Arrigo Sacchi background

Arrigo Sacchi was born and raised in Fusignano in northeast Italy. He played most of his playing career for Fusignano CF. He likes watching football more than playing. The first team Sacchi fell in love with was the brilliant Budapest Honvéd with stars like Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis and József Bozsik. The thing he loved about the team was the mental strength they had. In the late 50s, Sacchi again fell in love with a team. This time it was Real Madrid with Di Stefano and Puskás. The Real Madrid team was using a high pressing, fast-paced play and NO DEFENCE. Arrigo’s biggest inspiration was Helenio Herrera at Inter and Nereo Rocco’s Padova, but the Italian system was known for being sluggish at that time.



Man with class



As an amateur football player, Sacchi had to find a career outside football. Sacchi played as a defender despite being only 170cm tall. Sacchi was a shoe salesman while playing for his local club Fusignano CF. Sacchi was making enough money selling shoes to keep food on the table, but Sacchi did not want to be a shoe salesman. He used most of his time thinking about strategies and tactics. Sacchi’s mind was full of tactics, and he wanted to try them out. Sacchi thoughts were mostly about a pressuring 4-4-2 formation. Sacchi was looking for options to become coach full-time. That’s why he moved from Fusignano to Belleria in the last two seasons of his career. The time in Belleria was more of an easy period in his life. Sacchi had already worked with youth teams in his playing career.

Arrigo’s first managerial job was at Baracca Lugo when he was 26 while playing for Fursignano CF. Sacchi would call this time his learning period. The big thing when you are a young coach is to get the respect of your players.

“My goalkeeper was 29 and my centre-forward was 32. I had to win them over.” Arrigo Sacchi

These kinds of skills would be useful later on when he had to deal with superstars in AC Milan. Arrigo wanted to implement 4-4-2 with shades of Total Football at Baracca Lugo but without success. After his short time at Baracca Lugo, Sacchi moved to Belleria. He was there in a short period before moving to become the under 19 coach for Cesena in 1977. His stint at Cesena proved to be Sacchi’s breakthrough in learning the game. The Cesena under 19 teams had a great season and were one of the better sides in Italian youth football with Sacchi as the coach. Arrigo at that time was just 31. He stayed at Cesena under 19 for a few seasons, before taking his talent to Rimini.

Sacchi at Rimini

Sacchi was only at Rimini for one season. They ended 5th place which wasn’t enough for Sacchi to keep the job. So Arrigo was now on his way to Firenze. Fiorentina gave him a job as the under 19 coach for his performance at Cesena. At Fiorentina, Arrigo Sacchi got his real breakthrough in the Italian football scene. A nobody was on his way to the top. After a season at Fiorentina, Arrigo decided that he wanted to return to Rimini. His stand at Rimini was again a one year stand. This time Rimini had more success. Rimini ended the season 4th in the table with an extremely young team. Rimini had an overall strong talent squad with Walter Bianchi (later on a Milan player), Davide Zannoni, and Igor Protti (decent striker for Lazio later on). Sacchi’s achievements at Rimini were enough to garner interest from AC Parma. Parma was lucky the season before Sacchi came, that they didn’t get relegated.

The Parma team was a bunch of young guys with great potential for Sacchi. Sacchi was 39 years of age at the time Parma appointed him. Parma’s goal for bringing Sacchi in was to get back to the professional league. With this Parma team, Sacchi was going from shoe sales to a professional coach. He was quick to get the players to play multiple roles. He used the same methods as at Fiorentina and Rimini. Sacchi biggest dream was to have “complete footballers” in every position, so if you are a defender you should be able to play all positions in defence. Sacchi had no problems convincing the young players to force pressure and run every counter-attack. He had to convince the senior players to adapt to the play-style through hard physical training with them. Sacchi did not train the players in Parma to play a possession-based game, the reality was the complete opposite. He wanted fast-paced football with quick decision-making from his players. All defenders were trying to get great with the ball in their feet. Sacchi had enormous success at Parma. The first season Parma finished 1st in the league in Serie C1. Parma was first on goal difference, in front of Modena. The second season was as incredible. Parma ended 7th place but just 3 points from 2nd, with 4 points awarded for a win. Parma only conceded 26 goals for the whole season. This was also the lowest amount in the league. Parma was full of future top players with Melli, Fontolan, Mussi, Bianchi, and Bontolazzi. Melli was just 16 years old and was playing in Sacchi’s team. Melli even did great things offensively. Unfortunately, Melli wasn’t the star. The star of the team was Bontolazzi. Bontolazzi was great to contribute offensively and had great work-rate.

