Conceiçao Reveals How He Was Able To Turn The Game Around In The Supercoppa Italiana

Written By Onyeka Daniel

It was indeed an epic battle at the King Saud University stadium as AC Milan came from a goal down to defeat Juventus in the second semi-final of the Supercoppa Italiana, setting up a Milan Derby final against Inter on the 6th of January. Former coach of the team, Stefano Pioli was among the special guests during the game. He was spotted watching on from the stands.

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This is eight months on after his departure from the club. Pioli, who is currently head coach of Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr, has made a series of visits to his former club while they have been based in Riyadh for the Supercoppa Italiana. He was also seen visiting his old squad during their pre-match training session on Thursday. Milan are now onto their second coach since Pioli’s departure at the end of the 2023-24 season.

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Paulo Fonseca was appointed as his successor in the summer, but has since been given his marching orders. Since then, Milan have turned to Sergio Conceicao, who took charge of his first match as head coach. For the former Porto manager, he admitted that he got ‘angry’ with Milan at half-time before the comeback against Juventus. ‘I am not here to make friends, I am here to win.’

It was the perfect debut for the new boss, who had only been appointed on Monday and was suffering from flu symptoms giving him a high fever. Kenan Yildiz had opened the scoring and there seemed to be few real chances for the Rossoneri until Christian Pulisic was brought down by Manuel Locatelli and converted the resulting penalty deep inside the second half of the game.

Just four minutes later, Yunus Musah’s cross was deflected in off Federico Gatti to turn the game around completely for the 2-1 victory. After the final whistle, the Rossoneri players gathered in a circle to celebrate. “Football is passion and excitement, these are wonderful moments,” Conceicao told Sport Mediaset. “They deserved this win for the second half performance.

“Whereas in the first I saw the same kind of Milan that played a few weeks ago, with the players doubtful in defence, too tired moving the ball around, getting the timing of the pressing wrong. “At half-time, we changed a few things, looked each other in the eyes and the players had to realise what they needed to do in order to win the game. They needed to do what we had prepared.

“Then it is my responsibility if we lose 2-0 or 3-0, so they were truly courageous in the second half and it was totally different to the first.“I am happy, but we have done nothing yet, we are in the Final and must prepare to play Inter. ”Rafael Leao was out injured and replaced by Alex Jimenez, but will the Portugal international be available to play in the Supercoppa Italiana Final on Monday against Inter?

“We’ll see, I don’t think he will be training fully with the rest of the players tomorrow, but the day after maybe.” In a curious twist of fate, Conceicao’s son Francisco was originally in the starting XI, but was forced to pull out with a muscular problem in the warm-up. They did meet up after the final whistle with a warm hug. “I was happier because we won, he was sad because they lost, but that is life in football!”

The turning point was perhaps when Juventus took Dusan Vlahovic off for Nico Gonzalez, whereas Milan introduced Tammy Abraham and allowed Alvaro Morata to drop deeper. “We did that in the second half and clearly we can do it more. Morata can drop deeper, while our wingers Jimenez and Pulisic didn’t do what I wanted in the first half, so we were practically non-existent in attack,” added Conceicao.

“I played with a 4-4-2 for many years, we prepared something different to what we did in the first half, but we can have two strikers together in future.” This already feels like a very different approach to the father-son style man-management of Pioli, but also the soft diplomacy of Fonseca. “During those five minutes in the locker room, I certainly didn’t give the team kisses and hugs.

“In fact, I got quite angry, because they did not do what I had asked for or prepared. I see a group of players who are humble, at times they lack some determination to go further, but that can come with time,” confessed Conceiçao. “Players need a kind word, but also sometimes a harsh word. I will be honest, I am not the nicest coach who likes to hug and reassure my players, I tend to get angrier more than anything else.

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“The important thing for this squad is to work hard, have a lot of positive energy and seek their objective together, because they have the quality. I am happy that the group accepted my message, accepted that I am not a coach who smiles that much, because I am not here to make friends, but I am here to win.” He further added. The focus will now be on the Monday clash against their city rivals, Inter in the Final, his first derby as coach.

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