Some interesting excerpts have emerged from Pippo Inzaghi’s autobiography, and he criticised former head coach Max Allegri for the way he was treated towards the end of his time at AC Milan.
The striker’s record speaks for itself given he won two UEFA Champions League titles with Milan, as well as two Scudetti, winning eight trophies overall. He scored 313 goals in official matches and holds the record for most hat-tricks in Serie A with 10.
Inzaghi spoke about his time at Milan as part of his new book ‘The Right Moment’, and he began by talking about his final goal at San Siro against Novara in the 2011-12 season, with his comments relayed by FootballItalia.
“Dictating the pass is like a long-distance dance step with your partner, you have to work well in pairs, he has to serve you at the right moment and you have to be in the right place. I’m all there in this action,” he said.
“I started on the offside line. Seedorf had understood in advance, his pass was perfect, I stopped it with my chest and deflected it slightly to the right. But I didn’t need to look at the goal, I never needed to, I ‘felt’ it.
“Fontana, the Novara goalkeeper, came out to meet me promptly and closed the door, at least that’s what he thought. I made a right turn and the ball ended up in the net. I went crazy. I ran under the curva, the first to embrace me was Nesta. The last shot of my life was a goal.
“I had no more doubts, I wouldn’t be tempted by any offer, this was my last game. It’s over. Before returning to midfield I stopped, turned towards the fans, knelt down, lifted my shirt and kissed it. An emotional kiss, sweet, swollen with eternal gratitude.
“The referee blew his whistle, I saw my nephew Tommaso running to me. I squeezed him tight, my heart closed. I look at my team and waved goodbye to them…. Goodbye Milan, goodbye San Siro. It was beautiful.”
Inzaghi then spoke about his decision to retire from football in 2012, revealing that it was not really his intention but rather was forced upon him by Allegri.
“It was Allegri who ended my playing career. In fact, Milan and I had reached an agreement in the spring of 2012 to extend my contract by one year.
“I would have been an important glue in the locker room that had lost Maldini, Pirlo, Nesta, Gattuso, Seedorf in a short time. Substantial figures who had left a deep void. I wouldn’t have made any claims…. Galliani was happy to have found this solution with me.
“Allegri, on the other hand, rejected it, he didn’t want me in the dressing room anymore and told the directors, asking that my contract not be renewed. For me it was a blow.”
It has been well documented that a lot of players suffer after retiring from football given that their world and all they have ever known suddenly vanishes, and Inzaghi was honest about his battle post-retirement.
“In the autumn of 2015 for the first time the ball was deflated, it no longer bounced. And I couldn’t absorb the distance from my world, from the smell of the grass, from the sanctity of the changing room,” he said.
“I would get up in the morning and not know how to get there in the evening. I would go to the gym, but without enthusiasm, just to pass the time, fill the day and prevent boredom and discouragement from taking over.
“My body was sending me unmistakable signals of malaise. I became frightened. In fact, I say it clearly and without shame: I got scared. I had four gastroscopies and other unpleasant tests, I always travelled with a bag full of CDs with ultrasounds and MRIs that I showed to various specialists.
“I feared I had something serious, even ALS. They were months of discomfort and suffering, in which I struggled to find a way out. Some call it sickness of living, some another way, I preferred to dribble away definitions and diagnoses and face reality.
“I understood what the problem was and overcame it little by little, surrounding myself with the love of family. My parents were exceptional: they understood what I needed.”
Thanks for the heads up Sempre I didn’t know he had a bio out. All of this rings true – I still haven’t forgiven Allegri for the way he treated Pippo, Pirlo and the rest. Gattuso was also a j*ckass for squeezing Locatelli out the team but Allegri was just the worst. (Disclaimer: this is called an “opinion” 😆)
I still haven’t forgiven Berlusconi for not firing Alegri immediately after he lost the scudetto to that Conte Juventus team.
Ghost or no ghost Muntari goal, that Juventus squad had no business winning the scudetto over the Milan squad
Yeh I don’t know what Silvio was thinking. Allegri decimated that squad and then b*ggered off to Juventus leaving us in tatters.
Where he won like 7 scudetti in a row. So yeah, terrible coach. I’m not necessarily an Allegri fan, but his firing was the beginning of the banter era.
Pirlo literally wrote he hates Milan and you still worship him
you have any shame?
Finally something we agree on @dejan10 (exce[t the Gattuso part lol). I despise Allegri. Horrible person. He destroyed our team. Instead of using the veteran players to teach and guide the young players he cast them aside because the man is a control freak. Juve deserves him hope he stays there forever.
Allegri… I f*ng knew it! Here was there to destroy Milan.
We don’t agree on much but this we do.
What he did to Pippo by leaving him out of the champions league squad was such a slap in the face, I have never forgiven that.
Allegri is like double edged sword. Yes he won us Scudetto. But on the other hand, he costed us Pirlo, and now Pippo. He also pushed the signing of Matri that might be recorded as on the worst transfers in Milan history.
To give allegri the benefit of the doubt he was in a serious relationship with Matri at the time.