Names: Position: Future Big Club(s): Walter Bianchi RB (LB) AC Milan, Torino Roberto Mussi RB (CB) (LB) AC Milan, Torino Mario Bortolazzi DM AC Milan, Atalanta, West Brom Davide Fontolan (20) LM (LB) Genoa, Udinese, Inter Milan Alessandro Melli (16) ST Sampdoria, AC Milan

Sacchi was playing against AC Milan in the last 16 in Coppa Italia. AC Milan were super-favourites for the game. The first leg was played at the San Siro. Parma won against AC Milan in the first game of the last 16. The game ended 1-0 after a goal from Bortolazzi in the 82nd minute. The Second game ended 0-0. Sacchi was always talking about offensive football, but his tactics were as far from offensive as could be. He was a defensive genius. Zonal marking destroyed all creativity from Milan offensively. Berlusconi was furious after the game against Parma. Berlusconi was so angry that he wanted to hire Sacchi. He thought that if Sacchi can destroy us like with Parma, maybe it would work better in Milan. Berlusconi approached Sacchi at the end of the season and made an offer. Sacchi accepted the offer and was named the new head coach of AC Milan.

Berlusconi risk paid off



Tactics

Sacchi’s 4-4-2 formation at AC Milan could be described in one word – fluidity. That is the most important thing for this formation to succeed. When Sacchi arrived at AC Milan, he bought Marco Van Basten from Ajax and Ruud Gullit from PSV. Sacchi approached AC Milan differently in his first season than the years to follow. The first season for Sacchi was without huge expectations in the league. But in Arrigo’s head, the Scudetto was the minimum. The season before, AC Milan didn’t win the title but instead, a little Argentinian magician (Diego Armando Maradona) won the Scudetto for the first time in Napoli’s history. The big change at Milan in Sacchi’s first season was that they were playing zonal marking instead of a lighter version of zonal marking. Arrigo Sacchi totally eliminated man to man defending in Italian football.

When greatness meets

Many experts raised questions on the appointment of Sacchi because he wasn’t a good player in his career, assuming he couldn’t be a great coach. Sacchi’s response to that was “A jockey doesn’t have to have been a horse”. Arrigo was special in so many ways. His training methods revolutionized Italian football with its high physical intensity and understanding of the game. One of the weird training methods was playing shadow football, which was player positioning without a ball. This would help them understand their positioning without the ball in as a distraction. Sacchi loved to talk about his offensive pressure. But Sacchi was best in organising a defence. The thing he tried to do very quickly as a coach was to eliminate the gap between the midfield and defence. Ancelotti closed out the gap when Baresi moved forward.

Arrigo Sacchi’s pressing play was also one of the first things Sacchi implement to the Milan squad. It was a key part of his tactics. The pressure was very organised with all players knowing when they had to apply pressure. They were extremely compact and they were never more than 25 meters between the defensive line and the offensive line. The team was a unit to say at least. When they were moving forward everyone was going forward and the same happened when they made the transition to defence.

Always max 25 meters between offence and defence (Milan is red)



First season at AC Milan

Sacchi was playing a 4-3-3 formation, which many would disagree with. Why I’m saying is a 4-3-3 and not 4-4-2 is that Ruud doesn’t play midfield but more a secondary striker. Gullit is playing with a free role, while Massaro and Van Basten were more the real two strikers. Arrigo also bought in a 28-year-old Ancelotti from Roma to play as regista (deep-lying playmaker). Ancelotti was the tactical brain on the pitch for the team. The role he had is similar to what Jorginho is having for Maurizio Sarri. The offensive and defensive transitions were conducted by Ancelotti. You could call him the assistant coach for the team.

