Sacchi, that “rally” at 5 years old

Could a 5-year-old keep a group of adults, all around him, glued together to talk about football? Yes, it happened. It is summer 1951 and a family from Romagna is on vacation at the Montecatini spa. The child is bored to see the row of adults, with the jug in hand, in front of the gush of water that must heal ailments to the liver, kidneys, etc. He wants to talk about football, pressing, diagonals. He is a very fan of Inter but, when he grows up, he will declare himself sorry for his youthful love for him. Arrigo Sacchi was born in Fusignano (Ravenna) on 1 April 1946. He plays among amateurs but doesn’t have good feet, so he tries to be a coach. He reaches D, at Bellaria, when his father (who had played in Spal) calls him back to the company (he sold shoes).

Arrigo accepts but has the kick in his head. He goes to the course of Coverciano and then Rimini takes him. So Parma. And here we begin to see his revolution. Not that football, from Herrera and Rocco’s “bolt”, hadn’t made progress, but Sacchi imposes new game systems and rhythms. With Parma (in B) he beats Milan. Berlusconi falls in love with it. The signing of the contract is dated 3 July 1987. In defense there are Tassotti and Maldini, but he brings Mussi and Bianchi. The start is not promising and the fans contest it, but the Knight holds firm: “Sacchi stays”. And in fact at the end of the year comes the Scudetto and the year after the Champions Cup and then the Intercontinental Cup and again the Champions Cup. The newspapers rename him “the prophet of Fusignano”. There are three things for which Italians are famous around the world: pizza, the mafia and the catenaccio. On the first two, Sacchi can do nothing. But he doesn’t want to hear about the bolt in his team. He plays in the zone, he wants obsessive pressing as they do in the Dutch, the “short” team, the “counterattacks”. According to him, all the merits of that Milan belong to him, also capable of giving value to players who are anything but phenomena. Then, from him, luck. In Belgrade, Milan are about to be eliminated from the Champions Cup when the fog descends. The match is suspended and the next day, in the repeated match, the round passes. In 1991 it was Sacchi who asked Berlusconi for a year’s vacation. He is stressed out. Fabio Capello arrives in his place, but in November they call him on the bench of the National team (Vicini exonerated, who missed the 1992 European Championship). Sacchi, amidst a thousand controversies, knocks out Roberto Mancini (the current coach), the Inter fans Bergomi and Zenga, but also Vialli (Samp) and Schillaci (bomber in Italy ’90). Without shining, the national team qualified for the 1994 World Cup in the USA. And it reached the final against Brazil (lost on penalties). The controversies are endless, also because it turns out that he is engaged: in 4 years he receives from the Football Association more than 11 billion lire, plus the prizes, double compared to the players. The fiasco at the 1996 European Championships led to his resignation, but Milan took him back. By now, however, the cycle is over (the defeats against Juve and Inter are sensational) and Sacchi emigrates. He goes to Atletico Madrid, then returns to Parma, then becomes director of the technical area of ​​Real. Now he’s a TV commentator. –