Maldini, Berlusconi, trophies and difficult moments: Nesta opens up on Milan memories

Alessandro Nesta has recalled his time at AC Milan, including how he nearly joined Inter before winning virtually everything with the red side of the city.

Not many have had the career that Nesta had. The centre-back made over 400 Serie A appearances across three decades, being part of a top Lazio side before joining a Milan team that were primed to win silverware, and win they did.

With the Rossoneri, Nesta lifted the Scudetto twice, the Coppa Italia, the Supercoppa Italiana twice, the Champions League twice, the UEFA Super Cup twice and the FIFA Club World Cup once. He spent 10 years at the club before heading to Montreal, retiring and becoming a head coach.

Nesta was a guest on Gianluca Gazzoli’s podcast ‘Passa dal BSMT’ and he spoke at length about his time at Milan including victories, defeats, Berlusconi, Ancelotti, Maldini, and many other important figures. MilanNews have transcribed his comments.

Tell us about leaving Lazio…

“I didn’t want to leave Lazio. The year before they sold me to Milan, Real Madrid had called me, or rather, they had sent a player to tell me ‘You have to play for Real Madrid,’ and I had replied ‘I play for Lazio’.

“Then the following year I was forced to because we hadn’t received our wages for eight months, and not just us players, but also the warehouse workers, everyone. There was chaos in the dressing room that you have no idea.

“I knew I had to leave at the end of the year because they had already told me, and I also understood that it was no longer an option. On the last day of the transfer window, Lazio was trying to make as much money as possible with Milan, but I knew I had to leave.”

AC Milan’s defender Alessandro Nesta (R) celebrates with AC Milan’s defender Luca Antonini after the Italian seria A match between AC Milan and Atalanta, on May 2, 2012, at the San Siro stadium in Milan. AFP PHOTO / OLIVIER MORIN (Photo credit should read OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/GettyImages)

Could you have joined Inter?

“In the months before I was sold to Milan, I was supposed to go to Juve, but to be honest, I didn’t want to go. Then Inter came along, but after May 5th, it disappeared. Maybe they made other choices. But after May 5th, when Inter lost [the Scudetto], and I was on the other side, it fell through.

“Then, on the last day of the transfer window, Milan arrived. I didn’t want to go to Milan because I was sure Inter were the team that would win the following year, but then things went well for me because we won the Champions League in our first year.”

What was it like when you arrived at Milan?

“I remember the first day I arrived at San Siro because there was a friendly and they had to introduce me before the match. There was the head AC Milan fan who opened the door for me and said welcome to Milan.

“In Rome, when there were protests, you had to put on your battle helmet. Even there, I was amazed. I said, wow, the head fan was so good and polite. I didn’t want to stay in the city. The first six months were awful because I didn’t want to stay here. I missed everything.”

Who were some of your more memorable team-mates?

“I knew some of them because we played for the national team, Pirlo, Gattuso. But the impact was the training; they were faster in training. We trained in Rome, but not as hard. When I arrived, my difficulty was adapting to the pace my teammates gave me, not the coach.

“There was Paolo [Maldini] who was going 200 miles an hour in the warm-up, everyone was going 200 miles an hour, and I was always behind. In the end, I realised that if I wanted to stay there, I had to go like them.

“It was difficult to adapt to the training, the seriousness, the competitiveness that was there every day at Milanello with my teammates. Crazy!”

Tell us more about Maldini, was it exciting to play with him?

“Yes, it was a huge motivation. I’ve had many teammates, but the only one who intimidates me is him. I used to go on vacation with him; we lived in the same building in Miami. I know him well. Despite this, when I talk to him, he’s the only person who gives me that kind of feeling, even today.

“It’s a matter of mutual respect and admiration. There was never any internal rivalry; we all knew we needed each other. When Paolo stopped, I stayed behind, a bit old, and Thiago Silva arrived.

“It’s a good thing he arrived, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to last another three years. So I helped Paolo, Paolo helped Baresi, and so on.”

Did Berlusconi and Galliani embody the Milan menatlity?