Offence 4-3-3 and Defence 4-1-2-1-2 ( https://footballbh.net/2017/08/15/tactical-tale-arrigo-sacchi/)



The formation at Milan also changed depending on whether they were attacking or defending. In offence, they played 4-3-3 with Ruud, Massaro and Van Basten. Ancelotti would move into defence and Baresi would be a central midfielder. Ancelotti was the main reason for this fluidity. Him dropping to defence in offence meant that Milan could commit more players to the attack than their opponent. But still, the only way this strategy worked was because Baresi had great stamina, and could work hard on both ends. Ancelotti would adjust what Donadoni and Colombo were doing in an attack. Because Donadoni was playing like a winger for most of the time and that means Ancelotti could cover that area and Baresi would stay back. This situation only happened in the start because Tassotti was way more defensive at that time. When Tassotti was feeling secure in going forward, Donadoni was way more centralized. Donadoni became an amazing player under Sacchi, but it wasn’t because of his talent it was instead more his work rate and work ethic. Donadoni had to cover 2 positions in the game, CM and RM. This work overload (happily for him) only lasted one season. This was also the reason why Sacchi was lucky that they wanted to work hard and play like animals. The work rate you had to have on this team was outstanding.

James Milner before James Milner



The easiest thing Sacchi´s team got to work was the zonal marking. The biggest focus for them was to cut out the passing lanes for the opponent in order to limit passing options. This was the main thing they were training for during the shadow drill. They were running their offside traps and their pressing scheme. Offside rule was passive until 1987-88 after was it like today. These things were made to perfection. Milan’s way of defending was one of the most excellent ways of doing it in football history with the rules and the changes at the time.

The pressure was made by the strikers, and Colombo and Donadoni were cutting the pass opportunities while Donadoni was playing Kante-role in the midfield. In attack was Ruud Gullit extremely important because of his off the ball movement and the unique chances he created. In defence, Ruud would drop to the CAM position to apply pressure at the spots where the strikers didn’t pressure. The formation in defence was 4-1-2-1-2. There were no gaps in the team, the whole team was a unit.

Other seasons

The first season was so much different to the other seasons. The person that made this tactical change on the whole squad was Frank Rijkaard. AC Milan brought Frank Rijkaard into the starting line up instead of Massaro. Massaro would be a bench player and later on be loaned out to AS Roma. Rijkaard was the game changer for Sacchi, because now could he play his beloved 4-4-2. Rijkaard became the second midfielder and Colombo and Donadoni, the wingers. The Milan team this season all knew where they should be which wasn’t the deal last season.

Pure 4-4-2 to with Rijkaard in the midfield (https://footballbh.net/2017/08/15/tactical-tale-arrigo-sacchi/)



The defence was playing to perfection. Sacchi made special training sessions so the defenders could understand each others movement, and be perfect in the game. Sometimes Ancelotti was involved in the special training session with the defenders.

Real life example of their defending



This defence was everything Sacchi wanted. Tassotti was great moving forward, while Costacurta dominated in closing down. Costacurta and Tassotti were underrated stars on the team. Tassotti was one of the best chance creators from the back, plus extremely good at one-on-one situations. In today’s football, you don´t have that good of a right back. The best compares to him is Azpil or Florenzi, but Tassotti’s stamina and ability in defence are non-comparable with these players. Tassotti had a wide range of passing options moving forward while Maldini (young) was more conservative. The reasoning for this was because Maldini had to be able to come to the defence faster than Tassotti because Baresi was moving forward and Ancelotti moved forward in the defensive transition to cover Baresi’s eventual run back. The tactics in the defence were extremely complex and would have easily broken down with normal and untrained players.

