Demetrio Albertini has reflected on his time as an AC Milan player during what was an illustrious part of the club’s history, and he claimed that they were a team that struck fear into opponents.
Albertini is widely considered one of the legends of the Milan side of the 1990s that won virtually everything there was to win, as well as the Italian national team of the same period.
He spent the majority of his career with the Rossoneri, winning five Serie A titles and two UEFA Champions League titles with the club. He also played for Atletico Madrid, Lazio, Atalanta and Barcelona.
The 52-year-old keeps up with news pertaining to Milan, having recently expressed an opinion on the idea of selling one of Theo Hernandez, Rafael Leao or Mike Maignan this summer.
Albertini was the guest on the new fourth episode of ‘Unlocker Room – The Rossoneri Podcast’ Now the president of the technical sector of the FIGC, the former midfielder lifted the lid on many aspects of his time with the Rossoneri with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
Do you remember the first time you kicked a ball?
“I remember that I was in kindergarten and my priest brother, who is 4 years older than me, accompanied me without my mother’s knowledge to take me to play against teams from other countries.
“My first coach was my father, and when I didn’t play well he whistled, it was a personal signal and I got nervous (laughs), even when I played at San Siro it has changed, the generations are different, I started in the oratory and at the time they didn’t exist not even the scouts, there were friends who had connections and put you in contact with the clubs.
“After that experience I went to Seregno, I spent 6 months there and then went to Milan at 10 years old. I remember a first tournament where we won 7 -0 against Inter, it’s one of my first memories as a child playing for the Rossoneri.”
What was your arrival at Milan like as a child, and how did you balance it with school?
“I didn’t feel the pressure, it was the beauty of playing football, you should know that during my time in the Milan youth sector I took my bag back twice. One year because I didn’t play, and I wanted to have fun with this sport, and the second time because I didn’t study much at school, so my parents made themselves heard.
“In that period I made several sacrifices, at 14 I was in the youth team for Milan and I took the bus to go to school in Seregno, then I had to leave and run to reach the station in Milan. In the evening I either returned by public transport or with friends, I was tired and studied in the morning at 5 or 7.”
It requires discipline and commitment to get to the top, then?
“From how I see football now, as a manager there is one thing that every success has in common and it is not talent, but discipline. This allows you to grow and work well, I did the best thing in the world but sometimes I went training tired, in the cold. What made me do it?”
You made your first team debut at 17 years old…
“I was with the first team from the beginning of that season, there were 20 minutes left and we won 3-0 at San Siro against Como, I considered that debut as a reward.
“I will always remember, I was leaving the stadium and a fan he stopped me by telling me that he had seen many make their debut and then disappear into anonymity. When you make your debut as a minor you have to give the right weight to everything, I felt like a real player when I started playing for Milan the following year.
“I returned from the military and played 10 minutes in two friendlies, Ancelotti was there in my place, and on that occasion I complained to Capello, I asked him to leave because I wanted to play, now I was thinking like a footballer.”
What was it like to get that first call-up?
“I had two discoverers, two great masters as coaches: Sacchi and Capello, but Fabio also intervened at the beginning. So I played this tournament with the Primavera in Genoa, seven games played at a very high pace, once the last match was over I called the doctor and I told him that I had a fever of 37 and that I couldn’t do a cool down.
“That day I found out in the Gazzetta through my dad – it was 1988 and there were the Olympics with the Coppa Italia being played in the pre-season – and I read in the newspaper that Sacchi needed to call up five Primavera players.
“I was by the phone all day waiting for Arrigo’s call, the next day he called me and my adventure in the first team began.”
What was Sacchi like?
“He was obsessive, I then had the fortune and pleasure of knowing him even outside of football, but he was like a teacher. He brought to Italy what should have been a football match with the creation of emotions.
“Two wonderful anecdotes: Arrigo often had a megaphone and when he didn’t have a voice he used it, I remember one afternoon where he shouted continuously but we couldn’t hear anything, nothing at all.
