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THE STORY OF OUR GREAT COACH: NEREO ROCCO

Even before the ventures of Sacchi, Milan already had a coaching behemoth in its history in the form of Nereo Rocco: The man who popularized Catenaccio in Italy.

• Rocco was not a great player. He played for his native Triestina and Napoli towards the end of his career. His only appearance for Italy came against Greece in a 4-0 win

• Managed Triestine as a player-manager and took them to second place ahead of traditional powerhouses such as Milan and Juventus. Torino winning the Serie A. Those were the days of the Il Grande Torino days before the fatal accident.

• Catenaccio started mainly in Geneva, instituted by manager of the club club Servette Karl Rappan in the 1930’s. Rappan’s team were not technically as gifted as the better team in the leagues’ and so he needed a counter-tactic.

• His famous “Verrou” system had his teams fall into a 4-3-3 formation with one particular player called as the verroulier sweeping up chances behind the defense. This player is called as the sweeper.

• The Second world war brought the concept of Verrou to Italy and it touched out on 2 now famous managers. Gipo Vianni and Nereo Rocco

• Nereo Rocco joined Serie B side Treviso as a full time manager to test his theories and perfect Catenaccio.

• He took over Padova and in the 57-58 season finised 3rd with the principles of catenaccio. But Padova was a provincial team and could not compete with more financially competent teams like Milan and Inter.

• His big break came when he was asked to take over as the A.C.milan manager by none other than Gipo Viani who suffered a heart attack after winning the scudetto in 1960/61 season. Viani, another proponent of the Catenaccio wanted Nereo Rocco to take over from him.

• Rocco started his Milan career in style winning the 1961-62 scudetto scoring 83 goals in 34 matches.

• A natural rivalry was born between Inter manager Helenio Herrera and Milan manager Rocco. Herrera brought in from Barcelona believed in an expansive style while Rocco believed in keeping it closed. Milan defeated Inter 3-1 which led to Herrera re-visiting his tactical concepts and would shift to a catenaccio form of play and go on to be the greatest proponent of Catenaccio winning 2 Europeans cups in a row with his Grande inter side.

• Meanwhile Rocco had a disagreement with legendary Englishman Jimmy Greaves who was shipped out and the Brazilian Dino Sani was brought in.

• Milan reached the 1962/63 season European Cup final against Benifica who were playing with the world’s second best player in the legendary Eusebio. A legendary battle took place between Milan and Benifica and Milan won 2-1 after 2 goals from Jose Alfatini cancelled out Eusebio’s goal for Benifica. Milan and Italy got their first European trophy and Rocco and Cesare Maldini were at the center of it all.

• Rocco was more of a traditional believer of Catenaccio. Cesare Maldini, a native of triestine himself was the sweeper of the team and Gianni Rivera was the creative force. They were the leaders of the pitch.

• Rocco then left A.C.Milan to manage Torino who was yet to recover from their horrible plane crash. He managed Torino from 1963-67. He came back to Milan in 1967

• Once again Milan reached the European cup final in the 1968/69. This time it was a more legendary battle. The total football of Johan Cryuff vs The Catenaccio of the golden boy Rivera.

• Milan came out in flying colours and defeated Ajax 4-1 in the final with Prati scoring a hat-trick in the final.

• Rocco then won a Intertcontinental cup the next season with Milan and managed them until 1973. In 1977 he became the technical director of the club until his death in 1979

• Rocco was a pragmatist who would do anything to win the match (something like a modern Jose Mourinho). He would berate refrees, humiliate his own players and made a nuisance of himself to anyone who got in the way of winning the match

• The godfather of Italian Journalism, famous GdS journalist Gianni Brera was a great friend of Rocco. He would often sit down in the evening with Rocco and dissect the issues with his team and analyse various issues of the day

• Gianni Brera had to say this about Rocco “He was always real, always himself. Both in official decisions, and in moments of relaxation, True, authentic”.

• Catenaccio stayed in the hearts of Italians and Italian football would go onto use it extensively until the great Sacchi came and found a counter-tactic with his Milan side.

📰 Tuttosport: Davide Calabria, whose contract with AC Milan expires on 30 June 2022, wants to stay. He is ready to extend with the same salary which he earns now. He currently earns around €2M per season. https://t.co/gvOYQyz0QX

De Ligt and Demiral will start together vs Cagliari. They have only played 14 minutes together. Together, their combined age is only 1 year older than Buffon.

After suffering from pubic inflammation, Alexis Saelemaekers has now fully recovered and is available again. Today, he trained regularly with the team. He will be eligible to be called up for the match against Napoli. [MilanNews.it]

Juventus offering swap deal for Calhanoglu
Posted on November 16, 2020 by Rossonero


Juventus and Inter are interested in AC Milan attacking midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu with Juve offering a swap deal.
Calhanoglu goes, Calhanoglu stays: the puzzle looks far from being solved. Talks for the renewal of the Turkish attacking midfielder are currently “blocked” and no significant progress has been made so far.

AC Milan are aware of the risk of losing Hakan for free but they also have no intention of pleasing their number ten with a net salary of 7 million euros per season. The Rossoneri will not accept such conditions even if it means saying goodbye to Calhanoglu.

