.
"This exhibition (until November 7), is to express my gratitude to the population that made me play soccer, first, and then be a coach," explains the
75-year-old
Mago de Fusignano
, sitting next to the two replicas of the Champions League trophy, won in 1989 and 1990 with the Rossoneri.
The former coach, who lives near the San Rocco Museum, shows there his personal memories (photos, trophies, diplomas, T-shirts ...), sports relics in the middle of religious works of art from the permanent collection of the establishment.
A good opportunity to show his first steps as an amateur player and the journey to being Italy coach (1991-1996), going through the Milanese glory years (1987-1991) and his brief experience as a manager at Real Madrid (2005).
"I was hoping to become a good player, but I understood at the age of 19 that I would not be a great footballer and I preferred to stop. Nobody has reproached me for it! I got married and worked in my father's factory," explains Sacchi.
Photos and more photos.
All the memories of the Arrigo Sacchi exhibition.
Photo: AFP
The Fusignano librarian, Alfredo Belletti, then pushed him to try the adventure as a "mister", as coaches are called in Italy: "He told me: 'Come on, if you can't play, then become a coach.' We had lost all the preparation games, but then we all won except one game and won the championship. It was a good start ... I stayed for three years and went to another city, as a semi-professional. "
His first coaching diploma, dating from 1975, is displayed in the exhibition amid photos and videos that chronologically show the ascension of Sacchi.
The Italian coach gradually climbed the steps and divisions until he seduced Silvio Berlusconi, who signed him for Milan.
A club with which Sacchi conquered Europe with his offensive and spectacular game, with stars like Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten.
Several "best coach" trophies confirm that golden period.
But if you like these individual awards and the gifts from your friends, such as the Napoli jersey offered by Diego Maradona, Sacchi mostly kept many photos of teams, which is not surprising in a coach who is always proud to have preferred to "bet on the team game, more than thinking about the individuals and the stars ".
By Anthony LUCAS / AFP
