Arrigo Sacchi

Arrigo Sacchi

Personal information
Full name	Arrigo Sacchi
Date of birth	(1946-04-01) 1 April 1946
Place of birth	Fusignano, Italy
Position(s)	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1964–1977	Fusignano CF
1977–1979	Bellaria
Managerial career
1985–1987	Parma
1987–1991	Milan
1991–1996	Italy
1996–1997	Milan
1998–1999	Atlético Madrid
2001	Parma
2004–2005	Real Madrid (Director of Football)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Arrigo Sacchi (Italian pronunciation: [arˈriɡo ˈsakki]; born 1 April 1946 in Fusignano) is an Italian football coach. He is best known for his success coaching Italian teams, particularly with Milan where he won back to back European Cups as coach in the late eighties where he was head coach of the Italy national football team (1991–1996). He was twice manager of A.C. Milan (1987–1991, 1996–1997).

Sacchi never played football professionally, and before becoming a coach he was a shoe salesman. This led to his famous quote to the ones that questioned his qualifications: "I never realised that in order to become a jockey you have to have been a horse first".

Coaching career before Milan

Sacchi had grown up watching attacking sides, such as Honved, Real Madrid, Brazil and Holland. This meant that his coaching style would be set aside from the defensive mentality of Italy at the time. He started his career managing his local club, Baracca Lugo, because he wasn't good enough to play for them. He did have trouble winning them over, however. Sacchi said "I was twenty-six, my goalkeeper was thirty-nine and my centre-forward was thirty-two. I had to win them over". He then moved on to Bellaria before joining A.C. Cesena, who were in the Serie B. He worked there with the youth team. He then took over at Rimini who were playing in the Serie C1, and almost led them to a title. He got his breakthrough when he moved to Fiorentina as a youth coach. His achievements with the youth team earned interest from Parma F.C. who were in Serie C1. He got Parma promoted in his first season, and the following season took them to within 3 points of the Serie A, narrowly missing out on promotion. However, the importance of his time at Parma was due to the Coppa Italia. In the group stages, he beat Milan 1–0 and beat them again 1–0 on aggregate in the first knockout round. This was enough to attract interest from Silvio Berlusconi, owner of A.C. Milan. He appointed Arrigo Sacchi as manager.

Milan

At Milan, Arrigo Sacchi again faced problems of credibility. The press argued that such an inadequate player could never go on to be a successful coach, and that even Berlusconi- who had played football at amateur level- was probably a better player. However, Sacchi coined a witty term: "A jockey doesn't have to have been born a horse". Sacchi's success at Milan gained him two back-to-back European cups- an incredible achievement. The success he gained was largely attributed to the Dutch trio he had purchased- Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard. However, other great players such as Franco Baresi, Roberto Donadoni and Paolo Maldini were also a key to his success.

The first European final in 1989 was against Steaua Bucharest, who were beaten resoundingly 4-0. Gullit and Van Basten scored two goals each and Milan lifted the European Cup for the first time in over twenty years. On the way, however, Milan had dispatched Real Madrid 6-1 on aggregate in the semi-final, a result which almost represented the passing of the mantle for best European club. The quarter final against Werder Bremen was a tight affair, however: Milan only went through 1-0 on aggregate thanks to a Van Basten penalty. The second round was shrouded in controversy, however. Donadoni had his life saved only through the quick-thinking of the Red Star Belgrade physio, who broke his jaw to make a passage for oxygen to reach his lungs after he had suffered a bad foul and lay unconscious. The first leg ended in a 1-1 draw and the second leg got called off in 64th minute and rescheduled to be replayed the next day due to the thick fog (Milan was losing 0-1 at the moment). A penalty shoot-out was how Milan progressed eventually.

Coaching career after Milan

Sacchi also had brief spells in the Primera Liga. In 1998 after his second spell with the Rossoneri, Sacchi took charge of Atlético Madrid but could only guide los Colchoneros to a disappointing 13th place in the league in his only season at the Vicente Calderón Stadium. They did, however, qualify for Europe having finished as runners-up in the Copa del Rey. He later returned to Madrid, this time at the Bernabeu as director of football at Real Madrid for the 2004/05 season. Recently after Milan finished their opening match in their Champions League campaign in which Zlatan Ibrahimović scored two goals, Sacchi made a comment directed towards Ibrahimovic stating, "If it wasn't for his big feet he wouldn't have scored." Ibrahimovic took offense to the remark, and the two were engaged in a heated exchange.

Honours

Club

Parma

• Serie C1 League Championships (1)

• 1986

Milan

• Serie A (1)

• 1988

• Supercoppa Italiana (1)

• 1988

• European Cup (2)

• 1989, 1990

• European Supercup (2)

• 1989, 1990

• Intercontinental Cup (2)

• 1989, 1990