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00:00 It was February 7th, 2003. Milan was in Perugia, on a training camp.
00:04 A long training camp, an unusual one, because in just three days,
00:08 the team had to play twice at the Renato Curi stadium in Perugia.
00:11 First on February 6th, the semi-final of the Coppa Italia,
00:14 then on February 9th, Perugia-Milan, the return match.
00:18 Perugia-Milan, two games in a row. A lot of time to be together.
00:23 And after the semi-final of the Coppa Italia, which ended 0-0,
00:27 the Rossoneri didn't return to Milan, they preferred to stay in Umbria.
00:31 The resort that hosted Milan in February 2003 was in Città di Castello,
00:37 for two reasons.
00:38 In the city of Tifernate, Silvano Ramaccioni was born,
00:42 the grey eminence of Milan of those years,
00:44 of the historic Milan before the immortals and then the invincible.
00:47 And then, why in that resort in Città di Castello?
00:50 There was a great memory of a lucky charm.
00:53 There, Milan had lodged and stayed,
00:56 before the last matchday of the 1999 season,
00:59 before that Perugia-Milan 1-2, Guglielmin Pietro and Bierhoff,
01:03 which meant for the Rossoneri the conquest of the number 16 scudetto in their history.
01:08 Then, the day after the 0-0 of the semi-final of the Coppa Italia between Perugia and Milan,
01:14 Carlo Ancelotti also made a group with the press.
01:16 He liked it, it was natural.
01:18 A dinner was granted with the journalists in the historic centre of Perugia.
01:22 A serene evening, and Milan had carried on with their work
01:24 in view of the qualification to the final of the Coppa Italia,
01:27 and also in the Champions League, and the prospects were good.
01:31 A quiet dinner, then the climate warms up,
01:34 it becomes more and more friendly, more and more confidential.
01:37 And around the coffee, a little earlier, a little later,
01:40 Carlo Ancelotti begins to tell.
01:42 First some jokes and then the anecdotes, historical episodes,
01:46 including what had happened, for example, in mid-May 1992,
01:50 the last game of Carlo Ancelotti, a player for Milan,
01:52 the last football match, because that was the farewell match for Carlo at the pitch.
01:57 Milan-Verona was at stake, the Rossoneri were in the lead,
02:02 the sky was blue, the sun was shining,
02:04 the Rossoneri flags were absolutely fantastic,
02:07 but to complete the party, the curve and all the sectors of the stadium,
02:10 he wanted to be on the pitch, Carlo Ancelotti wanted to be there.
02:13 But he, Carlo, was on the bench.
02:15 He had played little in that league, everyone knew he was about to retire.
02:20 But despite the public's acclaimed appeals,
02:22 Fabio Capello, the coach of the Italian-champion Milan,
02:25 invited Aldo Serena to go warm up.
02:28 But Aldo, that afternoon, under the sun of San Siro,
02:31 made his coach aware that the fans wanted him,
02:34 they wanted Carlo, and it was right that Carlo played.
02:37 Let's face it, it was absolutely right,
02:40 it was absolutely in Fabio Capello's prerogatives
02:43 to establish that the technical decisions were up to him,
02:45 even in a league already won and not to the public.
02:48 Milan were already champions of Italy,
02:50 but if Carlo Ancelotti's career as a player was over,
02:53 Fabio Capello's as a coach was still going on.
02:55 And for the coach Friulano it was understandable
02:58 that it was about not establishing a precedent,
03:00 a precedent that could also be, if we want, dangerous,
03:03 the concession to the audience,
03:05 the decision of a change made by the fans' hearts.
03:08 It wasn't an easy choice,
03:10 but in the end, Fabio Capello also participated in the party
03:12 and invited Carlo Ancelotti to go warm up.
03:16 Carlo then went on the pitch,
03:18 and that was the moment when a,
03:20 if we want, normal celebration of a title,
03:22 as many others would have been in the Rossoneri's house,
03:25 at that moment the Scudetto party became a real fable.
03:28 In the five years of the Rossoneri, from 1987 to 1992,
03:33 Carlo Ancelotti had never scored a brace with the Milan shirt.
03:37 Instead, he ended up scoring it,
03:40 right in his last game.
03:42 With Carlo Ancelotti's arrival on the pitch,
03:44 the result of Milan-Verona changed from 2-0 to 4-0.
03:48 And on the yellow-blue bench there was Nils Lidholm,
03:51 the coach who had sent Carlo Ancelotti to Roma in 1979,
03:55 13 years earlier.
03:57 A fable, in the true sense of the word.
03:59 A circle that only Carlo Ancelotti
04:01 and certain unquestionable and indisputable football directors
04:04 could close perfectly in that way.
04:07 The curve wanted him on the pitch,
04:09 the curve that always and always called him
04:11 "Carlo, tiger's heart".
04:14 Think about his years at Roma.
04:16 The yellow-red colours, Carlo Ancelotti
04:18 never forgot them with his tender heart.
04:21 Milan seemed to be in Carlo's destiny.
04:23 What was the first league game
04:25 played by Carlo Ancelotti in Serie A with the Roma shirt?