“You know who gives you that stuff? The club. When the club is serious and has clear ideas, it’s rigid but then it gives you everything. My Milan with Berlusconi and Galliani: when I arrived they let me choose any house and they paid for it.

“We were already earning a lot of money and could have paid for the rent ourselves, but no, the house rent, the electricity, all the furniture I wanted, the car… they said I shouldn’t have to worry.

“You just have to think about winning, so you have to use all your energy to train and win matches, we’ll take care of everything else. But if you made a mistake they’d flatten you, you know. It’s not like you said, ‘Oh well, nothing happened’.”

What was the pressure like?

“Well, if we drew at home… I’ll give you an example: with Empoli, not even the gardeners looked at you or I looked at you badly, do you know why? Because the gardeners also had a bonus.

“At the end of the year if you won something it was double the salary for everyone, regardless of the role you had in the club, gardeners, waiters…. so when you didn’t win I started to look at you a bit badly (laughs).

“But when we won we made the envelopes, there was the waiter who came by and distributed them. We players made them. For example, if we won the Champions League the club got double the salary, but we also made the envelopes.

“We took the bonus and shared it, also because for us it might not have been much, but for them it was certain stones! (Laughs). The team is the whole team. We would arrive at Milanello maybe at 4 in the morning having to eat because we had to recover, and there would be the waiter who smiled.

“But tell me where else that a The waiter was up at 4 in the morning to make you dinner, he’d tell you to go to hell. Not at Milanello, everyone was going in the same direction.”

What was that final like against Juventus at Old Trafford?

“I didn’t enjoy it. I’d rather play against any other team, but not an Italian one. If you lose against Real Madrid, that’s one thing, but against Juve, against Inter, it’s written there. That’s why I didn’t like it, but it was my first Champions League final.

“I couldn’t sleep, I was anxious. I slept with Pirlo, who was also a little nervous, and then I said, ‘Oh, if Andrea’s nervous too, or a meteorite falls to Earth and we all die, it’s almost better.’ It was tough but beautiful.

“There were two very strong teams, different, we were perhaps a little more talented, they were perhaps more of a team, it was very tough to play against them and they knew how to win, two teams that knew how to win.”

You scored a penalty though…

“Look, I promised myself that if something sensational happened in my footballing life, I’d go for it, like a penalty. I’ve never taken a penalty in my life, maybe one in the U21s. But then I raise my hand in the Champions League final.

“Pippo had taken off his boots, he was half-strained, but he didn’t want to take it. They couldn’t find the right ones to take them. I turned around and said, ‘Coach, I’ll take one’. The coach pretended not to see me, then asked me if I felt up to it, and I went for it.

“I walked up to the spot calmly; Trezeguet and Clarence [Seedorf] had already missed it, then I saw Buffon and I got a little scared. I kicked it like a piece of cake, and he said it moved because I took it badly.

“But I scored, so mentally I made a leap. I overcame the uncertainty that had arisen after Roma vs. Lazio 5-1, where I hadn’t held up mentally.”

And what about Istanbul?

“I’ve taken two big hits, two finals that have affected my sleep: the one against Liverpool and the one against France at Euro 2000. It’s impossible to do something like this: we’re 3-0 up, and in my opinion, Benitez made some substitutions to avoid the fourth and fifth goals.

“They were at their mercy, and we’d never played a game like that. There was only one player holding the show together, and that was Steven Gerrard; he was everywhere. We came back in the second half: someone said we celebrated, but that’s not true; in fact, we were arguing.

“Then they scored three goals against us, but people forget Dudek’s save on Sheva on the line: you don’t have the strength to clear a ball like that. I believe a little in fate: it had to be this way. Sometimes things happen that will never happen again in life.”

Did you worry that defeat would break the dressing room apart?

“No. We argued with the fans at the airport, Paolo Maldini spoke. Nothing major, but some important words were exchanged. I believe Maldini’s last game was also a result of that day: that’s how I interpret it.

“All of us, including the fans, weren’t clear-headed: there were some uncontrolled words. I spent the night awake: some were crying, Gattuso wanted to stop playing and retire. The coach was devastated too, and he was a very important figure for us.”

How did you come out of the other side?

