Sacchi: “Milan is a European team but they need to learn to take more risks, we must have more courage in Italy” | OneFootball

Arrigo Sacchi during the Festival dello Sport event in Trento on October 11, 2019. (Massimo Bertolini)

Arrigo Sacchi spoke about the battle at the top between Milan, Napoli and Inter, drawing comparisons to his own time.

Napoli, Milan and Inter seem to be dominating the league so far this season. This brings back memories for a time at the end of the 80s where people were running to the stadium to admire Ottavio Bianchi and Diego Maradona’s Napoli (1987 Scudetto), Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan (1988 Scudetto) and Giovanni Trapattoni’s Inter (1989 Scudetto).

Sacchi sat down for an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport’s Andrea Schianchi and you can read it before:

Sacchi, how was football at that time? “It was beautiful, I was 30 years younger! Joking aside, the environment was similar to that of today because nothing ever changes in Italy. We Italians have a refusal to renew. Let’s say that there were two very strong teams, Napoli and Milan, that were following the Italian tradition, and then there was my Milan team that was following a different path.”

Milan was therefore an anomaly… “Yes, it was something that was outside the bounds of history. It was President Berlusconi who said that we had three obligations: to win, to convince and to entertain. Before, the Presidents would only think about bringing home the result. Just think that Berlusconi’s first move was to take away the match bonuses from the players and instead give objective-based bonuses: if you came in third – you’d get x; if you came in second you’d get y; if you came in first… In 1988 we arrived first and the great adventure began.”

Arrigo Sacchi during training at Milanello. (@imagoimages)

Your opponents on the bench were Ottavio Bianchi and Giovanni Trapattoni… “They were really good tacticians, very good at blocking the opponents and breaking away. I thought differently, though. You see, they had a past and in the past they had won a lot – it was logical that they would continue on that path. I, on the other hand, had no past, I could have only had a future, and so I was working to build something new. But Bianchi and Trap were fantastic coaches.”

And those teams were fantastic, weren’t they? “The technical level was very high throughout the campaign. Let me give you some examples: Napoli had Diego Maradona and Careca, Milan had Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten, Inter had Ramón Díaz and Aldo Serena and then Serena and Jürgen Klinsmann, Fiorentina had Roberto Baggio, and at Sampdoria there were Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini… In short, a lot of Champions who embellished the scene.”

Is the quality lower today? “If we look at Luciano Spalletti’s Napoli, Stefano Pioli’s Milan and Simone Inzaghi’s Inter, then I have to admit that there are some excellent interpreters and good game concepts. But we must do more, we must have more courage because only with courage can great international results be achieved. And Mancini’s Italy is there to demonstrate this theory.”

Arrigo Sacchi during Milan-Sassuolo at Stadio San Siro on December 15, 2019. (BEAUTIFUL SPORTS Carabelli)

Were you surprised by the explosion of Napoli? “Not surprised, but I’ll wait before giving a definite judgement. In the meantime, I can say that Spalletti is doing an excellent job and this makes me happy. I have always respected him and I know that he now has the possibility of transmitting a strong personality to his group. He needs to find consistency. However, let’s not forget that winning in Naples is much more difficult than winning in Milano or in Turin: it’s a question of history, of social humus. Now there is enthusiasm, but what will happen when some problems arise? How will the fans react? I can’t answer that… However, I do know that Spalletti, as well as training the players, will also have to train the environment.”

Inzaghi’s Inter team is going strong despite the departure of Lukaku and Hakimi… “Inzaghi is good, although he has kept the backbone of last season and he hasn’t changed the formation. A formidable striker like Lukaku left, but Inter still score goals. And this means that it’s the game that produces the goals, even before the players. I expect more courage from the Nerazzurri. I wouldn’t like to always see them in numerical superiority in the defensive phase and in a numerical inferiority when they attack. It’s a legacy of the Italian tradition, but if we want to progress then we have to risk something more, have the audacity to accept the one-on-one, as it happens in Europe.”

Arrigo Sacchi and Ivan Gazidis during Milan-Sassuolo at Stadio San Siro on December 15, 2019. (Spada LaPresse)

Do you like Pioli’s Milan? “In the way of playing and being on the field, Milan is a European team. They are doing very well. Sometimes, however, also the Rossoneri have to learn to take a few more risks. They are all youngsters, they don’t have a lot of experience and so they have to make up for this gap with their play and the compactness of the group. But I would like to see them closer to each other, more connected departments, so that pressing becomes almost natural. If you press well, you win back the ball quickly and manage it. And then you need more movement without the ball, because this increases the speed of the maneuver. However, I repeat for the thousandth time – we need patience: if it takes nine months to make a child, wouldn’t we like to give a coach at least three months to build his project?”

Will it end like in the 80s: Napoli, Milan and Inter playing for the Scudetto? “I am not a magician, but these three are going strong, while Juventus still has problems to solve. It’s possible that it’s a three-way battle. And I would be pleased because it would take me back to a time when we at Milan beat the strongest player in the world, proving that a team was worth more than a single player, even if the single player was called Maradona.”