Franco Baresi granted an exclusive interview to those at The Times. He discussed severa topics about his past as a player.
Here are the statements of the legendary AC Milan captain and current honorary vice president:
"I played with some extraordinary players. The brain is the most important skill of all," he said. "You have to have everything to be a modern defender, because the reality is there are several elements now. There is the physical skill and then the technical skill, because teams in modern football, they build their game from the defenders, so it’s essential to be technically perfect and physically strong, but the most important skill of all is to be intelligent. You have to have a brain as well."
On modern defenders being skilled with the ball at their feet...
"It’s not unfair, it’s just how the game evolves," he commented.
"Maybe it’s because it’s how I was as a player, but that’s one of the reasons I had so much fun. When I started playing ‘total football’ I was playing for the whole team, the defending, the attacking, the creating. I loved doing everything, I felt alive when I was doing that."
Yet Baresi is less enthused by teams who overplay at the back, a tactic that has become synonymous with progressive, possession football but which, he believes, borders on monotonous:
"Passing it out from defence is something you see everywhere now, every team is doing it, but the problem is you need to be skilled to do it, you need to have control."
He added:
"Sometimes it can be done too much. It impacts the rhythm, it slows the game, which reduces the quality of the game for people watching. The game is slower and slower, less fun and maybe it is about control, but football needs to have rhythm too."
The response has been a mini-resurgence for No9s, raising the possibility that the long ball — to beat opponents expecting the short pass — could soon come back into fashion...
"Without getting too technical about it, a long ball from the goalkeeper or defender is not always the answer," answered Baresi.
He added:
"That is not the secret, it more depends on the distance between players, the movement of the receiver into the right position, because we too often think about the player making the pass, and then how fast that ball is played. The movement is important and the speed of the pass. That is the secret to fast and safe football."
Baresi on if he made mistakes while defending:
"Never. I made my coaches win."
On his former coach, Fabio Capello:
"Capello was about safety first, he told us always to be concreto. Of course we had to be good at building the attack but the most important thing was always to be attentive and careful. He told us that was the only way we could be effective in both boxes, by not taking risks, so if someone gave the ball away at the back, Capello didn’t tolerate that. It was always ‘look forward’. If you passed the ball to the side or backwards under Capello, you’d better be 100 per cent certain the pass would get there."
Baresi says the art of dodging the press lies in anticipation...
"I would try to avoid the pressure in the first place. I would look at where an opponent was and what he was going to do and then I would find space. Sometimes it’s like defenders want that pressure now. When it comes, the most important thing is to be decisive. Any option is valid but you have to do it fast and with certainty. But, to me, the priority was to avoid the pressure, not to beat it. Even when they have the ball, you have to be thinking, ‘What is the opponent going to do next?’"
On Arrigo Sacchi, Baresi said:
"Sacchi introduced the high line because there were some big advantages and because it was new, so opponents didn’t really understand it," he said. "We did it all the time and now it’s back. It’s a risk but it’s all about timing, knowing when to risk and when not to risk, because it’s easy to take advantage of a mistake."
Baresi on organising the AC Milan's defensive line, and his arm going up to signal for offside:
"I was just helping the linesman,” he says. “I was like the original VAR. Defenders have to know what is happening all around them. I have to say, I think VAR is good for the game but defenders have to be very loyal to their job now. They have to concentrate.”
On former teammates at AC Milan:
Baresi on the most difficult player he faced:
