Baresi: “1990s Milan and Maldini the all-time best in Italy”

FRANCO BARESI believes Maldini is the best ever player Italian player, claims calcio needs to progress, thinks Milan did the right thing by selling Balo and reveals he enjoys Latin music.

Many believe Milan haven’t had a real leader in the dressing room since 2012 when great senators like Sandro Nesta, Rino Gattuso, Pippo Inzaghi and Clarence Seedorf left the club. Max Ambrosini left a year afterwards, leaving the captain armband to Riccardo Montolivo.

Montolivo is the 4th captain in the Silvio Berlusconi era. The first was the legendary center back Franco Baresi. The Italian, whose number 6 jersey has been retired, spent his entire career wearing the red and black colors of Milan, playing over 700 games for the Rossoneri.

Baresi gave a lengthy interview to the Algerian daily newspaper Le Buteur in which he discussed many things including the state of Milan, the state of Italian football, his experiences watching and playing in the World Cup, the appointments of coaches Inzaghi, Massimiliano Allegri and Antonio Conte and more topics.

“What I’ve been doing since retiring? I haven’t left Milan. I still work for the club where I’m responsible for external relations, including with clubs and sponsors. I travel a lot,” said Baresi. “The fact that I didn’t become a coach? I coached after my retirement. I worked in the training center of Milanello where I trained the U18 and U19 squads for five years.

“It was a great time, I loved this job and I could’ve become a coach at another club but Milan asked me to stay and entrusted me with another mission that is of no lesser importance. I agreed to stay.

“My opinion on Milan this season? I hope that this is the season when Milan will return to the front of the stage. We had a difficult year last season and now the team is going through a transition period. The management has adopted a new philosophy to improve the image of Milan, who must re-conquer the Italian league and Europe.

“Personally, I think that the team this season will be able to give hope to the supporters. If the appointment of Inzaghi is a wise choice? Only time will tell. Inzaghi is an ambitious young coach who has all the qualities to lead the team and restore their status of the past.

“Inzaghi knows the club very well and he knows what to do to gain the trust of everyone: the players, management and the fans. A lot is expected of him this season, especially since the management has signed new players to inject new blood into the team. The objective of Milan this season? Milan is a great club and they should always work and think like the big clubs. First of all the team needs a good start to regain confidence. After that we’ll set targets.

“For me it’s important to first focus on the game and the way in which we must achieve good results. The goals will come on their own afterwards. Milan’s decision to sell Balotelli? This kind of decision is always hard to take for the coach and the leaders but I think we had to think carefully before giving Balotelli to Liverpool. I think this is a decision that suits the player and the club. It’s true that Balotelli is difficult to replace but I think the club knows what it does.

“Everyone trusts Galliani and his staff who do everything to bring Milan back to the front of the stage. Balotelli is a great player who has very good technical and physical qualities. He played a very good second half of the season when he joined Milan and he scored a lot of goals. The average team performance last year had a direct impact on personal performances.

“Maybe confidence was lost, especially after a disappointing World Cup. His exit was carefully considered and I believe that he also wanted to leave,” continued Baresi, who won the Serie A title 6 times as a player with Milan.

“The difference between Italy football today and ten years ago? The level of Italian football has declined in recent years. Good players have left the league and it’s not obvious that they’ll return because of the financial crisis in Italian clubs. However, calcio remains a point of reference and it’s very difficult to beat an Italian team in a European competition although many things have changed. We have to improve and progress in the game, because the crowd now wants teams to play good football with lots of goals while Italian teams are always looking for results at the expense of the way.

“If we can see an Italian team winning a European competition this season? Juventus and Roma are in the Champions League but things will be difficult with the presence of the 3-4 favorites: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern and Chelsea.

“If Allegri is the right man to replace Conte? Allegri is a good coach who won the title with Milan but taking a team like Juventus who won the Scudetto three times and replacing Conte isn’t easy. Juventus have kept their workforce but now they have to think about winning in Europe.

“If Conte is the right man to coach Italy? This role is very sensitive but I think the FIGC has made the best choice. This is the coach who’s won the most in recent years and I think he’s able to bring a lot to the Azzurri and rebuild the team.

“If Juventus can win the Scudetto this season? Yes for sure, especially since they have kept their workforce but there’s also Roma who played a great season last year and had a very good transfer window this summer. Italy’s early World Cup exit? In football you cannot make predictions, especially in such tournaments.

“The team that participates must be prepared at all levels to achieve good results and I think that Italy wasn’t ready and that’s why they left after the first round. I think the Italy team missed exceptional players who have a magic touch and have the ability to make the difference, like there were in the past.

“There were Andrea Pirlo and Daniele De Rossi. (Former Italy coach Cesare) Prandelli didn’t have much choice since there are many good players in Serie A, but not many Italians. In the World Cup, when you make mistakes, you walk out of the door. Costa Rica wasn’t stronger than Italy on paper but they did everything on the field and managed an upset.

“The best Italian team of all time? I think the Milan of the 90s was the most impressive team, followed by the Juventus of Marcello Lippi in the late 90s and then the Milan of Ancelotti. I think that Milan and Juventus are the two teams that have excelled the most in the past 20 years,” said Baresi, 54-year-old, who played for Milan from 1977–1997.

“The best European team of all-time? It’s hard to say, but Barcelona is the team that’s been dominating since 2005 but offering attractive football and doing new things in modern football. Personally, I was seduced. Then there are Real Madrid who haven’t won a lot of titles (recently) but managed to dominate Spanish football and win the Champions League last season. And then there’s Bayern Munich in the last three years but what Barcelona have done is exceptional because winning for 2-3 seasons is still feasible, but staying on the top of the pyramid for 5-6 years is incomparable.

“The all-time best player in Italy? It’s hard to pick one but I will say that it’s Paolo Maldini. He was a great defender, an outstanding player. Who would I put first between Roberto Baggio, Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero? It’s not easy. I think Baggio and Totti come together in first place and then Del Piero.

“How I felt after missing the penalty in the 1994 World Cup final against Brazil? It was a special day for me. I was hurt and I didn’t know how I’d feel in the game. But I had the courage to make the decision to play an important game. Unfortunately, it went to penalties and I missed mine. I felt like the sky had fallen on my head. I felt a very big disappointment.

“My favourite music? I like Latin music, it makes me happy. I also listen to Italian singers. My favorite dish? Fish and pasta, obviously, like any self-respecting Italian and I’m lucky to have a woman who excels in the kitchen. In Algeria when they call someone Baresi to describe a good defender? Thank you, it makes me proud. I was a defender who was thinking a lot.

“It was my strong point. I had a lead on the attackers.” Milan don’t have another Baresi or another Maldini in the squad right now but Inzaghi has already said in the past that with desire and will, the Rossoneri can bridge the gaps in quality.