Football Italia sat down with La Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Luigi Garlando to talk about The Immortals, the book about Milan’s 1988-89 campaign he wrote with legendary coach Arrigo Sacchi, out now in paperback and ebook, published by BackPage Press.
Enter Football Italia’s competition to be in with a chance of winning a copy of the book, and there is also an exclusive extract here.
When Milan won the Champions League Final in May 1989 against Steaua Bucarest, Garlando was a contributor of La Gazzetta dello Sport and was at the beginning of a career that would see him become one of the best Italian sports journalists.
“Milan’s Sacchi shocked the world. It was atypical, out of the norm to see an Italian team play this brand of football in Europe,” he said in an exclusive interview with Football Italia.
“It’s almost like a time travel. It recounts Milan’s 1988-89 campaign which, in my view, is the most iconic of Sacchi’s time at Milan.
Klopp once said ‘Sacchi completely changed how we think about football’, the same quote on the book’s cover. Klopp’s principles are quite similar to those of Sacchi who admires the German tactician and is on very good terms with Pep Guardiola. “He often speaks with Pep, very often, they are good friends,” said Garlando.
“Perhaps, Sacchi would coach in the Premier League today because every time we talk about English football he is excited. He watches every game and compares them with Italian football, where, in his opinion there isn’t as much intensity even if things are changing lately.
“He likes the fact that English referees don’t intervene as many times as they do in Italy. The pace is always high in the Premier League, that’s like paradise for him and he would be there today had he still been a coach.
“However back in the 1990s, it was impossible to think about pressing all over the pitch, especially for Italian clubs and coaches. Mark Hughes used to say: ‘Had the pitch been 100 metres long, I’d know where to find the Italians, in the last 10 metres.’ Well that was not the case of Sacchi.
“When he arrived in Milan from Parma, he was in the right place at the right time. He noticed that even the eldest ones were always in a hurry, they walked really quickly. He thought ‘Even the Nonni run here’. It was the perfect team and the perfect city for pressing.”
But who is Arrigo Sacchi? Not the coach, but the man. Although it’s hard to separate the two aspects, Garlando offered a quite unique view on the former tactician. “We’ve become friends and I can say he is not as rigid as he would appear from the outside.
“He’s committed his entire life to his job, so much so he had to quit because of stress. He wrote it in the book too. He didn’t even go to the cinema, because he had the feeling that would take time away from his job.
“I think the best thing about the book is that he opened his log-books, which he had never done before. In there, you don’t see the man, but also the coach.
“He noted on the side of pages every birthday of his players, not just the stars such as Ruud Gullit or Marco Van Basten. Each one of his players, even Davide Pinato, the third-choice goalkeeper. There was great attention towards his players.
“He created a special bond with them. When you talk to him, you see it in his eyes, sometimes he got moved by talking about them. He’s always chosen the man over the footballer, so it’s hardly a surprise.
“He used every line of his log-books, which in a way is a metaphor of his Milan. He covered every area of the pitch with his pressing.”
However, the page that explains in the best way who Arrigo Sacchi is, is the day before the Final.
“After filling many pages, he wrote: ‘If we play better tomorrow, we’ll win’,” Garlando recounted.
“That’s what Sacchi is about. Not just win, but win deservedly, with merit, and this is quite similar to what Roberto Mancini said before the UEFA Euro 2020 Final: ‘If we’ll have fun, we’ll win.’”
That’s exactly what Milan did. They inside story of how they made it is recounted by the man himself in ‘The Immortals.’
The Immortals by Arrigo Sacchi is out now in paperback and ebook, published by BackPage
Unfortunately Sacchi didn’t win the European Cup three times in a row, he almost did.
Unfortunately his golden touch only applies to AC Milan 88-90, not to the Teams after him, he ruined with the Azzurri and ruined the careers of many Italian players by not calling them to The Nazionale because of his personal problems with them.
But he is still a pioneer at his era, he has created an attractive game that makes football very interesting. An attacking football that is relentless and pressing the opponent with very high.
Utter disgrace what he did in 94 wc final, we all loved baggio but he was injured from bulgaria game and yet this guy did not play signori
His a once was, and absolutely ruined many careers of many players in Italian football. He only saw players from the Milan football side and no one else. He had no vision other than Milan
All the top football managers of today (Pep, Klopp, Benitez, Capello, Mourinho and many more) have credited Arrigo Sacchi’s concepts on football for how they play the game today, from tactics to work ethics both on and off the pitch, his legacy lasts in the forms of teams like Liverpool, Man City, Bayern etc and how they are playing the game which is exciting attacking football. You might not like some of his individual actions but give the guy the respect he deserves, he changed how people look at football he didn’t just follow a previous blueprint. You would think Italians out of all people would appreciate true creativity