In an interview with Gazzetta Dello Sport (via Calciomercato.com), Cristian Brocchi defended his appointment at AC Milan back in 2016, often being referred to as the ‘coconut’ of Silvio Berlusconi.
After failing to win for five consecutive games, Sinisa Mihajlovic was relieved of his duties as manager of the Rossoneri. The owner, Berlusconi, decided to replace the Serbian with Primavera manager Brocchi.
However, there was no major improvement as Milan continued to struggle, with the fans questioning the decision to sack Mihajlovic. In fact, Brocchi has often been referred to as the ‘coconut’ of Berlusconi, who allegedly made a fair share of the tactical decisions.
In the interview with the newspaper, Brocchi firmly denied this, stating that he got the job for his achievements with the Primavera team.
“If I’m the coconut of Berlusconi? He appreciated my work in the youth sector. He knew my qualities, I launched talents like Donnarumma, Calabria and Cutrone. Milan is a family and I was in tune with the idea of Berlusconi and Galliani.
“He has never given me training advice, not even during the two and a half months at Milan. The experience was short, but we played a great Coppa Italia final against Juventus. It was the team performance that came closest to my ideas,” he concluded.
Currently, the 43-year-old is the manager of Serie C side Monza, which is owned by Berlusconi. In other words, the former midfielder continues to be a favourite of the former Milan owner.
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