Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport's Sportweek magazine, Yacine Adli granted discussed several topics. Here are all his statements:
Your name, first of all: does it have a specific meaning?
"No, Dad chose Yacine because that's the name of a writer, Kateb Yacine, Algerian of Berber ethnicity like my parents. He was a symbol of Algerian resistance against dictatorship."
When did your parents arrive in France?
"My father at 9 years old. When my mother was 18, he returned to Algeria and took her with him."
So they already knew each other?
"No, but they come from the same small town. There's a story that's told about their meeting: an important woman from this town, linked to the original families of mine, predicted that my father, once an adult, would marry my mother. And so it was."
Luckily, seeing her, your father liked your mother:
"Yes, indeed. My mother Ouiza is special."
Why?
"Because she's a simple person. She took a lot after her father, a farmer who was an example for me: he spent all his time helping others. He gave money to those who didn't have any, without expecting anything in return. My family was inspired by his generosity."
In Villejuif, the suburb of Paris where you grew up, you founded an association that bears your name... Yacine Adli responded:
"I wanted something that would help others, especially children, and be useful to society, but the truth is I didn't know exactly what to do. So I said to my best friend: let's set up something that can reach everyone, young and old alike. For example, every year I organise a football tournament to help the Gustave Roussy hospital, which is right in Villejuif and specialises in cancer treatment. In 2012 my sister had cancer: thanks to God and the care she received in that hospital, she recovered. So I intend to continue to do charity work for the Gustave Roussy, so that it can help many others."
Does your father Abdenour still work?
"No longer. He worked all his life, since he was a child, and when I started earning money with football, I told him: enough now, rest. I'm proud to have given him the opportunity to stop. He did a thousand jobs, mostly sales, traveling all over France."
You express yourself very well in Italian: have you studied a lot?
"Not at all. I learned by speaking, from the first day I arrived. And when I made mistakes, I asked people to correct me to speed up learning."
Siblings?
"One older sister and one older brother. They've always protected me and given me good advice. I call them every day."
What kind of childhood did you have? Yacine Adli said:
"Mine was a popular and multiethnic neighborhood. I can't hide that it was also dangerous. There was delinquency around me, but my parents did everything to keep me away from any danger and make me focus only on school (I reached Scientific High School with an average of 8), on sports, and on other things that prevented me from spending too much time on the street risking doing something stupid. My father enrolled me in music theory and I learned to play the violin, I did judo and chess, plus a lot of football. Mom used to go around the neighborhood fields every evening to see where I was and bring me home. I always played, but without anxieties or pressures: for me, the ball was a way to have fun and be with friends."
But weren't you a piano guy? There's a video of you playing and singing Bella Ciao. How did you come to know it?
"My sister passed on the passion for the piano to me, she used to have lessons at home. I learned Bella Ciao by watching Money Heist. But my instrument remains the violin."
Do you still play it?
"No, I lost touch. Then with two children, a three-year-old boy and a one-and-a-half-year-old girl, it becomes difficult. But it's not certain that I'll start again, sooner or later."
And chess?
"I play online with a couple of buddies, especially Pulisic. He's better than me."
Other passions?
"I read a lot, including religious texts. For me, science is infinite, so there's always something to learn from everyone: from books and from the people we meet. And since I like learning, I always keep my eyes open and my ears ready to listen."
For all that you're saying, do you feel different from the prototype of the footballer as we imagine them, interested only in cars, women, and clothes?
"I don't know if I'm different. I feel like a normal man, trying to do good. Sometimes we forget that football remains a sport. Of course, it brings with it a lot of pressure and many interests, it proposes important objectives, but it's not life. Football is passion and work for me, I'm a footballer, but above all, I'm a man. And as such, I want to be useful to my family and society. To succeed, sometimes the footballer needs to be put aside. We have money, but it's not everything, and it's true that it doesn't bring happiness, it doesn't buy faith or a loving family that makes you feel good. These are things you find on your own. And you can only find them if you understand what your ultimate goal in life is. For some, it's playing football and they're focused only on that. I don't see it that way."
What do you talk about with your teammates?
"About everything, and above all, I talk to everyone. I prefer to talk about life, the difficulties we encounter, the challenges we face. I try to set a good example and give good advice. It's important to put things into perspective: we're fortunate to have turned a passion into a job, so we need to be patient when things don't go well and look not at those who are doing better, but at those who are below us. That's how we learn to be content with what we have."
Do you also talk about religion, you being a Muslim? Yacine Adli answered:
"It happens, but I'll never be the one to start the conversation. If you ask me, I'll answer. But faith is a personal thing, I'll never tell you that you have to believe. That said, of course, I talk about religion with my Muslim teammates or with Christian ones like Giroud or Maignan: we compare our religions and discover they have many things in common. We try to help each other show the best version of ourselves every day."
