Nesta recalls Juventus and Liverpool finals, rejecting Real Madrid and post-retirement struggles | OneFootball

Alessandro Nesta has looked back at his career with AC Milan, including the two Champions League finals against Liverpool and even rejecting Real Madrid.

There is no doubting that Nesta is one of the best defenders to ever walk the planet. After his big-money arrival from Lazio, he won 10 major trophies with Milan, including the Scudetto twice and the Champions League twice, as well as the World Cup with Italy in 2006.

Nesta spoke in an interview with his former Italy team-mate Luca Toni on Amazon Prime Video Italia and he lifted the lid on some of the key moments in his career.

“The year before I went to Milan, Real Madrid had called and I said no, because I wanted to stay at Lazio. Then Milan came, Lazio were falling apart, then the first year at San Siro we won the Champions League and Coppa Italia,” said Nesta (via Football Italia).

“The first four months, I was horrible, as I was struggling to detach myself from Rome, but once I realised where I was, I rolled my sleeves up.”

Champions League glory would follow in 2003 when Milan beat Juventus on penalties in Manchester, having knocked Inter out in the semis.

“Nobody slept the night before, because if you lose to Manchester United, nobody will say anything, but losing to Juventus… Paolo Maldini and Andrea Pirlo were super tense too. It was a bad game for me, few scoring opportunities and it went to penalties.

“I had only taken one penalty before, for the Under-21 side. Some were limping, others didn’t feel ready, the coach pretended not to notice me at first, but seeing as so many others pulled out…

“I surprised Buffon, because I hit it with my toes. I was prepared to wait until the last second and then shoot when Gigi moved. But Buffon didn’t move. So I didn’t have a Plan B and I sort of scuffed it, but it worked.”

Naturally, he was asked about what happened in the 2005 final against Liverpool in Istanbul, when a three-goal lead evaporated.

“It’s not true that we were celebrating in the locker room at half-time, some idiot from the other team said that, I don’t even know his name. It was actually quite tense, we knew there was a long way to go. Steven Gerrard kept Liverpool afloat, he was an animal back then, he was everywhere.

“Afterwards? Nobody talked in the locker room, nobody dared. We went to eat with our families and it was total silence. All summer, I’d wake up and think that can’t have really happened. But when we met up again, we said to ourselves it cannot end like this. We just had to get over it.”

Milan got their revenge by beating Liverpool 2-1 in Athens for the 2007 Champions League final, something that the centre-back believes was fate.

“That was destiny, we were convinced that we would win, because we couldn’t not win again. We actually played worse than the Final we lost, but we were more solid and had that belief, right from the start.

“Pippo Inzaghi could barely stand due to muscular problems, Alberto Gilardino was in incredible form, but the coach had this intuition that gets you to win the Champions League.

“He knew Pippo even in bad shape could score goals. Kaka was in amazing shape, we were sure that we’d win. Even Liverpool knew it, you could tell.”

Nesta left Milan for a new experience with Montreal Impact in Major League Soccer after the 2011-12 season, and then he retired three years later.

“I said enough after surgery and needing two painkillers a day, my body was telling me it was cooked. The year before, I played two games against Lionel Messi’s Barcelona, but I knew a year later he’d crush me if we met again.

“Milan had proposed another year on my contract, but I said no. I’m a defender, I have to chase people down, it’s harder for a striker to realise he’s finished.”

The Italian also openly admitted that that he struggled with depression after finishing playing.

“Every day seemed the same, my wife was a saint to put up with me. I lacked adrenaline and needed competition, so I needed to get back to football and the only way was to be a coach. It is more fun to play, but once the adrenaline kicks in, your mentality does change.”