Pioli: happy with Milan, Ibrahimovic? I discussed it | Interview

After this step, it will be difficult to fire her. Would you like to stay here long? Do you see yourself as a Wenger, a Ferguson?
“As the song says, life is here. I live the present, which is a beautiful present ».

Some of his teammates, perhaps because they won immediately, give the impression that they are always equal to them. You seem like the coach who has evolved the most. Is this your secret?
«I envy the young colleagues who already have everything very clear, I needed to work a lot: I took courses in communication, psychology, people management. As soon as I could I went to study other coaches. I have invested a lot in myself: if the players I trained in 2003 in Salerno, when I started, saw me now, they would not recognize me.

And where is it now
“I am not a genius, but I am determined and tenacious. It’s curious. I have always thought that you have to learn from everyone. Take the staff: I started only with Osti, now I have 10 collaborators. And all the new ones are under 30 years old. Young people help you to have different interpretations, especially about new technologies, which are very valuable. Today I feel complete and mature, like never before.

She has often been labeled as someone who starts out good and ends badly. Is this 2020 your revenge?
“I don’t like this term, because I grew up with different values, with the culture of work, not revenge. I just have to prove myself. I feel complete, but I know I can do even more. I am a stubborn provincial. And stubbornness helps.

But the definition of Normal One never lowered, tell the truth.
“I am a normal man, not normal. I am simple, I love to be. Simplicity is a value that I learned from my parents and that I try to pass on to my children. It’s the label that I don’t like. ”

Is it true that your mom tells you that she hasn’t won anything yet?
Yes, indeed if you tell me. My father was the manager of the team where I started, for him I was never wrong, instead my mother exaggerated the criticism. So even now he tells me that I haven’t won. But I know she’s proud of me.

They say that now he is very demanding with his son Gianmarco, who works in his squad as a match analyst.
“I am as demanding with everyone as I am with myself. And therefore also with my son. Also because the players are all my children. However, it is good to work with Gianmarco. But in the field he is a collaborator like everyone else.

The character, of course, is bulky. How do you handle one like this?
“It’s not really difficult. Because we are both direct, we do not hide, for better or for worse. We also said negative things, it happens, it is normal, it is the logical dynamics of a team. Once he came into my office and said: sir, I’m talking today. I sat there and listened.

What happened after?
“I spoke the next day. It works like this. We need to understand the situations, the people, the moments.

But is there something in your career that you would not do again, a choice that would change?
«The management of the second season of Lazio. Today I would address the situation head-on, with more clarity. It is my only great regret. With today’s maturity, he would have made different and better decisions that year. And it would have ended differently. But I also learned something from there.

A year ago these days you came out of the shocking 5-0 in Atalanta, the lowest point. Since then, his world has been turned upside down. If you choose an image from this 2020, what would it be?
“The night of July 20, when Gazidis telephoned me on the eve of Sassuolo-Milan to inform me that he and the owners have decided to confirm me for the next season, if it suits me.”

Obviously it suited him. What did you answer?
«I said: Ivan, wait, I’ll think about it … Obviously I was joking, I didn’t hang up the phone. It was a great emotion, like when after the game I made the announcement to the team and my collaborators.

He said that he had posted the calendar of the calendar year to stimulate the team last January: it served as an incentive, since in the end you scored more points than the others. What ranking will hang this time?
“We will see. We had three objectives: to pass the preliminaries, then the Europa League groups and win the 2020 ranking. What interests me is to grow. This team can also improve a lot, even more than you think.”

Sure, with a couple of reinforcements in January it would be easier. But repeat that you have to maintain a balance. What do you mean?
«Here now there is enthusiasm, seriousness, compactness. It is not even necessary to hang the weekly program on the walls anymore, everyone knows what to do. The group is strong, united, proud. Whoever enters, if he enters, must have the same application, the same mentality. Those who arrived last January, I speak of Ibrahimovic and Kjaer, gave the example. That made us turn around. Here, with the effort we have made to achieve this balance, we must be careful not to break it. At this point there is total harmony. If we can improve, we improve. Otherwise we will be perfectly fine like this ». As the song says: with the friends I dreamed of, just like that.