The midfield was very different to the year before. The midfield now had 4 men in the line. Before that, it was usually 3 and in defensive play 4 with Ruud dropping back. This was one of the most interesting changes because this made them one of the best team of all time instead of a simply great team. Just think, to have an outstanding team and then to add Rijkaard in the team is crazy. Rijkaard was regarded as one of the best players in the world at the time and he came to the club to make Ancelotti’s role much easier. Rijkaard played as a box to box midfielder and had a great offensive contribution. What Rijkaard did tactically was to give space for the wingers to work and more efficient cover for Baresi when moving forward. Rijkaard could at times be in attack but had incredible stamina to move back and forward. Rijkaard at times dropped back into defence or forward to an attacking position depending on the situation.

Up front, Milan often operated with only one out-and-out striker. Van Basten was the only real striker, while Ruud had a free role. Van Basten was more a box player with a deadly long shot. Ruud was doing everything as he was a beast. Ruud was unstoppable at the time, the only player at that time with that status was Diego Maradona. Both players who were impossible to counter. Ruud wasn’t the offensive player like Maradona, but had extremely good pressure skill and rarely lost physical battles on the pitch. Ruud’s heat map at that time would be the weirdest thing to look at today with no doubt.

1987–88

This was Sacchi’s first season as the coach at Milan. AC Milan bought in two world-class players that summer in Ruud Gullit and Van Basten both from Ajax. Milan also bought in Ancelotti from Roma. AC Milan didn’t play home games at San Siro, instead of playing at a neutral Lecce. AC Milan did horribly in Europe and was knocked out by Espanyol in the second round.

Serie A was contested by just 16 teams at that time, meaning they only played a relatively light schedule of 30 games per season. AC Milan started the season against Pisa away from home. The game ended 1-3 to AC Milan after goals from Donadoni, Gullit and Van Basten (pen). Both Gullit and Van Basten scored on their league debut. Roberto Baggio, a youngster from Fiorentina played outstandingly against Milan in the second game of the season, when Fiorentina won 2-0 away against Milan.

Young Roberto Baggio shines against Milan

Milan’s next 7 games went without a loss, but with 4 draws. Game 11 of the season at home against Roma was a special game. Milan won the game 1-0 on a penalty from Van Basten, but Milan was penalised and ended up having to record a 0-2 loss after the fans hit the Roma keeper Franco Tancredi with an object.

The next game was against Inter. Milan won 1-0 after Ferri scored an incredible own goal. Milan’s best game of the season was against Napoli and Maradona. At this time Napoli was first in the league with Maradona and Careca playing exceptional football. Milan played Sacchi’s gameplan to perfection and won 4-1 with goals from Colombo, Virdis, Gullit and Donadoni. Napoli´s goal was scored by Careca after an amazing chipped ball from Diego Maradona and beautiful chipped shot from Careca. At midseason, Milan was in 2nd place after Maradona and co. But Milan didn’t lose any games after the Roma loss and was on their way to the title.

Milan won their three most important games in a run against Inter, Roma and Napoli. Roma was beaten 2-0 after Virdis and Massaro scored. Inter lost again to Milan. This time was it 2-0 with goals from Gullit and Virdis. The last game to make them champions was against Napoli. This game was at Sao Paolo. At halftime, the game was 1-1 after Diego Maradona and Virdis scored. Virdis and Van Basten scored two goals to end Napoli’s hope for the title. Careca scored two minutes after to make it 3-2, but wasn’t enough to stop Milan for winning the title.

Sacchi bring the title to Berlusconi



AC Milan only conceded 14 goals in 30 games, exemplifying. This was also Milan´s first title since 1979. The league’s top scorer was Diego Maradona with 15 goals and 11 assists (Me counting through every game for Napoli that season).

Defending to perfection. They only conceded 14 goals for the season



1988-89

The perfect signing to the perfect team.