“We were a group of strong men. We came together, we set the goal, and we won. Against Liverpool again, it was fate: they knew it too in 2007. Also because if you act like a phenomenon when you win, sooner or later you’ll have to pay the price: in fact, we got them again, and they lost.

“When you win, you have to know how to win. From the bus, we won that match; you know when you feel it: they had acted too much like phenomenal.”

What are the differences between the Milan and Rome derbies?

“The Milan derby is definitely better. The Rome derby is so pressure-filled you can’t sleep. I’ve never felt this bad, I swear: I’ve never felt the tension the derby put on me again.

“The Milan derby was awesome: we were two strong teams, we reached the Champions League semi-final. In Rome, they kill each other…”

What was your relationship with Berlusconi like?

“A fantastic relationship, a President who doesn’t exist: there’s nothing like it. He had a thousand things to do, but he remembered my parents’ names, my wife’s… He cared about people, worried about everyone, and tried to solve everyone’s problems.

“When he arrived at Milanello, the training center would light up: he had a strong personality, respect for others. Then he wanted to win, and he did. The only thing that happened when he died… He created things that depended too much on him.

“Did he give advice? Yes. He always gave us a set-piece plan: five players outside the box and four inside. He’d say: ‘those inside would come out, those outside would go in, penalty for us’.

“Istanbul? He never said anything to us, he always complimented us and said that besides winning, we had to play good football and behave well. He took it very well, and he also took the victories well: after Athens, he was there but didn’t do anything special: he always remained clear-headed.”

And Ancelotti?

“I’d like to be like him as a coach, too. I don’t have the manager’s calm, perhaps because he always wins. He’s a phenomenon. Every now and then Berlusconi would say something to him, or there was always pressure, but he had this ability to absorb all the annoyances with a team that had zero problems.

“I envy him this calmness. The first year I met him, he was coming from years at Juventus, where he had been criticised: from that Champions League in Manchester he flew. He has this ability to manage great players that is unique, he knows perfectly well after a victory or a defeat what to say to a great player.”

You played with Pirlo, and today there is Modric at Milan…

“For me, Andrea is a champion I’ve never seen before. The other day I watched the AC Milan match and after years I saw someone like Pirlo, that is Modric. But since Pirlo and Modric, I haven’t seen much of this kind of stuff, and I don’t know who will come after him.

“You see Modric and he may weigh 60kg, but then it’s madness. Pirlo is a world apart: always serious but an extraordinary talent, he saw plays that no one else saw. There’s one thing that all these champions have in common: humility. I happen to speak with Serie C players who have less than Maldini and Pirlo.”

You have had trouble with injuries…

“I’ve hurt myself a lot, I’ve had operations 10 times. It all started in 1998 when I tore my knee: from then on I couldn’t play 60 games. Every World Cup I’d get to the end of the season and I’d be in pain because my body couldn’t take it anymore.

“We won in 2006, but I only played two and a half games: I struggled to feel it. Before the Germany match, I tried again, and Coach Lippi wanted me to play: then I had the feeling I could win the World Cup.

“I tried again in the final training session and I opened up again. I didn’t feel like it because when I won, I was a key player. After the World Cup, I never showed up because I didn’t feel like it.”

Thiago Silva came towards the end…

“When I left, I told him, look, you’re going to be better than me. He’s incredibly strong: he came to us after having had tuberculosis in Moscow and almost died. Milan made a signing and no one knew him.

“He seemed pretty good in training: after two games, I went to Galliani and told him he was incredibly strong. He extended my career: if I’ve played three more years, it’s thanks to him.”

What do you think of the Milan of today?

“I like this current Milan side. Tare arrived, he has experience and a clear head. After Maldini left and Tare came in, Milan lost its identity; I didn’t recognise anything anymore. It’s a shame because Milan has such a strong history and identity to just sit there in the warehouse and ignore it.

“You have to carry that with you. I’d love for Paolo Maldini to return. For me, he could go anywhere, but he’s staying at home because for him, it’s Milan or nothing. He’s made to be at Milan, and Milan is made to be with him. Sooner or later, love will return.”