The birthday of the man who changed Italian football: it all started in Rimini in the mid-80s in Serie C, then Parma and that victory with Milan at San Siro in the Italian Cup that won Silvio Berlusconi. A life against the grain and the particular relationship with Trapattoni: they argued with the San Siro gardener over the size of the pitch
How can a man born in a small town in Romagna revolutionize Italian football which has no longer been the same since his advent? Can. With work, application, study and intelligence. Happy birthday to Arrigo Sacchi who celebrates 80 years tomorrow (April 1st, but it’s not a joke). We don’t know if Arrigo was the best Italian coach of all time, but certainly no one divided critics and fans like him. Beloved or hated, never banal and divisive like anyone else. He lifted the most important trophies while leading Milan (two European Cups, two Intercontinental Cups and two Super Cups) and yet he only won one Scudetto (1988) at the helm of the Rossoneri, but in his trophy cabinet there is also a Primavera title with Cesena (1982) and a Serie C1 championship with Parma (1986) and as coach of the Italian national team they came close to winning the world title in 1994, losing the final against Brazil on penalties in Pasadena.
The beginnings
The first turning point in Arrigo Sacchi’s life as a coach is in the summer of 1985. He has just finished the season in fourth place with Rimini in Serie C1, he is one of the most requested coaches by those who want to move up in category. Two teams are competing for it: Edoardo Longarini’s Ancona (who reached Serie A before the financial collapse of his empire, even ending up in prison) and Ceresini’s Parma, the president who preceded the Calisto Tanzi era. . But this will happen many years later: in the summer of 1985 the offers of Ancona and Parma were equal from an economic point of view. Arrigo doesn’t feel like saying no to DS Sogliano and justifies himself like this: “My wife decided”. In reality, Mrs. Giovanna had not intervened in the matter. Sacchi therefore goes to Parma, wins the C1 championship and conquers Serie B. In the Italian Cup, the draw reserves Parma to face Milan at San Siro. The Rossoneri club has just been purchased by Silvio Berlusconi. A goal from Fontolan gave victory to Parma, who then returned to San Siro in February for the round of 16 and won again by eliminating the Rossoneri. Berlusconi goes down to the changing rooms to congratulate Sacchi: Arrigo’s play has convinced Silvio who entrusts Milan to him.
Uphill road to Milanello then the triumphs
Sacchi is not a man of half measures and he brings his methods to Milanello, very hard training sessions that many players cannot digest. Someone goes to complain to Berlusconi also because the results are not arriving, Berlusconi bursts into the locker room and speaks clearly: “Sacchi is the Milan coach and if anyone doesn’t like it, that’s the door.” Milan finished the first round in second place and overtook Napoli in the return match by winning the direct clash at the San Paolo on 1 May 1988. It’s the Milan of the Dutch, they play spectacular football entirely devoted to attack. A Dutch style football with the defense in line and very high. Of course he has champions with Maldini, Baresi, Ancelotti, Rijkard, Gullit and Van Basten, but no one in Italy had embraced the area and won with that system. Italian football suffers a bad blow, Sacchi’s revolution has left its mark. Very attached to Trapattoni, when they were on the benches of Milan and Inter and argued every week with the San Siro gardener: Trap wanted the pitch narrower, Arrigo asked to widen it for his game. But between Giovanni and Arrigo there is respect and affection despite their football being poles apart.
The national team
After Milan, Sacchi becomes coach of the national team. He can only be the right man to relaunch Italian football after the disappointment of the 1990 World Cup in Italy. The president of the FIGC Matarrese chooses him and Arrigo accepts. The results are good but the critics put him under pressure due to the many excellent exclusions: Mancini, Vialli, Zenga, Bergomi, Giannini and Schillaci. Sacchi continues on his way and at the 1994 World Cup Roberto Baggio dragged Italy to the final with Brazil. The “divine pigtail” himself missed one of the penalties that gave the title to the South Americans after the error of Franco Baresi, one of Sacchi’s loyalists. The coach remained in the saddle but in 1996, after being eliminated from the European Championships, he resigned.
Returns and Spain
Sacchi still wants to coach, he returns to Milan but finds a team at the end of the cycle that not even he can motivate. He finishes in a disappointing eleventh place and after a sabbatical he accepts the offer ofAtletico Madrid. But in February 1999 he was sacked. Sacchi can no longer stand the stress of being on the bench and on 16 February 1999 he announces that he wants to coach again, but when on 9 January 2001 the manager calls him Parma decides to accept. On January 31 of the same year he had to stop due to the nervous tension that going to the bench entailed. “Football is not a game but a disease” in this statement there is all of Sacchi’s thoughts, his obsession with victories and the continuous search for better football. For a few years he was a manager at Parma and Real Madrid, then responsible for the youth sector of our national teams and finally a commentator on TV for Mediaset and Rai. Still a commentator for “La Gazzetta dello Sport”, even now if you meet him he looks you straight in the eyes and tries to explain his intense football. As if we were on the eve of a Champions League final. Best wishes Arrigo.