Rijkaard is the only thing I have to say about this season. Milan made themselves stronger by buying Rijkaard, a European champion with the Netherlands and good friends with Ruud Gullit. He and Gullit lived on the same street as kids. AC Milan was this season seen as the favourites by upgrading their players like this. But Inter this year was also extremely strong and also well coached, plus without European football, while Milan was playing in the European Champions Cup. Just so you can understand how good Inter was, they had Lothar Matthaus, Anders Brehme, Zenga, Baresi (brother to Franco Baresi), Aldo Serena and Ramon Diaz. This team was playing outstanding football under Trapattoni and they might have the second best player in the world in Lothar. Inter lost only twice and was the best team in the league. Milan didn´t win against Inter but lost one of the games at home.

Lothar and Brehme came to Inter 1988. Klinsmann the year after.



Milan lost 4 games this season and the worst one was against Maradona and Careca. Milan lost that game 4-1 at Sao Paolo. Milan didn’t have an answer to Diego Maradona and Careca. Maradona danced around the Milan defence. Milan’s only goal came from a penalty from Virdis. Milan ended the season in 3rd place. Milan’s best win was against Roma in game 31. The league was expanded to 18 teams this season. Milan smashed Roma 4-1 at San Siro. A Tassotti goal came first after 3 minutes before Roma levelled with a goal from Massaro. Than Roma collapsed and Milan scored 3 goals, with an own goal by Tempestilli, Van Basten made it 3-1 and Baresi completed the rout

Champions League (European Champions Cup)

Milan played in the Champions League because they won the league. The Champions League was then a knockout tournament with no group stages. The first round for AC Milan was against Vitosha from Bulgaria. Vitosha didn’t sound dangerous but had some okay players in Nikolay Lliev (Bologna) and Sirakov (all-time top scorer). Milan won away 0-2, with goals from Virdis and Gullit. The next game was a goal-fest with 7 goals (5-2).

Van Basten was the showman with 4 goals and Virdis scored one. It was the first challenge on the way to the title.

The second round, the difficulty increased by a lot to say at least. Milan was playing against Crvena Zvezda Beograd. Crvena Zvezda was not a team to take lightly. Red Star had a lot of stars with Darko Pancev, Dragan “Piksi” Stojkovic, Robert Prosinecki and Dejan Savicevic. Milan didn’t win at home. The game ended 1-1 after Piksi scored after Crvena Zvezda took a free kick quickly before Piski rounded Baresi and Crvena Zvezda was in front. Within a minute, Milan levelled through Virdis, but the Yugoslavian team’s goal was still showing the replay when he scored so I couldn’t see the goal. (Full Game)

One of the most underrated players in football history (Piksi Stojkovic)



The second game would be remembered for the fog that saved Milan. The game was played over two days because it was too foggy to continue playing. Crvena Zvezda scored to make it 1-0 after Dejan Savicevic banged a long shot in. The game was stopped in the 65th minute and was played the day after. But they reset the score which meant it was 0-0 instead of 1-0 to Crvena Zvezda. Van Basten scored first in the new game to make it 1-0. Piksi scored a beauty 4 minutes after Van Basten’s goal. The game went to penalties and Milan won after Mrkela missed his penalty with the end result 4-2 to Milan on penalties. (Highlights from both games)

The fog saved Milan

Milan played against Bremen in the quarterfinals. The first game ended 0-0 and the second game was won by Milan 1-0 with a penalty from Van Basten.

In the Semi-Final we finally got to see Milan’s greatness. This time it was against Real Madrid. The first game was against Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid came out on top from the start after Hugo Sanchez scored in the 42nd minute. Milan levelled after Van Basten scored in the 77th minute. In one of the most perfectly played second legs of all time, Milan demolished Real 5-0 at the San Siro. Seriously just watch it. The goals were scored by Ancelotti, Rijkaard, Gullit, Van Basten and Donadoni, all scored before the 60th minute.

The final was against Steaua București. Steaua had Hagi, Minea, Piturca and Petrescu from the golden Romanian generation. But Steaua stood no chance against Milan in the final and was smashed 4-0 at Camp Nou. Two Dutchmen destroyed their dreams in the first half with 2 goals from Ruud and 1 from Van Basten. Van Basten scored one more to make the end result 4-0.