04:28 The answer is simple.
04:30 Roma-Milan.
04:32 And it wasn't just any game.
04:34 It was the first game in history
04:36 that Milan played with the star of the tenth Scudetto on his chest.
04:39 A star that had arrived after the first defeat
04:42 of the Italian team a few months earlier.
04:44 A star that had been so long dreamt of,
04:46 so long pursued, so long yearned for by Nereo Rocco.
04:49 And that, in the end, Milan had won
04:51 in the football season
04:53 after the disappearance of Paron.
04:55 A star won by Nils Lidholm,
04:57 who in that Roma-Milan in September 1979
05:01 was living a new beginning
05:03 because he had just moved from Milan to Roma.
05:06 Roma-Milan 1979,
05:08 the first game in history of the red-black team
05:10 with the star on his chest.
05:12 And Carlo Ancelotti was among the opponents of the red-blacks.
05:14 It's incredible how in so many years at Roma,
05:16 from 1979 to 1987,
05:19 Carlo had challenged Milan many times
05:21 but never scored against Milan.
05:23 Never.
05:24 Not even a goal.
05:25 Never.
05:26 Not even in that Coppa Italia game
05:28 of the season 1979/80
05:30 in which Roma won 4-0 at San Siro.
05:32 Never. Not even a goal.
05:34 And that's why when in a residence in Rome
05:36 Adriano Gagliani and Carlo Ancelotti
05:38 met in the summer of 1987
05:41 in a sneaky market deal
05:43 at the last minute of the last hour,
05:45 it seemed normal to Carlo Ancelotti.
05:47 Milan, even on the horizon,
05:50 even looking far away,
05:52 even in perspective,
05:54 had been part of his destiny for a long time.
05:56 He had seen for the first time in the pitch
05:59 Milan with the star on his chest
06:01 and he would have helped to win many Scudetti
06:04 in the course of the years, in the course of the decades
06:07 to bring the red-blacks closer to their second star.
06:10 Scudetti, titles, wins, both as a player and as a coach.
06:13 There were four key games of Carlo Ancelotti in Milan.
06:17 We have already told about the fifth.
06:19 We have already remembered it,
06:21 Milan-Verona in May 1992.
06:23 But there were others.
06:25 For example, in January 1988.
06:28 Milan played against Como at San Siro
06:30 and Carlo Ancelotti, with the Milan shirt in the league,
06:33 had not yet scored a goal,
06:35 neither as an opponent nor as a protagonist.
06:37 "But when will it be the first time?"
06:39 everyone was asking.
06:41 If the fans, journalists, observers were asking,
06:43 and here it is!
06:45 Carlo's net, in the most particular moment.
06:47 The Milan-Como match had just started
06:50 and there was a plane clash to be made
06:52 between Mauro Tassotti, a great red-black starter,
06:54 and an attacker from Como, Enrico Todesco.
06:57 In an attempt to untie himself,
06:59 Tassotti threw a knee-kick
07:01 to the then 27-year-old Todesco
07:03 and was sent off.
07:05 Milan were in the top ten
07:07 for more than an hour.
07:09 The match was getting very difficult
07:11 but it was at that moment that the team found themselves,
07:13 it was unleashed.
07:15 From 0-0, Milan-Como became
07:17 the match of the five goals,
07:19 five goals scored in 11 against 10.
07:22 First Donadoni, then Vierdys, then Gullit,
07:24 and then him, Carlo Ancelotti.
07:26 At 1.73, Carlo's goal,
07:28 the top goal of Milan's 4-0,
07:30 in 10 against 11.
07:32 Carlo also got injured
07:34 for the goalkeeper's exit from Como, Paradisi,
07:36 and he scored a goal.
07:38 Meanwhile, all the Milan fans were cheering for him.
07:40 Meanwhile, in the press room,
07:42 everyone was speechless.
07:44 And it wasn't over yet,
07:46 because Gullit would have scored a brace,
07:48 5-0, in 10 against 11.
07:50 Carlo Ancelotti's key matches in Milan
07:52 were not over.
07:54 He was running back in time
07:56 until February 1989,
07:58 just over a year after Milan-Como 5-0,
08:00 in 10 against 11.
08:02 In February, Milan played in Florence
08:04 for the first time in a season.
08:06 A classic of the Italian league.
08:08 Fiorentina-Milan.
08:10 But there was a big debate in Milan.
08:12 After a first part of a difficult season,
08:14 President Berlusconi was evaluating
08:16 and deciding whether it was time to continue
08:18 the season with Arrigo Sacchi
08:20 on the red-black bench or not.
08:22 Or to separate.
08:24 A decision that could prove historic,
08:26 a decision that was certainly difficult.
08:28 Days of contact,
08:30 days of meetings,
08:32 days of discussions.
08:34 It was time to go to Florence.
08:36 The papers presented it as a decisive match
08:38 for Arrigo Sacchi's stay in Milan.
08:40 Then, in Florence,
08:42 it's not easy for the red-blacks,
08:44 both for the traditional strength of the purple team
08:46 but also at the environmental level.
