Stefano Pioli and Claudio Ranieri will share another warm hug on the touchline this evening as AC Milan and Cagliari do battle in Sardinia.
La Gazzetta dello Sport writes this morning how Pioli’s Milan are busy challenging for the top spot, while Ranieri’s Cagliari are looking for their first victory of the season.
Milan’s line-up will be much changed from the usual so even Ranieri may be surprised, but he has known Pioli since 1993. Their first meeting was at Fiorentina, when Ranieri arrived as head coach, while Pioli had been a defender for them since 1989.
In their first year together they brought the team – relegated to Serie B after 55 years – back to Serie A. The following year, with Rui Costa among the summer signings, a comfortable tenth-placed finish.
The following year Pioli said goodbye on his way to Padua but it wasn’t the only crossover between the two because in 2007 Ranieri replaced Pioli, who was sacked, at Parma. Ranieri picked up Pioli’s work, as Pioli had already done with Ranieri’s tips in Florence.
Cagliari and Milan will compete this evening and the two managers – both born on 20 October – will be opponents again. It will be the eighth time that they face each other as coaches: Pioli has won three, on four occasions it has ended in a draw, Ranieri is at zero.
They could be described as ‘best enemies’. Pioli has ‘great respect for Ranieri’, and at the beginning of his career on the bench he defined him as ‘the maestro’. He explained: “I learned a lot from him, both as a coach and as a person.”
Ranieri, more recently, reciprocated: “Is Pioli inspired by me? No, he has surpassed me. Stefano is giving a lot to Italian football.” Before the match they will share their usual warm hug, then they will be adversaries, and after that they will love each other again.
❤️😘🫣
“They could be described as ‘best enemies” that phrasing makes me think of the documentary about the tough colaborative relationship between the movie director werner herzog and the actor klaus kinski called Mein liebster Feind or my dearest foe 😀 not a bad movie about some of film historys greates artists and madmen 🙂
Anyways a 2 goal victory for us tonight.
Although i have never heard of any of this, this has to be my favourite ever comment on here – ever.
Thank you very much A P very kind of you to say so as i was kinda expecting to get lambasted to post such an obscure intellectual movie reference up around here 😀