1989-90

AC Milan started the season with the European Super Cup. The games were against Barcelona. Barcelona won the Europa League the year before. The first game at Camp Nou ended 1-1 after Van Basten scored a penalty and Amor scored later on. The second leg was at San Siro. AC Milan won 1-0 against Barcelona after Evani scored for AC Milan. AC Milan secures the second trophy of the season when beating Atletico National after Milan scored in the 119th minute. Evani scored the game-winner in Intercontinental Cup).

AC Milan was at the half season already long away from the title. Milan didn’t lose games with big margin instead 1-0 games against the bottom half. The only game, they were smashed was against Napoli (0-3). Carneval had the best game of his career scoring twice and Maradona close out the show. The best win at the halfway of the season was against Inter away. Milan won 3-0 with goals from Fuser, Van Basten, and Massaro (back from loan).

Van Basten the top scorer of the season with 19 goals



Milan chances for the title wake up after winning 11 games in a run. They had big wins against Napoli 3-0 at San Siro. Napoli was totally outplayed with goals from Maldini, Massaro, and Van Basten. Another big win was against Roma away. Milan won 4-0 and Roma didn’t have a chance against Sacchi gameplan. Juventus and Inter gave Napoli did title after beating Milan, and this meant Diego Armando Maradona made Napoli champions for the second time in the club’s history. Van Basten scored 19 goals as the top scorer of the league.

Diego Maradona wins his second Scudetto in the world best league.



Champions League (European Champions Cup)

AC Milan was defending champions of the Champions League. The first round was not worth talking about after Milan easily won against HJK Helsinki. The second round was interesting for fans because Real Madrid was playing against Milan. The first leg was at San Siro. Milan was up after 9th minutes after Rijkaard heads the ball in. The second goal was on a penalty, but the goalkeepers tackling was outside the box, so instead should it have been a free kick. The goalkeeper didn’t get anything though. Milan was just playing it around for the rest of the game and making sure no mistakes happen.

The second leg was at Santiago Bernabeu. AC Milan was playing at the result which made Real Madrid having the ball. Real Madrid scores in the 45th minute after Butrageno sends it in. Milan holds on the lead and was through.

The quarterfinals Milan meet a weird team in KV Mechelen. Mechelen had maybe at the time best goalkeeper in Preud-homme and a great striker Marc Wilmots. Milan had a hard time against them with a 0-0 in Belgium. The second game at San Siro was also interesting with no goals in ordinary time. Mechelen played great defensive football with Preud-homme playing outstanding. In overtime did Mechelen collapsed and Van Basten and Simone send Mechelen out.

The semifinals were extremely for Milan against Bayern. The first game Milan won on a penalty from Van Basten. The penalty was correct from the ref side. The second leg was Bayern the team in front after 59 minutes after Strunz scored. The game goes to overtime and Milan scored in the 100th minute (Borgonovo)

Now Bayern had to score 2 goals more. Bayern did score ones but it wasn’t enough.

The final was just Milan being lucky that Benfica has a curse on them. The curse (1962) in that Benfica would never win a European trophy next hundred years. This curse was made by Bela Guttmann the coach which made them win those finals before. Benfica has since lost 8th European finals. This was just one in the book after Rijkaard scored in the 68th minute and Milan was champions of Europa for the second time.

Sacchi would have a bad next season and that would be the last for him at Milan. Sacchi moved to the Italian national team and was just penalty shootout from winning the World Cup 1994 in USA against Brazil. (Damn you, Baggio)

Highlights from all Sacchi seasons.

Legacy

Team

Serie A (1): 1987–88

Supercoppa Italiana (1): 1988

European Cup (2): 1988–89, 1989–90

European Supercup (2): 1989, 1990

Intercontinental Cup) (2): 1989, 1990

Individual

Seminatore d’Oro: 1988, 1989

World Soccer Awards Manager of the Year: 1989

World Soccer Magazine 4th Greatest Manager (Retired) of All Time #Greatest_managers_of_all_time): 2013

European Coach of the Year—Sepp Herberger Award: 1989

European Coach of the Season): 1989–90

Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2011