A.C. MILAN OFFICIAL
  • 7 months ago
Transcript
00:00 Milan is the dawn of European youth football, even before the Next Gen Series of 2011 and 2012,
00:07 well before the UEFA Youth League, which started in 2013.
00:11 The great heart of the youth sector was already on the field.
00:15 Today the Milanese youth academy is in a positive cycle,
00:19 European semi-final in 2023 and final for the title in 2024.
00:25 All things that make sense if you think about the dawn, the birth of a tradition.
00:31 And it is exactly Filippo Galli and Ignazio Abate, two fruits of the youth sector in the Rosso Nero,
00:37 to represent great moments, different from each other, but united by the common denominator of Milanello,
00:43 a 20th anniversary that does nothing but reaffirm a whole tradition and a whole vocation.
00:49 When European youth football left the national borders and proposed itself internationally in an organized and competitive format, Milan was there.
00:58 The Champions Youth Cup 2007 was the first and only edition, a very high-level tournament.
01:07 It was supported by the G14 European Football Group and had the ambition to be a real world championship for clubs, for the U19 teams.
01:17 It took place in Malaysia from August 5 to 19, 2007.
01:23 It featured 16 top teams, 11 European, 2 South American teams, the Malaysian U19 national team and 2 big teams invited for the occasion.
01:33 With the center forward of that spring Rosso Nero, Pierre Aubameyang, just him, the head of the cannon and the best player of the tournament, just as Filippo Galli remembers.
01:43 I remember in my experience as a coach in the Milan youth sector, the coach of the spring, in 2007 we participated in what was a bit of a pre-signature event of the current Youth League, the Champions Youth Cup.
01:59 Having organized in Malaysia, here in Lampur, we flew there with the spring team and it really was a high-level event, because in our group there were Flamengo, Arsenal and Ajax.
02:11 We managed to pass the round as second and then we met Bayern Munich.
02:17 We defeated Bayern, a very difficult, complicated match, but in short, we managed to pass the round and enter the semifinal.
02:26 Then in the semifinal we met Juventus, who beat us, even though I have to say that our team did a great performance and we were not lucky.
02:34 I don't like to talk about luck or bad luck, but I have no doubt that in that game we deserved more.
02:41 Then we gave up Flamengo, probably now without any push, no energy, even third place.
02:47 What to say about that event?
02:49 Well, first of all, there were players who would later become important professional players.
02:54 There was Darmian, but one of them was our Pierre Aubameyang, who won the title of best player of the tournament and also won the title of head of the cannon.
03:06 It was an incredible experience for our boys, because we know that even when you go abroad you face championships, rather than teams of different football cultures.
03:18 For them it was a moment of growth and there were all the strongest teams in the European scene and not only, because there were Flamengo and other teams, including Boca Juniors.
03:29 Anyway, it was a huge experience that then became the current Youth League.
03:35 Always Filippo Galli, but as head of the youth sector in 2013, he was well present when he was born.
03:42 The UEFA Youth League is a football competition for the growth, promotion and development of European youth football.
03:49 A competition for clubs under 19, organized by UEFA, which is held from the 2013-2014 season.
03:58 The first edition, in which Milan was at the starting line, just like in the first Champions League in the mid-50s.
04:05 The youth tournament, which 11 years ago was new, but which is still fresh and innovative, was born from a request made in 2010 by the clubs and comes after the collaboration between the European Club Association and other stakeholders of European football.
04:23 UEFA had previously organized a U18 match between the spring teams of the two finalists of the 2009-2010 Champions League in May 2010, that is, Inter and Bayern Munich.
04:35 But the real Youth League was then thought of as a youth version of the most well-known UEFA Champions League.
04:43 The goal was from the outset to make international maturity and experience available to young players, in order to better fit them into the future.
04:54 Already in 2010, some European clubs had created the Next Gen Series, with very similar structure and objectives.
05:02 However, that competition was never recognized by UEFA. In the first Youth League, Milan was on the way. The opponents, in 2013, were the same as the first team in the Champions League, that is, Celtic, Ajax and Barcelona.
