The expectations at AC Milan will always be sky high, perhaps thanks to the way that the team involving the likes of Marcel Desailly performed on football’s greatest stages, and the former defender doesn’t believe Gennaro Gattuso is the man to return the Rossoneri to such a level.
With the Italian now in charge, Desailly feels as though Milan continue to miss the cutting edge that can inspire the squad and shock them out of their extended lull.
The Champions league draw is complete with Chelsea versus Barcelona a tie you have some connection to, how do you feel the two teams will be looking forward to those matches?
“The reality of now will not be the reality of February, today Chelsea are one step down psychologically and the players are feeling down, unless Conte manages to raise the collective level of the team over the Christmas period. They face Barcelona who are doing quite well, they’ve changed a lot of their players but mainly around the fringes of the first-team. The first game is at Chelsea so I’m looking forward to that as this is when we’ll see if Morata can lift himself to the level he wants to be at. Last time against West Ham, we expected him to be the one to save the team, but they lost the opportunity to stay close to United and City. So is he going to be that one? There are also players at Chelsea who aren’t so happy, such as Willian, who hasn’t been playing much with World Cup coming up. Today I’m a bit worried but we hope Chelsea’s squad can recover psychologically to have a great game.”
Let’s talk Real Madrid-Paris Saint Germain, this feels less like a last-16 tie and more like a semi-final or final.
“Yes, Real have to believe in themselves as it’s difficult when you want three titles in a row. They are facing some difficulties collectively. The only problem PSG have is that the individual players at Real are very hard to control. Any time there’s a big game, Cristiano Ronaldo shows up. So do they have enough tactically, in their defensive block of four-plus-three, to really control the game, with the hope that Mbappe and Neymar can make the difference?”
Will Barcelona’s comeback over PSG last season have a positive or negative effect on them this time around?
“No, there’s no effect, it’s a different squad and different approach to the game. If they play against Barcelona in a similar scenario, yes it can come up, but can you imagine how many games they’ve played since? They don’t carry it around with them each time they play a Spanish team. Real Madrid are a tough task. It’s great as PSG shouldn’t worry, they have the desire to be the champions of Europe but they just have to be all together at the same time and in their best form, otherwise they will have the same difficulty as against Bayern Munich when they dropped their level against a side with a winning mentality and culture.”
How hard is it for PSG to maintain their great start over the whole of a season?
“Their coach was saying that they are now the Ligue 1 autumn champions and they are doing well. They lost two games then beat Lille so they have no particular worries, they have a great squad with great ability but are they going all together at the same time to be at their top level? They don’t yet have that culture of winning. This is the problem, it’s also a matter of having a history in the club to help you when you face difficulty in big matches, and this is a big match. It’s their first test, it could become a reference game for them. If they win it, they will have enough psychologically to go to the end of the season.”
Another big last-16 tie is Juventus versus Spurs, who will be more worried about that game?
“I’m very pleased about how Spurs did in their group, they finished top. Juventus will think they have a chance having been in the final twice in the last three years. After several years of winning Serie A, this year Napoli and Inter are giving them a problem whereas before it was easy for them. This year they have dropped their performance a little bit. For Tottenham, we don’t have any reference. They’ve shown great ability against Real Madrid but we don’t know what their ultimate target is. They have a great squad and great players, but we still look forward to that game as it’ll be tough and very important.”
Compared to last year, have Chelsea been outspent or outthought this season in the Premier League?
“It’s the same situation to when Jose Mourinho won the league three years ago, the philosophy of the coach is very demanding physically, the system of three at the back with wingers who work very hard. They’ve dropped their capacity a bit, losing Matic who was a really important player. Yes, they have Fabregas and Bakayoko, but it feels like they’ve dropped their capacity. Diego Costa isn’t there anymore, and look at the West Ham game, you need a striker who can drag defenders out wide to create openings for his teammates. So they’re missing a little bit as they need to fit new players into this tactical system.”
Pep Guardiola said he’s achieved the ‘Barcelona way’ at Manchester City, how do you think he’s managed to do that?
“I think he’s done well, they were very disappointed last season. The club management hired Guardiola thinking that he was going to straight away make some magic, so they had to spend quite a lot and accept that the top players he inherited needed to come out of the team. He has done the classic thing of changing the spine of the team. So he changed Aguero, Yaya Toure, the goalkeeper, and he hasn’t had the chance to change Kompany but soon he will readjust and bring in players that fully match his philosophy. We see how De Bruyne is playing as the third midfielder with Silva and Fernandinho. With three offensive midfielders, they have that Barcelona philosophy of losing the ball and immediately pressing back for it very hard. After five seconds, you can drop back and wait to press them again. When they get the ball, they transition very quickly. This is the philosophy and the players match to it very well. Why did he sign Walker and Mendy? Because they fully match his philosophy and that’s why City are the best team at the moment.”
For the Europa League draw, Milan face Ludogrets. Is the long journey going to affect them?
“The trip doesn’t matter, the tactics and Milan’s form are more important. Today Milan are a team in transition who have changed coach. They have a history, as we said about that winning mentality, but if you don’t have the players with enough experience for these challenges then it’s tough. Against a team that you don’t know, you have to straight away be at your highest level as you don’t have any reference to judge their capacity. So you have to raise your own level and I’m not sure but I hope Milan will go through. They aren’t among the favourites. That’s Atletico, Napoli, eventually Lyon, and Arsenal.”
What are your thoughts on Gattuso at Milan?
“If Milan didn’t have the ability to bring in an experienced coach, to bring them to the next level, it means that the squad is missing something. They tried to keep Montella for as long as they could but they had to do something, to create an electrical shock for the players to at least try and finish the season in a decent position and start fresh next season. I’m sure that Gattuso cannot make this magic with this team, things like the Benevento draw will happen, we just have to hope that they can maintain a certain level for the fans and for the history that Milan have. These things disappoint and confuse us, also because they are far away from the title fight.”
Who do you consider favourites for the Scudetto?
“At the beginning of the season we said Napoli were the ones, the way they were playing with that transition from defence to attack, we were just amazed by their quality. But unfortunately, as they soon they’ve lost their strength physically, we’ve seen them face some difficulties. But I still believe that Napoli can do it. Now they aren’t in the Champions League, yes ok they have the Europa League but that allows full concentration to go into Serie A. Juventus recently drew against Inter so I still believe that Napoli can win the Scudetto, like their peak in the 1980s when they last did it.”
What was your view of the Patrice Evra incident at Marseille?
“Well, he’s gone. I think the club and Patrice put forward a good statement when terminating the contract. It’s difficult, particularly at Marseille when you fight against the fans, but I wish him good luck for his next adventure. We want him to continue to play, we have almost forgotten what happened and want to give him another chance. Now, Marseille continue without him so it’s history.”
Are you hoping that France will be amongst the favourites for the World Cup?
“There are four teams, Brazil I think are the favourites with France, Germany and Spain. We hope that teams like Croatia can be a surprise and Egypt maybe, it would be great for an African team to show their ability, but it’s tough. Actually, it’s a bit diluted across the groups; it’s hard to say which is the best apart from Portugal versus Spain. All the others are spread fully, meaning that we’ll have to wait for the second round to identify who can win.”
Marcel Desailly is working with UEFA Europe League partner Enterprise Rent-A-Car on their Backseat Pundit competition. To find out how you can enter and enjoy special rates on car hire across Europe, visit backseatpundit.it
