Sacchi: 'Balotelli is not a player'

By Football Italia staff

Arrigo Sacchi criticised Italy boss Antonio Conte and said Mario Balotelli “is not a football player,” but Zdenek Zeman “is a genius.”

The man who took the Grande Milan side of the 1980s and 90s to the top of world football now works as a pundit and spoke to news agency ANSA about the current game.

“A victory without merit is not a victory, whereas in Italy the only thing that counts is to win with smarts and the art of making do with what you’ve got,” said Sacchi.

“This is why we do not progress, so it’s not an issue of money.”

Sacchi also set his sights on Liverpool forward Balotelli and Italy Coach Conte.

“Balotelli is not a player, because a player moves as part of a team. He’s just a footballer.

“As for Conte, he can be excessively tactical, especially in Europe, because in certain arenas you cannot just give a player to your opponents.

“Zeman is one of the greatest geniuses of Italian football. Football is an attacking sport, but you need to attack with a homogenous group.

“It’s also true that if Ancelotti or Colombo passed the ball, it’s not the same thing, but Colombo’s movement helped Ancelotti to play better. We will always be stuck in the past until we realise this is a team sport.”

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