05:16 The young Blaugrana were avant-garde at the top of the league, something that Milan soon realized, losing 6-2 at home, at the Stadio Breda in Sesto San Giovanni.
05:26 It was a "Grace afternoon" for Toni Sanabria, with an important double from the first point, who wore the Turin jersey in the 2023-2024 season.
05:37 But that 2-6 was experienced by the spring team coached by Filippo Inzaghi as an unfair result, which went beyond the merits of the Reds.
05:47 It was a demonstration, however, in the return match to Barcelona, where, with a great goal by Brian Cristante, the Reds won 1-1 against the Catalan strikers, something that Filippo Galli is still proud of.
06:02 We were forced into a rather difficult round, I would say. We were with Ajax, Celtic and Barcelona. It was with Barcelona that we lost a game at home in a painful way, because we lost with a pretty devastating draw.
06:21 But in the return match, from them to the Mini Estadi, which was then demolished in 2019 to make room for the new Stadio Jovan Cruyff, we met the Catalans and it was a completely different game.
06:35 We made ourselves worth it and even took the lead with Cristante, a great goal from off the air. The ball came to the cross and hit the goalkeeper of Barcelona.
06:49 They managed to draw only in the final. We still passed the round where we met Chelsea. In Chelsea there was Bogard, who played here in Italy, both in Sassuolo and in Atalanta, but above all Loftus-Chic, who is wearing the Milan shirt today.
07:07 They beat us 4-0, a very strong team, but it was a great experience for all the boys. These are experiences that always give something, because they allow you to face cultures and different playing styles.
07:25 They are a heritage for our boys from the point of view of their training.
07:31 That spring, 2013/14, was the final round of the Youth League. A good result, even if in the round of 16, in the dry race at Cobham, near London, Chelsea qualified, winning 4-1 and benefiting from very high investments on their youth team.
07:51 A result, the round of 16, in any case, clearly improved by the latest European experiences of the U19 Milanese team, trained by Ignazio Abate.
08:01 The coach Rossoneri transmitted to the team mentality, behavior, style, respect for opponents on the outside and for the group on the inside, but also concepts of play. After eliminating Atletico Madrid in 2023 and Real Madrid in 2024, the Rossoneri qualified in both cases to the Final Four of Nyon.
08:21 But if in 2023 the race ended in the semi-final, in 2024 Milan was the first Italian team to reach the qualification to the final with the European title on the line.
08:33 A well-played final, beyond the 3-0 final in favor of Olympiacos, honor and merit to the Greek team.
08:40 But Milan paid the sudden pass on the 0-0 from a glamorous opportunity of netting in their favor to the penalty granted by the race director to the Greek team.
08:49 In any case, a path to polish, that of the spring of Milan, a flower in the eye for the whole club, as Ignazio Abate makes it clear in his first post-final reflections at Nyon.
09:01 I don't let myself be influenced by the result, which is too heavy for my boys. The game was very balanced, they started better with two and a half chances.
09:10 Then the first half was essentially balanced, we struggled, we had the wind against us, it was not easy to play, but the guys were in the game.
09:17 In the second half we started better, we had two goals, we went under and then the second goal broke our legs.
09:23 The episodes today did not turn us in favor, and in the end they tried to reopen the game.
09:30 He didn't want to come in today, but I congratulate our opponents, they too played a very good game, a great season.
09:37 I am very proud of my boys for the path they have taken, it is not over yet, but they have put a lot of experience in their baggage, a lot of experience with first-level players.
09:52 They understood what these levels are for, these levels, the details make the difference, you pay them and we will take them with us.
10:01 I think we have really made a great youth league, we have entered history, it is not a matter of chance.
10:09 I have never looked at the identity card, even last year in a 2003 championship they were already playing in 2006, this year in 2008 they play with regularity.
10:18 Sala is growing, Liberale is growing, so it is important that the boys have quality, then we have to make them play, put them in, they have to grow.
10:26 They have to go through difficult moments because it is part of the growth path, but you see, at these levels they have to play with those who have the technical quality and are superior to play at certain levels.
10:38 The games are tight, the technical level is really high, the rhythms are high, so I am proud of the boys for how they are growing.
10:47 [Music]
10:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]