JUVENTUS IN ADVANTAGE – The road, therefore, is uphill. Not surprisingly, Calhanoglu’s agent is offering his client to many clubs around Europe, Italy included. According to reports from Tuttosport, Hakan’s agent Gordon Stipic has offered Calhanoglu also to Juventus and Inter.

The Turkey international could become a great opportunity for the Nerazzurri, especially if they were to sell Christian Eriksen. However, according to Turkish sources, Juventus are in advantage to sign the 26-year-old midfielder with sporting director Fabio Paratici ready to make him a better offer.

POSSIBLE SWAP – AC Milan are oriented to keep Calhanoglu until June but things could change in the coming months. According to the Tuttosport (via MilanNews.it), Juventus are in pole position to sign the AC Milan star in June with talks set to be held to secure his services in January. Juventus are proposing a swap deal offering Federico Bernardeschi in exchange for Calhanoglu

AC Milan looking to sign Bayern Munich star
Posted on November 15, 2020 by Rossonero


AC Milan are looking at Bayern Munich star Jerome Boateng to strengthen the defence. The German will become a free agent soon.
AC Milan are working to complete the squad when the January transfer window opens. The choices of Maldini and Massara will depend a lot on the team’s ranking. If the Rossoneri will still be in race for an important goal like the Scudetto or Champions League qualification, Elliott could gift Stefano Pioli some top signings.

One of the top priorities of the club is to sign a new centre back. Musacchio and Duarte are not considered good alternatives to Kjaer and Romagnoli so the Rossoneri are in search of new players. Bayern Munich star Jerome Boateng is the new name on Maldini’s list of targets for the defence according to reports.

The German centre back is expected to join a new club as his contracts expires at the end of the season and Bayern Munich will not offer him the renewal. “Nobody approached me, nobody talked to me. I knew nothing about it, I was surprised“, said Boateng after Bayern confirmed he will not be offered a new contract.

A strong defender of Boateng’s caliber would be ideal for an AC Milan squad in race for the Scudetto and a place in Champions League. Bayern Munich are willing to sell Boateng for a modest transfer fee in January. However, AC Milan will have to decide whether it is worth it or better wait for the summer and sign Jerome Boateng as free agent.

The biggest obstacle for the signature of the 32-year-old defender is his high salary. At Bayern Munich he’s one of the highest paid players of the squad and other clubs outside Europa are ready to offer him the same figures. It will be the German player to decide whether to join another important club or play outside Europe. At AC Milan he would become the second member of the Boateng family to wear the Red and Black colors after his brother Kevin Price played for five seasons at San Siro.

Football Italia

Napoli: Bakayoko missed training
Football Italia24 Minutes Ago

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Napoli confirmed Tiemoue Bakayoko missed training due to illness ahead of the match against his former team, but Kalidou Koulibaly is back in full training.

The Partenopei announced Fernando Llorente and Bakayoko did not train with the team group today, due to illness.

The official statement from the club revealed Senegalese defender Koulibaly has returned from international duty and completed the full session with the rest of the team.

Eljif Elmas is also back in the squad as the Azzurri prepare for the match against League leaders Milan on Sunday.

Victor Osimhen will reportedly miss out on the action at the San Paolo this week, as he returns from international duty with a shoulder injury.

AC Milan are likely to entrust former full-back Daniele Bonera with the duties of being stand-in head coach for the trip to Napoli, a report claims.

Milan just cannot catch a break at the moment with regards to the Coronavirus, it seems. After the club confirmed over the weekend that head coach Stefano Pioli has tested positive, the man who was meant to take his spot on the bench – his assistant and good friend Giacomo Murelli – has also contracted the virus.


This has left some fans scratching their head as to exactly who will take command of Sunday’s trip to Naples to face off against former manager Gennaro Gattuso, but an idea has emerged.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the hypothesis of entrusting Daniele Bonera is beginning to take hold. The former defender is part of the Rossoneri technical staff and is in possession of the UEFA A license needed to coach in Serie A.

AC Milan right-back Andrea Conti could very well be reaching the end of his time at the club, a report claims, with a sale being weighed up.

According to what is being reported by Tuesday’s edition of il Corriere dello Sport (via MilanLive), Conti is keen to fight for a spot in the team after recovering from yet another long-term injury but he is aware of the difficulties he faces.


Davide Calabria is in good form while Milan also welcomed the signing of talented young full-back Diogo Dalot on loan from Manchester United.

In January 2021, a decision is expected to be made regarding the future of the ex-Atalanta man. If he were to stay as Pioli’s third choice on the right side, then the door would open to his sale, especially if an offer around the €7million mark came in.

There is also the possibility of a loan to allow Conti to get consistent game time, but it should be considered that his contract with Milan expires in June 2022, so the club and the player will have to make assessments in a month and a half.

The offers that arrive will be listened to and then a decision will be made, and Parma are named as a club who could reignite their interest.

Confirmed: Bonera will replace Pioli and Murelli as Milan coach in the game against Napoli

Kocha wa AC Milan Stephano Pioli na msaidizi wake Giacomo Murelli wamethibitika wana virusi vya Corona hivyo wawili hao hawatakuwepo kwenye benchi siku AC Milan watakapo pimana nguvu na SSC Napoli.

Lakini jioni hii imethibitishwa kuwa mlinzi wa zamani wa chama hilo Danielle Bonera atasimama kulinoa chama la Milan.