And if your children were to tell you one day 'I don't believe', how would you react?
"My parents didn't instill faith in me. They're Berbers, they come from the mountains, it's not part of their culture. I discovered faith on my own. The same goes for my children: I can't be the one to give them light, to reveal the Truth to them. I'll do my job as a father, the rest I leave in God's hands."
Do the nicknames they call you, Mozart or The Painter, make you proud or embarrassed?
"In good or bad, I relativize (verbatim) a lot: if someone calls me Mozart or The Painter, I make it clear to them that I'm Yacine and that's it. And I'm fine with that. Likewise, if someone tells me: you're bad, you can't play, I don't listen. I repeat, in good or bad I try to stay in the middle, never feeling too happy for a compliment or too disappointed by criticism."
You've entered the hearts of Milan's teammates and fans, and you did it from the very beginning, even when you weren't playing. Have you given yourself an explanation for all this affection?
"I think we live in a fake world: we show what people expect to see or what they like to believe. But those who know me know that I show myself as I am. I don't do anything to please others. The man you see in the locker room is the same one who jumps and sings under the stands after a victory. This love for Milan is sincere, and it exploded in me spontaneously, I don't control it. And when I love, I give everything. When I hear 80,000 fans singing, I get chills and feel like one of them. And during the period when I wasn't playing, it made me feel alive to behave like a fan."
Which chant do you like the most?
"Bandito and Forza Diavolo alè."
And when the stadium shouted your name after your first goal with the Milan shirt, on January 14 against Roma?
"I got chills, almost tears. After everything I've been through, it was a special moment."
Did you follow Milan as a kid?
"No, because in my country we don't watch Serie A much. It was my father who watched Milan. His idol was Van Basten."
When you weren't playing, did you ever doubt yourself?
"Never. I would have left. But the quality I put into my work every day made me confident. I knew I was still missing something, but I also knew that something was coming. I tried to work hard, not to waste time, and look ahead."
What was it, that was missing?
"A bit of adaptation, tactical and physical, to your football. I'm not someone who looks much at match data, but now they say I've improved a lot, especially defensively. And, since I'm still young, I'm sure I'll continue to improve."
During that time, who among your teammates was closest to you?
"Everyone, and it's not to be trivial. I feel close to Bennacer, who has Algerian origins like mine, or to Theo, Giroud, and Maignan, French like me, but I really don't make distinctions. And then, my teammates had no reason to worry: never once did I show up at Milanello with the disappointed face of someone who doesn't play."
What kind of player are you?
"I'm an atypical player: I can play as a deep-lying playmaker, as an attacking midfielder, I've played as a left winger and a false nine. I may or may not be liked: I don't have the strong legs of someone who makes a 40-meter sprint and leaves the opponent behind, but I understand the timing of the game, I 'see' passes that not everyone sees. I'm like a chess player who moves the right pieces at the right time to 'kill' the opponent. These are things that not everyone who watches notices and that's why I can never please everyone. I'll always be Yacine Adli, with his characteristics. And these characteristics can make the difference."
What did the end-of-season barbecue you organised at your house with teammates and the coach mean to you?
"Actually, the coach wasn't invited, because it would have meant inviting his whole staff too and it would have taken three houses (laughs). There were teammates and their families, and everyone came. I had confirmation of the respect they have for me. That day rain was expected, but instead, there was sunshine. I took it as a sign. A beautiful day that brought the group even closer."
Which teammate surprised you the most?
"Gabbia. Last year he played very little, still more than me (laughs), but he didn't give up. Then he went to Villarreal and came back with much more confidence."
The funniest one? Yacine Adli replied:
"Florenzi. Before, I used to laugh a lot with Sandro Tonali."
What kind of music plays in the locker room?
"I don't have a favorite genre. Now I seek serenity, I also like to listen to the sound of nothing, the sound of life. In the locker room, we listen to everything."
Why did you choose the French national team and not the Algerian one? Yacine Adli said:
"Because the French national team is of a high level. Algeria also has high-level players. I had spoken with coach Belmadi, a three-hour phone call where we talked about football for five minutes and the rest about life, and I discovered that I liked his way of seeing things. Then he left the national team and in my opinion things will get worse. I remain a fan of Algeria, but as a footballer, I choose France."
Let's finish with Milan: what do you like about the city?
"I don't go out much, but it's nice to go to Parco Sempione with the kids. Occasionally I take a stroll in Montenapoleone, to feel at least a little like a footballer (laughs). Above all, I go to the mosque, where they don't see me as a player, but as an ordinary person. And that's good for me.
