Former AC Milan frontman Hernan Crespo, who is currently taking the lead of Brasileirão side Sao Paolo, has spoken about his time spent as a Rossoneri player during "AC Milan Talk" in the club's Twitch channel. Here are his statements:
On Milan:
“The dream of any player is to play in a great team, Milan is one of them. When you wear a shirt of this weight you have to be up to it, you have to prepare yourself. It went well for me”.
On what he has taken from his past coaches:
“It is impossible not to talk about Carlo Ancelotti. I was lucky enough to find Ancelotti as Parma coach, he set me up in a certain way. Then, already mature, he took me back to Milan, I tried to pay him back”.
On not having been redeemed:
“This is football. The management made Milan great for 26, they had the foresight to say they were wrong. I was very sorry, I dreamed of the Milan shirt seeing Van Basten. Not having a rematch after Istanbul was difficult. But now with my career as a coach never say never, maybe I take away some satisfaction".
The impact with Milanello:
“You understand why Milan was Milan for 25 years. When as a child you played and faced a team that played well they said “it looks like Milan”. When you arrived at Milanello you saw Baresi and Gullit in the corridors, you get a sense of responsibility. Playing for Milan was something great. When I arrived here in Sao Paulo they surprised me with Kaká. Serginho and Dida sending me a message. At Milan it was a beautiful family, a bond that remains. It is nice that Paolo Maldini is here as manager today, it gives me enormous pleasure”.
On whether did he discover Zlatan's secret to play even at 40:
“If I had found out I would not have been a coach (laughs). The best job is to be a footballer, now I have a thousand thoughts. When I arrived at Milan in July I had to show up for medical examinations, I was [coming] from Chelsea. I showed up two days before the meeting, but I already found Milanello full. They had been there for a week, doing the pre-retreat. When you win so many things, the culture of work is behind it. A sense of responsibility, of identity that set a very high bar on you. There was competition in everything. It is no coincidence that that team made history”.
On Istanbul and Athens:
“It was a difficult evening to digest, it will always remain that way. Returning to the speeches made before two years later I was not there, but I remember that watching television seemed a nightmare to me that happened two years earlier. I was glad that those guys won again. Immediately after the game I received messages from young people and professionals who told me “This is yours too”. Think how deep was the feeling that bound us. Although I was at Inter I was still involved in that story. There were no shirts there, but men fighting. A gesture that I will never be able to forget, a gift not to me as a player but to me as a man”.
Again on Milanello:
“The wives came to see us with their children. After training we all stayed to eat together at Milanello, just think what the atmosphere was like".
On tomorrow's match against Manchester United:
“I really liked Milan in Verona, playing and winning in the way you won with all absent players is not easy. Pioli kept the group compact and united, he kept the level high. It is not easy. Going to Old Trafford is very complicated, if the group is mature to support such an opponent there can be a qualitative leap. Without Theo, who is the best left-back in the world, without Calhanoglu, without Rebic, it won't be easy. But Milan is at home in Europe”.
On where can this Milan go?
“Pioli and Maldini will know. We have to see if the players have fire in their eyes, if they are able to live with the pressures of playing for great goals. I want the best for them, I would like to go back to seeing Milan at the top, to fight and be there. I didn't like seeing Milan sixth or seventh, Milan are too big to finish sixth or seventh, everyone must know. Then after you can finish second or third, but not sixth or seventh. I believe that Paolo has already had his say, the fact that he is in society reassures us”.