Lol, “cost us Pirlo”? Funny how he then reunited with and played him at Juventus and where they won a couple of scudettos on the trot before Pirlo left for MLS. Seems like Berlusconi and Galliani “cost us” Pirlo.
Yup Galliani sure did, as there was a ‘rule’ of only giving 1 year extension for players above 30 back then. But surely Allegri did some damage too. You don’t remember when he prefered to put more muscle on the midfield? On a point that Van Bommel was ahead of Pirlo, after that Pirlo’s injury. Pirlo was even fielded several times in the mezzala.
Oh and just found exactly this from Pirlo’s interview years ago.
“Milan offered me a 1-year extension but I wanted 3 years because I was younger than the other players whose contracts were expiring,” Pirlo, 32, told today’s La Gazzetta dello Sport. “But the real reason behind why I left Milan was because Allegri wanted to use Ambrosini and Van Bommel in front of the defence.
“So that meant that I had to change position on the pitch. So I said ‘No, thanks’ to Milan, and chose Juve. Milan decided that I was no longer useful to them. I understood that immediately during our meeting.
“Allegri wanted to use other players in my position. During a long season injury problems can occur, but I believe that they should change something in the preparations at Milanello. During the season, many of my former teammates have said that they could feel my absence, but I’m happy. I won. When I was at Buffon’s wedding in June last year, people asked me if I was crazy because I had left Milan,” he continued.
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So yeah, it’s even funnier when Allegri coached Juve and Pirlo was one of his vital players again.
Damn. That’s it then. But the irony of their time at Juventus…
On another note: “During a long season injury problems can occur, but I believe that they should change something in the preparations at Milanello.” Things haven’t changed much in ten years apparently….
Matri can score goal in his 1st season with AC Milan . Worst transfer are king CDK 35m euro with 0 goal in 1400 minute play as AmF
no the worst transfer in my opinion is caldara by a mile as cdk could still come good for us.
Ricardo Oliveira and Fernando Redondo also deserves a mention even though redondo showed great honor in returning his salary for two of the seasons if i recollect correctly. I had great hopes for that transfer nevertheless.
Ricardo Oliveira by the way is still active in brazilian football at the age of 43.
The worst is still Bonucci. And Kalinic isn’t far from him also.
i disagree even though he shouldnt have been aquirred to begin with and become an instant captain for us he still performed better than hose mentioned and could easily have been sold to a premier league team when he asked to leave us.
Caldara was a straight up swap with bonucci at an equal valuation of 37.5 mil and caldara has never played a single serie a match for us and by those means he is undoubtedly the player that has cost us the most compared to minutes played. We are still stuck with him to this day and potentially for 1 more year to come. Then there is the question that caldara only played in a 3 cb formation when we played with 4 players at the back line so we shot ourselves in the foot by tha move, I think i woud have preferred bonucci rotting on the becnh compared to the swap had he not had a high salary,
Kalinic deserves a mention as well though.
@Martin Bernhard. Caldara was destroyed by injuries. That can happen to anyone. What was Bonucci’s excuse? He didn’t have Chiellini next to him? Bonnucci is surely the worse transfer.
Caldara’s move only happened because of Bonucci’s transfer in the first place. So he actually costed us twice, lol. To be fair, Caldara was a hot property back then. Many Juventinis were against that swap move. Considering they will give us a great prospect to be paired with our most valuable defender back then, Romagnoli. On the other hand they’d left with group of aging defenders.
Just a sheer bad luck by that injury.
I can understand what both of you are saying but as i implied caldara was a bad fit to begin with due to him only playing in a 3 man defence previously, His valuation at 37.5 in a swap deal with bonucci were ridiculous as the fee should have been 20-25 at most but juventus cooked up some shit as we saw with reason conviction.
I agree his injuries is part of his misfortune but still he has never played for us besides of in 1 coppa italia match and 1 europa league match over a combined 155 minutes less than 2 full matches that basically makes him our most expenssive player ever that played for this club costing 37.5 mil and not even play 2 full matches for us that makes him the worst transfer ever in the club as i see it but sure i do feel sorry for him due to the inuries but we should never have agreed with that deal to begin with and if juventus didnt want to pay for the play we should have skipped bonucci to a different destination as there was interest and we could have recouperated a great deal of the money we had paid for him,
Pippo are one of my favourite player. Too bad his career end like this because alegri request. After no senior player like pippo next season as leader in dressing room , AC Milan get in banter era and absence from CL for many years.
Pirlo left Milan because he did not agree to extend 1 year contract offered. There was rule that player above 30 will extend by one year contract. Not good management decision to player like Pirlo who still have many good years left on his career.
interesting those words from Pirlo about his exit from Milan. Now I understand him a bit more, however he was not only coming from an injury but from two (yes, two) abusmal seasons. He was a liability if Milan renewed him 3 years. And let’s talk seriously here: in a midfield with top Vidal, top Pogba and a really good player like Marchisio, a lot of people looks good, not only Pirlo. Compared to the midfield in Milan, it was like day and night and it was easier to perform there when you have those monsters covering your back