Pippo: No-one bettered me

By Football Italia staff

Filippo Inzaghi insists “no-one has done better than me at Milan in recent years”, despite his ill-fated spell as Coach during the 2014-15 campaign.

Inzaghi has rebuilt his coaching career at Venezia, where he has won both promotion to Serie B and the Lega Pro Coppa Italia this season.

However, the former Italy striker believes he could have succeeded at Milan, whom he guided to 10th in Serie A – their lowest finish since 1997, had he been better supported.

“I feel an enormous happiness. I live for it,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“A Coach’s career is more difficult than a player’s but you enjoy the successes more. And the last victory is always the most beautiful one.

“I enjoy the pitch, the work and my relationship with the players. Without thinking about the past. I had many difficulties at Milan but never lost strength or belief.

“We know the issues that are there, no-one has done better than me in recent years, even after spending €100m or with a squad better than mine.

“I knew that if they’d given me the opportunity to work well, I could‘ve made an impact.

“I must also thank my staff, and I’m glad to have showed [that I could work well]. I didn’t care about the division [of my team after Milan].

“I think I’m honest, passionate, prepared and informed. I work 20 hours a day to give my players the right information.

“My best satisfaction? It comes from the joy of my players and the feeling of having conveyed to them how good it is to win.

“After our promotion to Serie B, I said in the dressing room that if someone was worn out and didn’t feel their best for the Coppa Italia [Lega Pro], I’d have forgiven them.

“Well, no-one gave up. They understand that winning or playing in finals doesn’t happen every year.

“In 20 years, they’ll remember what they did because winning is never easy, regardless of the competition, and they achieved record numbers.

“A taste of revenge? No, I’m a young and happy Coach. Nothing takes my smile away. I’m a lucky person and thank the heavens every morning: this is the first thought of my day, together with my family.

“Football is my life, but it’s just a game and I never forget that.

“Congratulatory messages? I haven’t finished reading the ones about our promotion yet... My WhatsApp is clogged.

“I must thank everyone and, if you insist, I quote [messages from] Galliani, Andrea Agnelli and Paratici, Gandini, Tare. After that, I can’t forget Ancelotti and the other 22 special messages.

"Cannavaro created a group chat for us world champions in 2006. They all wrote to me in there.

“Successes? Our parents are happy, but they know that in a Coach’s career, there are good and bad moments. Now we’ll see how Simone finishes the season.

“Yesterday, I told him that if they won the Coppa Italia, we’d organise a friendly. We’d bring our cups onto the pitch and then we’d have a great match.”

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