“The national team, second match of the 94 World Cup, Arrigo called me and Dino Baggio into the room: “Kids, It’s the last chance I’m giving you, otherwise you won’t play anymore.”
What makes the DNA of Milan so different from all the other clubs?
“I had the chance to play in important clubs even outside Italy: at Barcelona or Atletico there are different DNA and mentalities, I also know the spirit of Lazio and I also know what it meant to play in Berlusconi’s Milan.
“He said: ‘We will become the strongest team in the world’. And in those years Milan did not win or achieve great successes, we must remember this, but today, objectively in terms of perception abroad, they are the most recognised team in Italy and beyond.”
You went on loan to Padova…
“I remember a conversation with Berlusconi who told me that he had spoken with Sacchi and that he didn’t want me to leave, for him it was better to play 12 games for Milan than to spend a year on loan in another team.
“It was 1990-91 and I was 19 years old, I dreamed of playing for Milan, but I made very few appearances from September to November and therefore they decided to send me to Padova on loan.
“For the club you are an asset to be valued and looked after, Milan did it with me. I remember once when I was invited to a local broadcast at Padova, but we hadn’t yet won a match and around 30 angry fans were waiting for us out there at the end of the broadcast. ‘No, but we’re not mad at you, you’re strong’, they reassured me.
“The following Sunday there was a protest at the stadium with the Curva on strike, after 15 minutes we scored and the whole stadium was singing my name, giving me goosebumps.”
Demetrio Albertini vs Monaco, 1994. pic.twitter.com/I4Yk4R7UJm
— 90s Football (@90sfootball) May 29, 2021
Is it true you called Franco Baresi ‘lei’?
“Oh sure, the first year at Milan I called him ‘Lei’, there was hazing in the locker room, it was almost an obligation, there was great respect for Franco. I was often close to Marco Simone, Filippo Galli and Giovanni Stroppa, that was my group let’s say.
“Then on the pitch I always say that my two teachers were Ancelotti and Rijkaard, who I later met as a coach at Barcelona and he wasn’t shy like me when he played for Milan, as a coach he spoke a lot.”
Would you say opponents were afraid of that Milan?
“I always say it, we made a record of 58 games without losing, and it’s not like we deserved to win every time but we instilled fear in our opponents because the others arrived with defeats and we didn’t.
“In that Milan I experienced something different, my dream would have been to finish my career with the Rossoneri, but if I went back I would like to experience everything I did, I played in important teams and won what I missed like the Coppa Italia with Lazio and LaLiga with Barcelona.”
What was it like in the dressing room with Fabio Capello?
“He’s a person who is more dedicated to personality on the pitch and to improving mistakes. I remember giving an interview where they made a somewhat forced headline about the fact that I wanted more peace of mind and less stress.
“But that wasn’t what I actually said and Capello approached me and said, jokingly, ‘So you got fooled, eh?’. Then sometimes he also used the carrot-and-stick method, it was a way to manage us better.”
There were some years of decline, including an 11th-placed finish…
“The reason is very simple, they were the years of zero parameters and the epochal change in the market with the Bosman ruling, those are the changes. When you change so much in an environment where you have never changed almost anything, then it destabilises you greatly.
“Let’s think about Ziege, he arrives and we put Maldini on the right, in addition to the farewells of Baresi and Tassotti, it wasn’t easy.”
Finally, Albertini’s pyramid: from Ancelotti to Pirlo, who is the best?
“So I’ll put Ancelotti in the second row together with Rijkaard, I’ll put Pirlo in first place. Unfortunately, let’s count Fernando Redondo’s unfortunate experience at Milan, I’ll put him in the last band together with Giunti, Biglia and Montolivo. I’ll put myself in the third band with Tonali and Desailly.”
The founder of Milan Herbert Kilpin chose red and black to instill fear in the mind of opponents. Now Milan play one third of the games in pink and blue because it’s good for business.
Imo when the scary guy wear pink and blue, its definitely make them look more scary. I will run like hell if i meet mike tyson wearing pink shirt.