08:48 Milan was not in a great moment
08:50 and didn't seem favourable for the win.
08:52 But at the end of the first half,
08:54 Angelo Colombo's first goal.
08:56 Well, but the match was still in the game.
08:58 Fiorentina attacked
09:00 and scored the 2-0 goal.
09:02 The goal that allowed Arrigo Sacchi
09:04 to stay and look ahead
09:06 in his great adventure
09:08 on the red-black bench.
09:10 It would have been Sacchi,
09:12 a few months later,
09:14 to lead Milan to the Champions League.
09:16 A cup that Milan would have won
09:18 for two consecutive seasons.
09:20 The first in Barcelona against Steaua at Camp Nou,
09:22 the second in Vienna against Benfica at the Prater.
09:24 In that final of May 23, 1990 in Vienna,
09:26 Benfica's coach was Sven-Goran Eriksson,
09:29 a coach that Carlo Ancelotti had met in Rome,
09:32 had worked with him, he was his player.
09:34 But now there was Milan,
09:36 now there was the final.
09:38 The red-black team had had a season
09:40 with various faces.
09:42 The Milanese had then had to give life
09:44 to a very long series of consecutive wins
09:46 to get back up in the league.
09:48 A positive but exhausting streak.
09:50 In fact, April was a negative month,
09:52 tiring, frustrating, heavy,
09:54 for Milan, who had lost the Scudetto-Napoli
09:56 and had lost the Coppa Italia final
09:58 with Juventus.
10:00 But the Champions League final was still to be played.
10:03 In a season in which Milan had already won
10:05 the European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup,
10:08 they had to play in Vienna.
10:10 They had to make sure that the top players
10:12 of Arrigo's tactical construction were on the pitch.
10:14 Carlo Ancelotti and his knee-jerkers
10:16 were not at their best.
10:18 In fact, to put it all in, they were squeaking a bit.
10:20 But Carlo Ancelotti was in Vienna.
10:22 Carlo Ancelotti was playing in Vienna.
10:24 The game was tactical, it was tough,
10:26 it was balanced.
10:28 At half-time, in the 68th minute,
10:30 he scored with Frankie Rijkaard.
10:32 And it was known that with that Milan,
10:34 it would have been very difficult to score.
10:36 It would have been very tough for the opponents.
10:39 The most was done, Carlo Ancelotti could have gone out.
10:42 Five minutes after Rijkaard's goal,
10:44 Carlo, in the 73rd minute, came out of the field in Vienna.
10:47 The Red-Black soldier had made himself available
10:49 and had done the work that was necessary
10:52 to reach the second consecutive title
10:54 in Milan's Europe.
10:57 There is also another key match
10:59 in the history of Carlo Ancelotti as a player in Milan.
11:02 A story that began to be already two-faced.
11:05 Because even while he was playing
11:07 his last years as a player,
11:09 as a champion, as an athlete,
11:11 Carlo Ancelotti, deep down,
11:13 already started to think as a coach.
11:16 In March 1991,
11:19 the Scudetto challenge of that season was played in Marassi.
11:22 In Genoa, Sampdoria-Milan,
11:24 Samp were destined to win the title,
11:26 Mancini and Vialli.
11:28 A strong team, a technical team,
11:30 a determined and winning team.
11:32 Milan lost,
11:34 the Blue-Negroes won 2-0.
11:36 At the end of the day,
11:38 it was thought that the old Red-Black dragon,
11:40 the wolves of the Red-Black sea,
11:42 would pull out the prideful whistle,
11:44 the great stroke of Regni,
11:46 and instead Sampdoria won,
11:48 against all odds, all surprises, all amazement.
11:50 So much so that you read in the newspapers
11:52 something special after the match.
11:54 Let's be clear, Sampdoria won and deserved it,
11:57 but that Milan lost,
11:59 had really surprised everyone,
12:01 to the point that someone wrote
12:03 that even on the evening before the match
12:05 in the Genoa training camp,
12:07 Sacchi and Ancelotti were convinced
12:09 to win the championship.
12:11 Sacchi and Ancelotti, yes,
12:13 the coach and a player,
12:15 equipped.
12:17 The Scudetto challenge was re-read,
12:19 reinterpreted,
12:21 by Ancelotti's team.
12:23 This means that Ancelotti
12:25 was already in the coach's
12:27 thought-out management booth.
12:29 We are at the beginning
12:31 of Carlo Ancelotti's second life,
12:33 a life that had already begun
12:35 long before he closed the football life.
12:37 What Carlo Ancelotti would have done
12:39 as a coach is history, is legend.
12:41 He is, and will remain,
12:43 one of the very few on the Olympus.
12:45 One of the very few to win
12:47 the same trophy, the Champions League Cup,
12:49 as a coach and a player.
12:51 Then he won the Champions League
12:53 with Real Madrid,
12:55 but he also won in London,
12:57 in Paris, everywhere.
12:59 Because when there is a team
13:01 of great out-of-class players,
13:03 the one who knows how to whisper
13:05 to the talent of the greats
13:07 will be himself,