AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli has spoken about the struggles that he has battled through in his managerial career in order to get to a point where he coaches the champions of Italy.
Pioli was a guest at the University of Milano this afternoon for the first ‘All around soccer’ meeting, a conference that began with an exchange of gifts between Pioli and the faculty as the coach got a university tie, with rector Elio Franzini getting a shirt from Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Pioli began by speaking to the audience about his own personal situation and how he did not go through university but instead forged a path in football that led him to the Rossoneri.
“A pleasure and an honor to be here . As a young man I didn’t have the chance or maybe I didn’t deserve to be at university. The experience allowed me to adapt to the growth of football,” he said (via Di Marzio).
“It was a long but necessary journey to understand many things. All the experiences I have made have helped me to get here, but I still have many more. I had brought to Salernitana only one person with me, now I have a staff of twelve/thirteen people.”
Back 4 March 2018, while Pioli was the head coach of Fiorentina, their club captain Astori was found dead in his hotel room prior to a league match. His autopsy revealed cardiac arrest as his cause of death, and it is undoubtedly one of the most harrowing moments of Pioli’s life.
“The experience with the death of Astori really touched us. It improved me as a coach in the sense of closeness. Nobody could have foreseen it and I felt the need to be close to my players. I knew and appreciated them even more than in what I thought before. Listening to them and talking to them is very important for our work.”
It seemed as if Pioli’s time at Milan would be over before it had really begun after the 5-0 defeat against Lombardy rivals Atalanta in the 2019-20 season, a real low point in the team’s recent history.
“The club were important for the rebirth of Milan. We had a very young group at our disposal. They need examples and we have tried to be so professionally by working at our best and with an important determination.”
Young people have also been fundamental for the rebirth of the Rossoneri and have been a key point of the project under the now previous owners Elliott Management.
“It is a theme that should be developed more in depth. When I train I do not see an ID card; it must be the club, the youth sectors determine a culture. Abroad there are first team squads with a lower number [average age]: if I have many players available, the young player has to overtake many team-mates to be a starter.”
It will be a strange season as for the first time in a lot of players’ and managers’ careers there will be a break in the middle of the season for the World Cup, something which raises its own challenges.
“Structuring the post World Cup will not be easy because it is the first time. We will have 6/7 players who will leave. It will be a subjective management, compared to when they will return. We will have to understand how many rest days they will need, but the season starts again on January 4th.
“It’s a different story compared to the summer World Cup, here we have much less recovery. We will have a week at Milanello then ten days in Dubai where we will play friendly matches. It will be complicated but stimulating. It is important that the team return from the World Cup as a group with ambitions still.”
On the absence of Italy, he added: “I don’t think it is the fault of the Italian league if Italy is not at the World Cup. The Italian teams are returning to the level of the past.”
Pioli was asked what the ambitions are for Milan this season and what the players should be aspiring to after winning the title in 2021-22.
“The goal with Milan is to continue to grow both in Italy and in Europe. Because we are Milan, because we are a top club. After the Scudetto I found the most determined team. If I renewed it is because I see a future path for a team that can move up.”
The coach then concluded: “In my career I have had many difficult situations and sackings. I have also had many positive years, whether it is survival or Scudetto. I have taken away beliefs and mistakes from both situations and it has led me to be the person that I am now.”
