AC Milan host Parma this Sunday, with both clubs still linked by one man. Arrigo Sacchi is that man, forever immortalised for creating arguably the greatest football team ever seen.
Very few coaches are able to leave behind a legacy, a body of work that lives on in the history of football. Only the very best define an era, if they give birth to a philosophy that changes everything around them.
In terms of accolades there are very few that can boast a medal haul that matches that of Sacchi. Between 1987 and 1991, whilst the coach of AC Milan, he picked up one Serie A league title, two European Cups (old-school Champions League), two Intercontinental Cup trophies, two European Super Cups and one Supercoppa Italiana.
And for good measure, whilst coach of the Italian national side, he was a penalty kick away from becoming a 1994 World Cup winner in the USA, finishing runner-up to Brazil.
So what made Sacchi so special — a man that interestingly studied for his coaching licence at the same time as another calcio legend, Zdenek Zeman?
Some will point to the fact that a squad made up of components such as Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Franco Baresi, Roberto Donadoni, Frank Rijkaard and Carlo Ancelotti would always be destined for greatness, no matter who ran the side.
History does suggest, however, that a collection of great players does not always equal a great team. In fact, in 1986, the year before Arrigo Sacchi took over, the team looked incredibly similar.
Boasting the likes of Paolo Maldini, Mauro Tassotti, Alberigo Evani, Daniele Massaro as well as the aforementioned Baresi and Donadoni, coach of the time Niels Lieldholm and his boys traveled to play minnows Parma in a pre-season friendly.
The Ducali had just been promoted to Serie B and were considered nothing more than a sparring partner for the heavyweights from Milan. But, rather than bracing themselves for a pummeling at the hands of the Silvio Berlusconi-owned club, Parma battled hard and lost by a slim 2–0 scoreline. Goliath, on this occasion, did slay David…but only just.
And who was the unknown coach of plucky Parma on that day?
Arrigo Sacchi.
Just a few weeks later, AC Milan were to meet Parma again in the Coppa Italia group phase . However, this time Sacchi managed a minor miracle as his side went to the San Siro and won 1–0. Incredibly, the two sides met once more in 1987, a two-legged cup tie where Parma knocked out the Rossoneri in a stunning 1–0 aggregate victory.
Berlusconi had seen enough and given the bravery of the Parma performances, to the detriment of his beloved Rossoneri, decided that Sacchi would be his man for the 1987-88 campaign.
Fate, as was once said, loves the fearless.
To say this sent shock waves across the Peninsula, is somewhat of an understatement. The brash media mogul was to hand his expensively assembled team to a shoe merchant (Sacchi, son of a shoe manufacturer, helped his father sell footwear before becoming a coach), and notably a man who had never ever played professional football.
But, the decision would turn out to be inspired, as Sacchi would go on to rewrite world football history.
The man from Fusignano set about dispensing with the catenaccio style that still dominated Italy back in the 1980’s and brought in his own ‘revolutionary’ 4-4-2 system.
Hugely influenced by Johan Cruijff’s Dutch side and their totaalvoetbal (total football), he changed the mentality of his men, insisting that all outfield players undertook offensive as well as defensive duties.
He employed a regimented flat back-four to set offside traps, introduced a suffocating pressing tactic in all areas of the pitch and demanded lightning fast attacks, as soon as the ball was won. His strategy was a far cry from the traditional Italian mindset of the slow build-up, man-to-man marking and the “defend first” attitude that epitomised Serie A.
His training methods were completely unconventional for the time, hugely energy-sapping. He wanted his team to perform at the highest intensity possible for as long as possible.
And finally, his meticulous attention to detail bordered on the insane. His players would endlessly rehearse ‘schemi’ or patterns of play that he expected them to execute on the pitch.
An incredible fusion of defensive solidity, paralleled with offensive unpredictability, and for that five-year period between 1987 and 1991, it was devastating. On their way to winning the European Cup in 1989, the Rossoneri dismantled Spanish giants Real Madrid 5–0 in the home leg of the semi-final and then destroyed Steau Bucharest 4–0 to lift the trophy.
In 2006, Sacchi’s AC Milan team from that 1988-89 season, known as ‘The Immortals,” was voted the best club side of all time by World Soccer magazine; the year previous, Sacchi’s team was named the best post-war team ever, by France Football. Not bad at all for a former sandal salesman.
His efforts had not gone unnoticed by the Italian football federation (FIGC) and in 1991 he replaced Azeglio Vicini at the helm of the Italy national team.
Unfortunately, his spell as Azzurri boss was somewhat bitter sweet. Expectations were high given his heroics at club level, but he immediately angered some observers by discarding high-profile players such as Walter Zenga, Roberto Mancini, Giuseppe Bergomi and Gianluca Vialli.
His run to the World Cup final in 1994, which started with an horrific 1–0 defeat against the Republic of Ireland, was credited more to the genius of Robert Baggio than the Sacchi style of play, as the Italians relied hugely on the goals of the ‘Divine Ponytail’.
In the 1996 European Championships, Italy were eliminated at the group stage after a stale set of performances which instigated huge criticisms of Sacchi’s heavy training workload that many believed hindered rather than helped the players.
Despite renewing his contract with the federation, Sacchi left his role as national team coach that same year.
He went back to AC Milan for a short while, after the sacking of Oscar Tabarez, then on to Atletico Madrid in 1998. He remained a mere seven months in Spain before resigning his role. A brief stint at old club Parma in 2001 would follow, but the reunion ended abruptly as Sacchi cited stress and poor health, leaving the post shortly after taking it up.
Despite this anti-climatic end to an incredible career, Arrigo Sacchi is unmistakeably considered as an era-defining coach. A man that during his first five years in the top flight, gave birth to a style and outlook that brought total world domination and changed the face of Serie A forever.
The Godfather of the modern game and with a bulging trophy cabinet that underlines his status as a true legend of Calcio.
